Referendum not ruled out - Brown
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/uk_politics/6976014.stm Version 0 of 1. Gordon Brown has stopped short of ruling out a referendum on the new EU Treaty, despite Tory claims that not having one could spark a public outcry. The prime minister insisted Britain's so-called "red lines" on issues such as national security, justice and social services were secure. Pressed by the BBC on whether there was still an "if" over holding a poll, Mr Brown replied: "Yes, of course." The Tories say ministers could face public anger if a vote is not held. Shadow home secretary David Davis warned on Sunday that momentum for a referendum was growing because people believed they had been promised one. Constitution 'abandoned' Renewing his own party's call for a poll, Mr Davis told the BBC: "People are going to say, you promised this before - this treaty is almost the same - 90% the same - as the treaty you promised a referendum for." But Mr Brown told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Monday: "If we succeed in achieving our red lines in all the detailed negotiations, there will, in my view and in the government's view, be no need for a referendum." In a 10 Downing Street webchat on Monday Foreign Secretary David Miliband was forthright in his view that no referendum was needed. He said the idea of a European "constitution" had "been abandoned and the new institutional reforms, which protect British sovereignty in vital areas of national interest should be passed or rejected by Parliament". |