British Conservatives in dilemma over Lisbon referendum (Roundup)

Nov 3, 2009, 15:10 GMT

London - The prospect of a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty under a future Conservative government in Britain receded sharply Tuesday following the signing of the reform treaty by Czech President Vaclav Klaus.

Conservative leader David Cameron, who is widely tipped to become Britain's next prime minister following a general election next year, said he would set out his plans on the question of a referendum Wednesday.

Cameron is under intense pressure from Tory Eurosceptics to go ahead with a referendum regardless. But, in a speech Tuesday, he already attempted to shift the blame for the 'broken promise' of a referendum onto the Labour government, and especially on former prime minister Tony Blair.

In an interview with LBC radio Tuesday - before the treaty was signed by Klaus - Cameron conceded that 'time was running out' for his hopes to delay the process.

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.

Two years ago, Cameron offered a 'cast iron guarantee' that the party would put the treaty - the successor to the abandoned European constitution - to a vote in a referendum.

But he has repeatedly refused to say what he would do if the treaty has been fully ratified by the time a Tory government takes office, saying only that he would 'not let matters rest.'

Critics have warned that any attempt to re-open the treaty once it has been settled by the rest of the member states would be doomed to failure and could put Britain on a course that would see it forced out of the EU altogether.

It is now believed that the Conservatives will try to put forward a package of proposals to gain some 'opt-outs' from Brussels, on issues such as social and employment policy. policy.

However, hardline Eurosceptics remained adamant Tuesday that Cameron must honour his pledge.

'He is a man of his word,' said Roger Helmer, a Tory member of the European parliament. 'He gave a cast iron guarantee to the British people that he would have a referendum if and when he became Prime Minister and I believe that that is a commitment that he will need to keep to.'

Helmer told the BBC he believed that a no-vote in a British referendum would give an incoming Conservative government an 'enormously strong mandate to renegotiate the treaty from a position of strength.'

'I believe it should be possible to achieve a solution that would be much more acceptable to the British people than the Lisbon Treaty as it stands,' he said.

However, Tory member of parliament Philip Davies said there was little point in holding a referendum on the treaty once it had been ratified.

Instead, he called on Cameron to put his proposals for 'repatriating powers from Brussels' to a popular vote. 'It would strengthen his hand in order to win those powers,' said Davies.

However, Chris Bryant, the Foreign Office Europe minister, said it was now clear that Cameron would have to abandon the idea of a referendum on the treaty and that his so-called cast iron guarantee was 'rusting pretty badly.'