Labour MEP, Richard Corbett, has welcomed the House of Commons' vote against a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, and hailed it as a victory for parliamentary democracy.
The vote, which finished 311 votes to 248, means the Houses of Parliament will now have the responsibility of ratifying the treaty.
Richard said: “It's great news that the House of Commons has comprehensively voted against a referendum. Britain has never ratified an international treaty by referendum and the House of Commons has rightly acknowledged that it would have been absurd to start doing so now.
“This country has a proud history of parliamentary democracy and an issue like the Lisbon Treaty is where MPs earn their salt. Reducing an issue like the treaty to a yes/no question is too simplistic and it is right that the Commons has dedicated so long to analysing and discussing the treaty, something most people simply don't have the time to do.”
On the treaty itself, Richard commented: “This is a treaty, which will make the EU more efficient, more democratic and more accountable. The treaty respects the British government's red lines while the pathetic glut of Eurosceptic red herrings, like claiming the treaty would delete the Queen from our passports and allow armed French police to patrol British streets, have been sensibly ignored."
- Richard Corbett is the spokesperson on the Lisbon Treaty for Labour and the Socialist Group in the European Parliament.
- Richard Corbett was the co-author of the European Parliament's report on the Lisbon Treaty
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