Lisbon Treaty: failure to hold a referendum 'an attack on fair play', says Stuart Wheeler

uploaded by Maireid Sullivan June 10, 2008 at 11:31 pm
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Lisbon Treaty: failure to hold a referendum 'an attack on fair play', says Stuart Wheeler by Maireid Sullivan

The case to hold a referendum on the EU Lisbon Treaty continues in Ireland. Irish voters hold the power to block the Treaty. The word is out that the especially complex legal language of the treaty represents a hidden agenda to promote massive influx of military industry in Europe.

Failure to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty would be a breach of the Government's promise and an attack on "fair play", the High Court has heard.

The millionaire businessman Stuart Wheeler, a Conservative party donor, claims the agreement is effectively the same as the now-defunct EU Constitution Treaty in all but name.

He is seeking a judicial review of Gordon Brown's decision that the new treaty - unlike its predecessor - does not require ratification by the electorate.

"The Government promised a referendum and should keep its promise," said Rabinder Singh, QC, for Mr Wheeler.

At stake was "good administration, fair play and straight dealing with the public", he said.

The High Court in London heard that the prime minister's predecessor, Tony Blair, had pledged to hold a referendum prior to the ratification of the Constitutional Treaty, which ended when proposals for an EU Constitution were voted down by the French and Dutch in 2005.

Mr Singh argued that promise had given rise to "a procedural legitimate expectation that a referendum would be held in respect of that Treaty - and by implication any Treaty containing substantially similar terms, whatever its name".

Lawyers representing the Prime Minister, Foreign Secretary and the Speaker are fighting Mr Wheeler's application for judicial review.

They say the application has been brought for the "inappropriate purpose" of seeking to "change the political atmosphere" by obtaining a court judgment critical of Government decisions "for use as a political manifesto".

The two-day case is being heard just days before voters in Ireland, the only EU state holding a referendum, go to the polls.

An Irish No vote on Thursday to the Treaty - which paves the way for greater European integration, an EU presidency and the abolition of a host of national vetoes - would kill it as it must be passed unanimously by all 27 states.