Lack of Debate

On 5 March MPs rejected a referendum on the re-named EU Constitution the Lisbon (or Reform Treaty). A Conservative Party amendment for a referendum was defeated by a majority of 63 votes - 311 votes to 248.

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A second referendum amendment, put down by rebel Labour MPs, was defeated by a majority of 64 votes.

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The way that this treaty has been forced through Parliament lacks all legitimacy. Government promises of a public vote, of 'line-by-line scrutiny' and then of plentiful time to debate the treaty have all been broken. Large swathes of vital powers the treaty gifts to remote EU institutions - such as in defence, borders, future treaty revision and voting weights - have been blocked from Parliamentary debate.

The verdict of the cross-party House of Commons European Scrutiny Committee that the Treaty is "substantially equivalent" to the EU Constitution has also been completely ignored by the Government and large numbers of MPs.

Most serious of all, various polls show that the Government has utterly failed to convince the public that the Lisbon Treaty is not the EU Constitution re-named, yet have still refused to honour their clear manifesto promise of a public vote.

How individual MPs voted can now be seen on the ReferendumList website. Essentially, the bulk of the Conservatives were supported by 29 Labour MPs, 15 Liberal Democrats, the Scottish and Welsh nationalist parties and some independents. But this was not enough to overcome the Government's majority.