British High Court: EU referendum an "arguable case"

A millionaire businessman and major donor for the Conservative party is challenging British PM Gordon Brown for not giving the UK the possibility to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.

Stuart Wheeler, 73, won on May 2 his battle to challenge the government's decision after it had promised a referendum on the EU constitution.

He claimed that there was no material difference between the late constitution and the reformed treaty and therefore the government should keep its promise to hold a referendum.

He said in his website:"The Labour Party, as well as the other two main parties, made an unambiguous promise that they would call one. They should keep that promise. The Treaty is immensely important and so, irrespective of whether people think it should be ratified or not, they should be allowed a vote on it."

In his judgement at the High Court Mr Justice Owen decided that permission to apply for judicial review should be granted because the case is "arguable". The hearing will take place on 9 and 10 June.

Since last December, the Labour government insisted that the Lisbon Treaty is not the same as the Constitutional Treaty. In the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website (FCO), it stated that "EU’s 27 leaders have agreed that the constitutional concept has been abandoned."

It said: "There are substantial differences between the two Treaties, in form and in content. The Constitutional Treaty would have replaced all the existing Treaties and effectively re-founded the EU. The Lisbon Treaty takes the same approach as all previous amending Treaties. It amends the existing Treaties which Parliament has ratified and will not have constitutional characteristics."

British MPs reject referendum on Lisbon Treaty

The UK Parliament on March 5 turned down the Tories’ attempt to hold a referendum on the Lisbon treaty, which substituted the EU constitution after French and Dutch voters rejected it in national referenda in 2005.

With a narrow majority of 311 votes against 248, MPs rejected the amendment to the EU treaty Bill and decided that the new treaty will instead be ratified through parliamentary vote.

The debate on the treaty has flamed UK parliamentary works for the last months, and a growing pressure has been mounted on Prime Minister Gordon Brown to hold a referendum after he signed the treaty in Lisbon last December.

David Cameron, the Tory leader, accused Mr Brown of breaking the promise his government made in 2005 that British citizens would be given the chance to have their say on the EU constitution.

But Mr Brown denied that. He said that the new treaty may not be compared to the late constitution and a referendum wasn’t needed any longer, as the UK government had already assured Britain opt-outs in vital areas and national sovereignty would not be put at risk.

Yesterday’s vote, however, showed how divisive the issue still is among British MPs. 29 Labour MPs voted in favour of the amendment, while three Tories said they were against a referendum.

Among Liberal Democrats, despite their leader Nick Clegg ordered to abstain from a vote, several voted in favour of a referendum and three frontbenchers resigned.

The treaty is now expected to be ratified by next summer.