Lib Dems accused of betrayal by promising to block a referendum on the EU Treaty

By IAN DURY
Last updated at 23:55 22 January 2008

Liberal Democrats were accused on Tuesday of betraying Britain by promising to block a referendum on the EU Treaty.

Party leader Nick Clegg risked outraging hundreds of thousands of voters by admitting he would help the Government scupper Tory plans to force a ballot.

He was also accused of breaking an election pledge to support a referendum by claiming the treaty, which surrenders a raft of British powers to Brussels, is different to the rejected constitution.

This view has been undermined by the Labour-dominated Foreign Affairs Committee, which concluded that the treaty is virtually identical to its predecessor, which was thrown out three years ago.

It had been thought the LibDems would abstain in a Commons vote on a referendum.

But, asked if he would allow his MPs to support a Conservative amendment demanding a public vote, Mr Clegg said: "I certainly hope not. No. We would support the government by not voting for a referendum."

He added: "We would vote against a referendum on the treaty and vote in accordance with our long-held position that the real referendum that needs to be had is whether we stay in the EU or not."

Lib-Dem MPs fear opposition could be politically expensive.

Mr Clegg has vowed to increase the party's seats in the house but this depends on seeing off Tory challenges in southern constituencies.

However, crucial voters in marginal seats could be persuaded to shift to the Conservatives if they are denied a vote on the treaty, which ends Britain's right to veto EU policy in more than 40 areas.

Gordon Brown still argues that a Labour election pledge to hold a vote is unnecessary because the treaty is "fundamentally different" to the constitution, rejected by the French and Dutch in 2005.

Sign here: Gordon Brown signing the EU Treaty

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Comments (9)

Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below?

Hang on. It seems to me the Lib Dems are the only ones sticking by their election commitment. The Lisbon treaty (especially once you take out the parts the UK has opted out of) is pretty insignificant constitutionally. The big changes were made by the Single European Act and Maastricht.

The proposed EU constitution would have brought together the contents of these and all the other EU treaties, plus new reforms, in a new constitutional settlement. A referendum on the constitution would have given the British people a chance to endorse - or reject - the deeper, wider EU which has been put in place over the last three decades. In effect, it would have been a referendum on the whole of the EU.

That's why a broad 'in or out' vote is much better, and closer to what all the parties promised at the election, than a vote on this relatively narrow treaty.

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- George, London, 23/1/2008 22:06

Nick Clegg must be mad. Half his MPs are in marginal seats. And his party already has a reputation for 'flip flopping' on issues every five minutes.

Why doesn't he just do the sensible thing and say the party will stand by the referendum they promised in their last manifesto?

Hey presto! Honesty, integrity, consistency and that longed-for pro-democracy image safeguarded.

But is former MEP Clegg too blinded by 1950s-style EU superstate dogma to see sense?

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- Stuart Coster, London, UK, 23/1/2008 21:50

Typical. The one party you would have expected to be in favour of allowing the people to vote - bought and paid for.
The most mis-named party in Britain - neither Liberal nor Democratic.

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- Robert, Worcester, 23/1/2008 13:28