ChatterBank1 min ago
The Lisbon Treaty
Did the uk sign the Lisbon treaty and if they did were we promised a referendum before they signed it? If so by which PM - and what was the reason they gave that the ref never took place
Many thanks
Many thanks
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Blair initially said there wouldn't be a referendum, then there would, then there wouldn't.
Long story that was never fully explained I recall . This may help. Parliament accepted it anyway and of course (as we now know) that trumps any referendum anyway.
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Long story that was never fully explained I recall . This may help. Parliament accepted it anyway and of course (as we now know) that trumps any referendum anyway.
https:/
Yes the UK did sign it.
No, the electorate was not promised a referendum.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown, along with David Miliband (the then Foreign Secretary) signed it on behalf of the UK. Mr Miliband attended the ceremony alone. Prime Minister Gordon Brown was "otherwise engaged".
A referendum was promised before the Treaty's predecessor - the European Constitution - was ratified. Two countries - France and Holland - rejected the referendum so it was effectively dead. The UK's referendum was therefore postponed indefinitely. The Constitution was resurrected under the guise of the Lisbon Treaty (with basically just the heading changed) and it was decided that no referendum was necessary in the UK because the Treaty was not a "constitution".
No, the electorate was not promised a referendum.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown, along with David Miliband (the then Foreign Secretary) signed it on behalf of the UK. Mr Miliband attended the ceremony alone. Prime Minister Gordon Brown was "otherwise engaged".
A referendum was promised before the Treaty's predecessor - the European Constitution - was ratified. Two countries - France and Holland - rejected the referendum so it was effectively dead. The UK's referendum was therefore postponed indefinitely. The Constitution was resurrected under the guise of the Lisbon Treaty (with basically just the heading changed) and it was decided that no referendum was necessary in the UK because the Treaty was not a "constitution".
NJ is more or less right but I am not sure I'd agree that the Treaty of Lisbon was the same as the Constitution but with a different title. It does make a difference whether it is a "Treaty" (ie, an agreement between member states) or a "Constitution" (which would be a single document that more or less founded the "State" of Europe, equivalent to the US Constitution). A lot of the content was indeed the same, but the effect and status of the two approaches are different.
//NJ is more or less right but I am not sure I'd agree that the Treaty of Lisbon was the same as the Constitution but with a different title. It does make a difference whether it is a "Treaty" (ie, an agreement between member states) or a "Constitution" (which would be a single document that more or less founded the "State" of Europe, equivalent to the US Constitution).//
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck....
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck....
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