Brown delays Lisbon treaty
Prime minister Gordon Brown has said he will not ratify the Lisbon treaty until the high court decides whether there should have been a referendum.
Lord Justice Richards has said the high court was “very surprised” to hear the government proposes to ratify the treaty. He wants a temporary delay while an ongoing legal challenge to the treaty’s parliamentary approval is resolved.
Mr Brown responded by saying “ratification will not take place of course until we have the judgement”.
The EU (Amendments) Act received royal assent on Wednesday, authorising the government to ratify the bill with only parliamentary approval.
Conservative donor Stuart Wheeler is challenging the government on whether it should have put the issue of ratification up for wider public approval through a referendum.
He believes the Lisbon treaty is substantially equal to the abandoned constitution, on which the government had promised to hold a referendum. The government denies the similarity.
Today Lord Justice Richards has called for the ratification process to be deferred.
“The court expects judgment to be handed down next week,” he said. “The defendants are invited to stay their hand voluntarily until judgment.”
The UK would be the 19th EU state to ratify the Lisbon treaty if it passes it next week. Its institutional reforms to the EU are in peril, however, after an Irish referendum ‘no’ vote last week.
