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MPs vote to reject referendum on EU's Lisbon treaty

05/03/2008

MPs voted tonight against holding a referendum on whether the UK should ratify the EU's Lisbon treaty.

The House of Commons rejected the proposal by 311 votes to 248 after a six-hour debate.

Following the vote the Liberal Democrats lost three members of its shadow cabinet who supported the referendum calls despite a party ban on members to vote on the issue.

Scotland spokesman Alistair Carmichael; countryside spokesperson Tim Farron; and justice spokesman David Heath resigned from the Lib Dems' Cabinet.

"I greatly regret the loss of David, Tim and Alistair from the shadow Cabinet. They have served with great distinction and commitment," Mr Clegg said.

"However, as they have recognised, the shadow Cabinet cannot operate effectively unless the principle of collective responsibility is maintained."

The party leader had described the vote as a "smokescreen" and ordered members to abstain from voting after the Liberal Democrats' own calls for an "in or out" referendum on the EU were rejected.

The Conservatives proposed the vote on the referendum after accusing Labour of backing down on its 2005 manifesto promise of a national vote on the issue.

Shadow foreign secretary William Hague told the Today programme that all three parties had promised a referendum on the EU constitution in 2005 and, as the Lisbon treaty was "90 per cent" the same, a referendum should be called by Mr Brown.

"What we are dealing with here is something wider than Europe. It's an issue of trust in politics," Mr Hague said.

He warned that the treaty would remove Britain's veto in 50 areas of EU decision-making.

Foreign secretary David Miliband, speaking on the same programme, said the Lisbon treaty was considerably different to the constitution and a referendum was neither required nor promised.

"The constitutional treaty abolished all previous treaties of the European Union. It did something that was constitutionally unprecedented," Mr Miliband said.

He claimed a referendum was only required when there was "a fundamental shift in the balance of power" between Britain and the EU.