David Cameron on the Lisbon treaty
Updated on 04 November 2009
Conservative leader David Cameron drops the pledge to have a referendum on the Lisbon treaty but promises that no further powers will be transferred to Brussels without the approval of the British people.
The Tory leader acknowledged that his campaign for a referendum on the Lisbon treaty was over after the Czech Republic became the final member of the 27 European Union states to sign the treaty.
"It's no longer a treaty, it's been incorporated into EU law," he said, adding that the new posts of president and foreign minister were now being created.
"We cannot hold a referendum and magically make those posts or the Lisbon treaty itself disappear, any more than we could hold a referendum to stop the sun rising in the morning," he went on.
"We will make sure that this never, ever happens again," he said.
"Never again should it be possible for a British government to transfer power to the European Union without the say of the British people in a referendum."
The shadow foreign secretary William Hague MP told Channel 4 News: "It is an ultimate defence of the sovereignty of Westminster and the British people and it's the same as they have in many other European countries so it's quite hard for people in other countries or even this country to object to it.
"Germany has a constitutional court, it has a basic law and that court rules on the compatibility of a treaty such as the Lisbon treaty with German basic law and it made some interesting rulings earlier this year.
"We're simply saying Britain, without a written constitution, needs that same kind of defence for the ultimate sovereignty of the Westminster parliament.
"It's to stop 'judicial creep' by the European court of justice, it does not mean we override European legislation on a day-to-day basis.
"No one here is talking about Britain leaving the European Union. What we've set out is how to make the most of our membership and David Cameron stressed in his speech and people will find that on the election of a Conservative government that we are extremely active in the European Union.
"But there are some sensible and practical things where we want some changes after the Lisbon treaty, on which the people of this country never voted, that the Labour government said they had got and said they wanted like an opt-out from the charter of fundamental rights."
Before Cameron: The Conservatives and Europe
1973: Under Edward Heath Britain enters the European Economic Community (EEC), 16 years after the signing of the original treaty of Rome.
1988: Margaret Thatcher makes an anti-Europe speech in Bruges, spelling the beginning of the end for her premiership. It clouds her relationship with Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe and prompts the term "Euroscepticism", which has characterised much of Conservative European policy since then.
1990: Margaret Thatcher signs Britain up to the exchange rate mechanism (ERM), tying the British pound with other leading European currencies within fixed margins.
1992: John Major is forced to take Britain out of the ERM after intense pressure from foreign exchange traders. "Black Wednesday" becomes a defining moment of the Major years.
