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The º£½ÇÊÓƵ Parliament is failing to hold the European Union – and the British Government – to account, an MP has claimed.

Gisela Stuart (Lab Birmingham Edgbaston) criticised the decision to scrap Commons debates about the European Council, the body which brings together national leaders from across the EU and makes key decisions.

Although only a minority of MPs took an interest in them, the debates allowed them to question the Government about its contribution to European Council meetings, she said.

But they have now been scrapped – leaving MPs in the dark, she said.

Leading a Commons debate, Mrs Stuart said: “There were afternoon debates, and ministers had to tell the Commons what was about to happen. Regularly, on the following Monday, the Prime Minister would give a statement on the results.”

The statements which followed council meetings were now combined with announcements on other topics such as Afghanistan – which meant Parliament no longer scrutinised EU council meetings properly.

She said: “Ten years ago, the British Parliament was seen as having some of the toughest and most extensive scrutiny functions. We were also the first Parliament to open an office in the European Parliament so that we had representation there. Ten years ago we were a model that other people looked towards, and now we have fallen behind.”

Britain needed a dedicated Minister for Europe – rather than the current minister who was part of the Foreign Office team, she said.

“That is not to cast any aspersions on the current Europe Minister, but the position is a fallacy. Why are matters involving the European Union, which deals essentially with domestic legislation, placed in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office?”

Labour Shadow Foreign Minister Emma Reynolds (Wolverhampton North East) said: “National Parliaments need to play a much greater role in holding to account not only the European Union, but our own Government’s decisions on Europe and the formulation of European legislation and policy.”

Europe Minister David Lidington said it was partly the fault of MPs that they did not discuss EU business, because they did not appear to want to.

“Parliament must take more seriously its collective responsibility as an institution to see, rightly or wrongly... that we live in a world in which European Union business should be treated as mainstream political business, and not as something that can be quietly shoved off to some annexe next door and left to specialists to get on with in peace and quiet.”