Cameron demands referendum on Lisbon Treaty

CONSERVATIVES today sought to ratchet up pressure on Gordon Brown ahead of Thursday’s European elections by publishing a bill to pave the way for a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.

Cameron said he would not let Brown off the hook Cameron said he would not let Brown "off the hook"

The Bill would allow voters to go to the polls this autumn on the same day that Ireland stages its second referendum on the controversial treaty, rejected by voters in the Republic last year.

The Tory Bill includes provision to repeal the UK’s ratification of Lisbon in the case of a No vote.

Conservative leader David Cameron this morning said he would not let the Prime Minister “off the hook” over Lisbon and urged voters to use the June 4 election to put pressure on Mr Brown to deliver on Labour’s manifesto promise of a referendum on the European Constitution.

Meanwhile, the UK Independence Party (UKip) was today introducing a Constitutional Reform Bill in the House of Lords which would take Britain out of the European Union, repeal the Human Rights Act and introduce binding referendum powers at national and local level.

Although Ukip peer Lord Willoughby de Broke is hopeful of securing a first reading for the bill, it has little chance of progressing through Parliament.

Shadow foreign secretary William Hague today urged the Prime Minister to use the Conservatives’ Lisbon Treaty Referendum Bill to give British voters a say on the Treaty, which he said was effectively the same as the failed Constitution.

Mr Hague said: “Labour caved in under public pressure during the last European election campaign and promised a referendum on the EU Constitution. We are campaigning in these elections to force them to cave in again - and honour the promise they made in the first place.

“Every vote for the Conservatives on Thursday is a vote to increase the pressure on Gordon Brown to honour his word and grant the British people their rightful say on this Treaty. The voters deserve the right to decide their own future before it is decided by others.”

Britain ratified the Lisbon Treaty by a parliamentary vote in June last year, but it cannot come into force until all 27 member states have completed this step.

As well as the hurdle of the Irish referendum, the Treaty must gain the assent of the Czech President and Poland must also go through the process of depositing its ratification documents.

Mr Cameron has promised a referendum if the Tories come to power before Lisbon comes into effect, but today he once again declined to say what he would do if ratification is complete and the Treaty in effect by that time.

He saoid: “I know that, of course, my opponents would love me to focus on what happens if all these things happen, but I am not going to do that.

“I am going to focus on the here and now, because on Thursday people can go into these voting booths, vote Conservative and pile pressure on Gordon Brown to hold a referendum. I don’t want to let him off the hook.”

He added: “Every treaty is an effective renegotiation and if we had a Conservative government we would be going into that renegotiation with a list of powers we want returned to the UK, because we believe in being members of the EU but we want it to be more about trade and co-operation rather than this endless process of building a superstate...

“There’s an important negotiation coming up on the future funding of the EU and it gives us enormous leverage in terms of making sure we get a good deal for Britain and we build the sort of EU that not just the Conservatives but other parties in Europe want to see.”

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