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Britain Ratifies Lisbon Treaty
Britain has put the final touches to the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty.
The Sun reports on the the arcane ritual which saw Britain sign up to the treaty.
"Under the UK’s ratification process, both houses of Parliament must pass the treaty.
"The Queen then gives Royal Assent, and signs goatskin “instruments of ratification” along with the Foreign Secretary.
"These are then sealed, bound in blue leather, and deposited with the Italian ministry of foreign affairs in Rome.
"A spokesman for the Foreign Office said all these stages had now been completed."
The blue leather books were delivered to Rome yesterday. All very hush-hush, but David Miliband is set to make an announcement about the sacrifice, sorry, ratification, later today.
Where does this leave the British opposition? Speaking in the Guardian yesterday, Conservative leader David Cameron pledged a referendum on the treaty - but only if "one other EU state has still not ratified the treaty."
Eh? So if the Lisbon Treaty is still waiting to be ratified Britain will get a referendum, even though we have officially signed over our rights? So, if Ireland has not yet voted, or if Poland continues to play hard ball, Britain gets a vote: But if Nicolas Sarkozy successfully bullies the Irish into voting Yes, we won't?
This is truly bizarre. Euro-leaders such as Sarkozy and Germany's Angela Merkel will redouble their efforts to secure a Yes from the Irish and put pressure on Poland and the Czechs to sign the treaty if they know they can avoid a British "No" by doing so.
In other words, Britain's right to vote on the Lisbon Treaty is in the hands of the Irish and Poles!
So much for self-determination and home rule. And what a strange role for Ireland! Barely a month ago, Gordon Brown over-ruled the Irish vote by immediately ratifying the treaty for Britain, delivering a slap in the face to the hundreds of thousands of Irish people who rejected Lisbon. And now, David Cameron says that we must depend on the Irish to reject the Treaty again if we are to have our say?
What a cop-out!
