By Anna Tomforde Jun 18, 2008, 2:08 GMT
London - Britain's House of Lords, the Upper House of Parliament, is hoping to put a spoke in the government's wheel by forcing a delay in the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty Wednesday.
Opposition Conservative peers in the unelected chamber will put forward an amendment demanding a delay in Britain's final ratification of the reform treaty to October 20 - following rejection of the treaty by voters in Ireland in last week's referendum.
The formal occasion is the third reading Wednesday of legislation allowing Britain to ratify the Treaty of Lisbon, which would usually be followed by immediate Royal Consent.
If the Conservative motion was to be adopted, Prime Minister Gordon Brown would have to go red-faced and empty-handed to the European Union summit in Brussels Thursday - with ratification of the Lisbon Treaty in Britain having faltered at the last hurdle.
That prospect has guaranteed the proceedings in the House of Lords Europe-wide attention. Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa, whose country holds the EU presidency until the end of this month, said the Lords' decision was of 'great importance.'
For Brown, a delay in the ratification process would ensure that the divisive issues of further European integration, a British referendum on the Lisbon Treaty and Britain's place in Europe in general, would be firmly back on the political agenda.
So, the ruling Labour Party, which has said ratification will proceed, even though Ireland's vote should not be ignored, is keeping fingers crossed that the Conservative amendment will not be put to a vote Wednesday.
A decision to put the call for a delay to the vote will depend on the direction and content of the preceding preceding debate Wednesday afternoon.
'If they (the Conservatives) think they have a chance of winning, it could come to a vote,' said a House of Lords' spokesman.
If the amendment is not put to a vote, however, passage of the legislation is automatically guaranteed.
During the six months of parliamentary proceedings, Conservative and Independent peers have made a total of 12 unsuccessful attempts at amending the bill, culminating in last week's rejection of a Conservative call for a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, by 280 to 218 votes.
The House of Lords has 201 Conservative members, 216 from Labour, 76 Liberals, 201 independent cross-benchers, plus 26 bishops and 13 non-affiliated members.
The Conservatives hope that a delay would give new momentum to the Europe debate, and reinforce their position that Britain should also hold a referendum.
They base their call on a promise given by ex-prime minister Tony Blair in relation to the European Constitutional Treaty ditched by France and the Netherlands in 2005.
However, the Labour government insists that the Lisbon Treaty is sufficiently different from the Constitution and that the promise of a referendum does no longer apply.
William Hague, the Conservatives' foreign policy spokesman and opponent of ever-closer European union, said it was now 'clear beyond doubt' that there was 'profound opposition' to the Lisbon Treaty among the 'peoples of Europe.'
If the Lisbon Treaty remains unratified at the time of the next British general election, due by May 2010, a possible Conservative government is likely to hold a referendum which the treaty would almost certainly not survive - according to Conservative calculation.
But euro-scepticism in Britain is not restricted to the Conservatives alone. Gisela Stuart, the Labour member of parliament (MP) who helped negotiate the original constitution, said it is not too late to hold a referendum in Britain.
'Gordon should go to the European Council and make it clear to the heads of government that we can't pretend that nothing has happened,' she told the Financial Times after the Irish referendum.
Returning to the Lords' debate, however, the Conservative motion for delay would have to gain the backing of Liberal and cross-bench peers to be successful.
While their position on the treaty and voting intentions cannot be wholly predicted, the leader of the Liberal faction in the House of Lords, Tom McNally, has said that his party would oppose a delay.
Britain's national interest would be damaged if the country was seen to 'jettison a treaty just days before the governments of Europe meet to discuss its future,' said McNally.
Analysts said it was extremely rare for the Lords to reject a bill at third reading, with the last major attempt going back to 1999 when - ironically - the Upper House failed in rejecting a bill to evict most of the hereditary peers from the House of Lords.
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