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Brown and Cameron clash over EU Brown and Cameron clash over EU
(about 1 hour later)
David Cameron has again urged Gordon Brown to call a referendum as they clashed over the EU treaty at prime minister's questions in the Commons.David Cameron has again urged Gordon Brown to call a referendum as they clashed over the EU treaty at prime minister's questions in the Commons.
The Tory leader accused the Prime Minister of breaking a promise to allow voters to decide whether Britain signs up to the new EU treaty. The Tory leader accused the PM of breaking a promise to allow voters to have their say on the EU treaty.
But Mr Brown said the treaty was not important enough to merit a referendum. But Mr Brown said the treaty was not the same as the axed constitution on which the vote had been promised.
He said it was not the same as the old constitution and said the so-called "red lines" would protect UK interests. Acting Lib Dem leader Vince Cable asked why tax changes discriminated against unmarried couples and their children.
Vince Cable also joined the Commons fray as acting Lib Dem leader following Sir Menzies Campbell's resignation as party leader. Mr Brown dismissed that charge but paid lengthy tribute to Sir Menzies Campbell, who resigned as Lib Dem leader on Monday.
The weekly 30-minute joust comes as the Liberal Democrats' leadership race gets underway, with the party's environment spokesman Chris Huhne expected to throw his hat into the ring later. So will he tell us, why won't he grant a referendum on that constitution David CameronConservative leader class="" href="/1/hi/uk_politics/7048758.stm">Sketch: Commons clash
Mr Cable, 64, tackled Mr Brown over inheritance tax changes which "discriminated" against unmarried couples and their children. But most attention was focused on the headline clash after Mr Cameron's ferocious attack on Mr Brown over the election-that-wasn't last week.
Earlier, Mr Cable said he would not be standing for the permanent job of leader as "the current climate of prejudice about age" meant older candidates were "not delectable". Mr Cameron, who began his questions by focusing on hospital infections, moved on to EU referendum amid noisy scenes in the Commons.
He said a report from a Labour-dominated committee last week concluded that the proposed Treaty and the now abandoned EU Constitution were "the same as the constitution."
'Trust and integrity'
He asked: "So will he tell us, why won't he grant a referendum on that constitution?"
Mr Brown said what being negotiated was not a constitutional treaty, but an amending treaty.
He said: "The treaty is different because we won a protocol in the Charter of Rights, because we have got an opt-in on justice and home-affairs, because we've got an emergency break on social security. "
He said that every other country in Europe, apart from Ireland, was satisfied that ratifying the Treaty did not require them to call referendums.
Mr Cameron counter-attacked by quoting the Labour MP Gisela Stuart who has described the referendum question as "a matter of trust and integrity."
He said: "Why should people trust Labour? Isn't she right?"
"Crackpot, dotty and absurd"
But Mr Brown responded by quoting one of Mr Cameron's own advisers, who had described the Tory campaign for a referendum as "crackpot, dotty and absurd".
MPs turned up the volume as matters in the chamber became more personal.
Mr Brown was drowned out by Tory jeers after he accused his Conservative opponent as liking "pre-rehearsed soundbites".
Mr Cameron, meanwhile, repeated his challenge of the previous week that Mr Brown should call an election.
The speaker had to intervene on separate occasions to ask MPs on both sides of the Commons to be quieter.