THE TRAITOR

Gordon Brown last night agreed to the biggest surrender of power to Brussels in a generation.

The Prime Minister risked a  public backlash by accepting the European Union Reform Treaty while dismissing the growing public clamour for a referendum.

Two dramatic opinion polls yesterday made clear that seven out of ten Britons want a say over the controversial decision.

But Mr Brown was determined to give his go-ahead to the treaty over a dinner of grilled sole and chocolate cake in Lisbon with other EU leaders.

His dismissive gesture toward public opinion earned a furious reaction from the Conservatives, who accused him of treating the British public like fools.

Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague said: “Gordon Brown bottled out of a general election, now he won’t listen to voters on Europe either.

“Why should they trust him when he so clearly does not trust them?” Defying the referendum clamour, Mr Brown signalled his readiness for an extended battle in Parliament to get the controversial EU treaty approved in UK law.

Mr Brown denied the document was a revival of the failed EU Constitution on which Labour promised a referendum in its last election manifesto.

He insisted he had won a good deal which safeguarded Britain’s interests and that it was time to tackle the issues that really concerned people – such as jobs, terrorism and climate change.

But a growing army of critics, including senior figures in his own party, warn his much-vaunted UK opt-outs will be destroyed as Brussels extends its influence yet further into our national affairs.

The Prime Minister’s remarks came before the dinner with Europe’s 26 other heads of government in Lisbon.

His aides were confident that last-minute protests would be resolved and the necessary agreement struck.

The treaty will now be translated into the union’s various languages ready for planned formal signing at another summit in December. It is due to come into force for Europe’s 480 million citizens on January 1, 2009.

It will then be ratified by each member state. Mr Brown insisted last night that only Ireland was planning to hold a referendum – because its constitution obliged it to do so.

He said Parliament was where the matter should be decided. Making clear he was ready for weeks of arguing to get it through, he said: “Let’s now have the debate in the country that will be reflected in a very substantial number of days in the Houses of Parliament.

“People will judge for themselves if the British national interest has been protected.’’ But he sidestepped the question of whether he believed he could have won a referendum had he held it.

On day one of his first EU summit as Prime Minister, Mr Brown claimed he had been the first in Britain to argue that a referendum should have been held on the 1992 Maastricht Treaty.

He insisted that there would have been one had the UK proposed to join the single currency.

But he said no referendum was needed because the new treaty did not propose fundamental constitutional change.

He added he had protected Britain’s national interests – its “red lines’’. These are the opt-ins and exemptions from new EU rules on justice and home affairs, national security, foreign policy and social security.

But public anger at his move was made clear by the two opinion polls yesterday.

An FT/Harris poll showed that 75 per cent of voters want a referendum over the Reform Treaty, with similar numbers wanting a vote in France, Spain, Italy and Germany.

A YouGov poll found 69 per cent of Britons wanted a vote, with only 14 per cent saying there was no need.

As Tories geared up for the referendum battle, Mr Hague yesterday underlined demands for a national vote by unveiling a poster in London saying: ‘Who has a say on the EU Treaty? Not you. Just Gordon’’.

He said: “Gordon Brown is still treating the British people like fools. His spin has reached new depths of cynicism. He still claims that this treaty is somehow different, even though the Commons European Scrutiny Committee has specifically told him his argument is misleading.

“He claims that this treaty is about making a free-trading Europe work better, when he knows that it downgrades the importance of free competition.

“Every poll shows that the vast majority of the British people want the referendum he promised and do not believe his arguments.

“His spurious red lines do not cover most of the renamed EU Constitution and can easily be got round. Now that all his arguments against a referendum have crumbled he is desperately trying to change the subject.”

Earlier the Prime Minister insisted: “We have been determined to ensure the interests of the British people are safeguarded.

“I believe that as people look at the detailed negotiations we have been involved in and the increasing progress we have made over the last few months, that we have secured our red lines and the British national interest is protected.’’ (October 19, 2007, by Alison Little) http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/22493/The-traitor