The “nauseating volte-face” over Europe

Despite the fact that 638 out of 646 MPs were elected on the basis of a manifesto commitment to a referendum on Europe, both Labour and the Lib Dems now look prepared to ratify the far-reaching Lisbon Reform Treaty without one.

On Monday night, Gordon Brown cleared the first hurdle in the ratification of the Lisbon Reform Treaty when MPs backed a second reading of the EU (Amendment) Bill by 362 votes to 224, a majority of 138.

For the Treaty to be ratified, Parliament has to say yes or no to the treaty as a whole, says William Rees-Mogg in The Times. However, it could impose conditions that might affect or defer the operation of a treaty, or demand a referendum as a condition of the ratification process.

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Emily Hohler
Politics editor

Emily has worked as a journalist for more than thirty years and was formerly Assistant Editor of MoneyWeek, which she helped launch in 2000. Prior to this, she was Deputy Features Editor of The Times and a Commissioning Editor for The Independent on Sunday and The Daily Telegraph. She has written for most of the national newspapers including The Times, the Daily and Sunday Telegraph, The Evening Standard and The Daily Mail, She interviewed celebrities weekly for The Sunday Telegraph and wrote a regular column for The Evening Standard. As Political Editor of MoneyWeek, Emily has covered subjects from Brexit to the Gaza war.

Aside from her writing, Emily trained as Nutritional Therapist following her son's diagnosis with Type 1 diabetes in 2011 and now works as a practitioner for Nature Doc, offering one-to-one consultations and running workshops in Oxfordshire.