"I haven't read the Lisbon Treaty" confesses Labour's Europe Minister (Wantage and Didcot Liberal Democrats)

Wantage and Didcot Liberal Democrats <info@wantagelibdems.org.uk>

"I haven't read the Lisbon Treaty" confesses Labour's Europe Minister

April 4, 2009 2:56 PM

The flag of the European Union

Caroline Flint MP, the British Government Minister for Europe, has admitted that she has not read the Lisbon Treaty, the controversial document which codifies the rules of the European Union. In a surprise confession during a House of Commons' debate she told MPs that she had however been "briefed" on parts of the Treaty, which replaces but resembles the failed EU constitution.

Her honest declaration, which led to gasps from MPs, came after Miss Flint was asked during the debate if she had read the elements of the treaty that related to defence. She replied: "I have read some of it but not all of it."

The Treaty was due to be ratified by all of the EU's 27 member states by the end of 2008, but its fate lies in the balance after it was rejected by the Irish in a referendum. Aimed at improving decision processes in the Union, which have not changed much since the Union started with just six member states, it also proposes transparent decision-making, with meetings of the Council of Ministers being held in public, and greater powers for the democratically-elected European Parliament.

Wantage and Didcot Lib Dem spokesman Alan Armitage said: "This document spells out the way the European Union wants to go. It's the roadmap for the future of the Union. Yet the Minister feels she doesn't need to know much about it. How dare Labour claim we're at the heart of Europe when they can't be bothered to find out where it is?"

The Labour Party committed itself at the last general election to holding a referendum on whether Britain should sign up to the Lisbon Treaty. However, they subsequently withdrew that commitment, and Gordon Brown signed up anyway, following a whipped vote in the House of Commons.

The Liberal Democrats are committed to holding a nationwide referendum on whether or not Britain should continue as a member of the European Union.