British Conservatives concede "time is running out" over Lisbon Treaty

Nov 3, 2009, 11:08 GMT

London - British Conservative leader David Cameron said Tuesday he would decide 'later this week' what his party's policy on a possible referendum on the Lisbon Treaty should be, but conceded that 'time is running out.'

Cameron, speaking in a radio interview after the Czech Republic's Constitutional Court decision on the treaty, has come under increased pressure to declare whether or not he would hold a referendum on the reform treaty if he should come to power next year.

Party officials adhered to the official line on Tuesday, saying that the court's decision in favour of Czech ratification was not the 'final word,' as the treaty still needed to be signed by President Vaclav Klaus.

'I of course hope he doesn't sign the treaty but I suspect time is running out,' Cameron told LBC radio.

Asked whether he believed that the Czech President would clear the way for the treaty to pass into law, Cameron said: 'It looks like this is going to happen. I am very disappointed by that.'

Quizzed about what he would now do, Cameron said: 'We will have to address ourselves to it and I will be doing that later this week.'

Meanwhile, ultra-conservative eurosceptic Bill Cash urged a referendum with 'no ifs no buts' in an article in the Daily Telegraph Tuesday.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the matter was now 'up to President Klaus' but added that he hoped that Europe could now 'set aside issues of constitutional debate.'