David Cameron: No more power handed to EU without referendum

Published on Wednesday 4 November 2009 21:14

DAVID Cameron yesterday promised to change the law so that no more powers could be transferred to Europe without the say of the British people in a referendum.

After abandoning his "cast-iron" promise of a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, the Conservative leader pledged that the British people would not be denied a voice in the future as he attempted to placate his party's Eurosceptics. Mr Cameron also announced that he would create a Sovereignty Bill that would ensure that British law takes precedence over European law.

The Conservative leader acknowledged that Tory plans for a referendum on Lisbon were over as soon as the Czechs became the 27th and final state to sign up to the treaty on Tuesday.

But he added: "We will make sure that this never, ever happens again.

"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," he said.

The Tories had hoped that the Czech Republic would delay signing the treaty until after next year's General Election, a scenario that would have allowed an in-coming Tory government to hold a UK-wide poll.

Mr Cameron conceded that the Lisbon referendum option was no longer feasible now that the treaty had been "incorporated into EU law", pointing out that new posts of president and foreign minister were 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," Mr Cameron said.

According to Mr Cameron, a Conservative government would amend the European Communities Act 1972 to prohibit the transfer of power to the EU without a referendum.

That would cover any future attempt to take Britain into the European single currency, he said.

"We will give the British people a referendum 'lock' to which only they should hold the key, a commitment very similar to that which exists in Ireland," Mr Cameron said.

"This is a major constitutional development, but I believe it's now the only way to reassure the British people that powers cannot be given away without their explicit approval in a referendum."

But within his own party, the Eurosceptic MP Douglas Carswell insisted that some sort of referendum on Britain's relationship with the EU was still essential.

"I fully accept that a referendum on Lisbon may no longer be possible, but nobody under the age of 52 has ever had the chance to vote on our membership and our relationship," Mr Carswell said. "It's changed quite dramatically since we joined. We've not only opposed the Lisbon Treaty but, as Conservatives, we've spent 12 years opposing the Nice Treaty and the Amsterdam Treaty.

"I think we need to have a referendum. Most MPs promised to have a referendum at the election… I think this is about credibility."

Mr Carswell added: "I think we need a referendum to allow us to go to Europe and renegotiate, and to hold a referendum on the deal we come back with."

Mr Cameron tried to take on his internal critics by saying that it would not be right to hark back to Lisbon when the country was facing an economic crisis.

"I recognise there are some who, now that we cannot have a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, want a referendum on something else… anything else.

"But I just don't think it's right to concoct some new pretext for a referendum simply to have one for the sake of it.

"Would we really want to turn round straight after an election, with the public finances in the state they are in and the economy as fragile as it is, and ask the same question all over again?"