As my colleague Lee
Rotherham documents, the prospect of a new IGC on the Lisbon
Treaty offer David Cameron a potentially game-changing opportunity, to move the
polls from hung Parliament territory towards a clear Conservative majority.
Due to various
procedural changes, the Lisbon Treaty is going to have to be ratified by
Parliament yet again after the General Election. David Cameron has always been
explicit that had he been Prime Minister when the Treaty came forward for
ratification, he would have held a referendum. Until now that has simply been a
hypothetical situation – but now it is set to become a reality.
If, as the EU
Commission intends, an Inter-Governmental Conference on 17th/18th
June agrees a new version of the Lisbon Treaty, it will have to be put before
Parliament. Will David Cameron remain true to his pledges on the topic and
seize this opportunity by pledging to hold a referendum in that circumstance?
As well as being the
right thing to do, a referendum pledge now could be dynamite in the last few
days of the election. Clegg and Brown would be put on the spot, challenged to
make such a pledge themselves. If they did, then it would be good for Britain,
we’d get the Lisbon referendum we were all promised and Cameron would have
shown himself to be a leader. If they did not, then Cameron would be able to
head into the election as only man willing to trust the people by holding the
long-desired referendum.
This is a golden
opportunity for the Conservatives to do the right thing by Britain and
to do themselves a favour. David Cameron should grab it with both hands.