By Sean Kelly from NICVA European Library
Published on 07 Mar 2008
The House of Commons has rejected a proposal by the Conservative Party for a UK-wide referendum on whether to ratify the EU's Lisbon Treaty
The result of the debate now means that it will be the UK Parliament alone which will decide whether to ratify the Treaty which was agreed by the EU leaders in Lisbon in December 2007. Of the 27 EU Member States, currently only Ireland is committed to holding a referendum with all EU parliaments having to ratify the Treaty before it can come into force.
As the main UK political parties had all originally promised a referendum on the EU Constitution in their 2005 general election manifestos, the decision not to hold a referendum has caused bitter divisions within the Labour and Liberal Democrat parties in particular. Many MPs in both parties were unhappy with their party’s stance that their manifesto commitments to hold a referendum were no longer needed as the pledge had been made on the basis of an EU constitution not the EU treaty which replaced it.
Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague pointed out that the issue of a referendum has however not yet been resolved as the Treaty now goes to the House of Lords:
"It is convention that the House of Lords does not stand in the way of manifesto commitments. We hope that in this case the Lords will hold the government to their manifesto commitment.”
Northern Ireland and the Lisbon Treaty
The Northern Ireland Assembly has already debated the need for a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty and subsequently passed a motion proposed by DUP MLA Alex Easton on 8 October 2007 that:
“This Assembly calls on the United Kingdom Government to hold a referendum on the new European Union Treaty.”
The debate provided a useful insight into the viewpoint of the local politicians in relation to the Lisbon Treaty with only the SDLP’s Alban Maginness and Carmel Hanna speaking against the motion. The Assembly debate did however also highlight the views of the Office of the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister (the government department with responsibility for the co-ordination of EU policy in Northern Ireland) regarding the Lisbon Treaty and wider European policy issues that affect Northern Ireland.
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