Hague: Lisbon Treaty against ’spirit of our age’
Author: By Emily Ashton, Press Association
Shadow foreign secretary William Hague set out his party’s opposition to the
Lisbon Treaty, telling the Conservative Party Conference it was “against the
spirit of our age”.
His comments came days after it was reported that Tony Blair had become the
front-runner to be crowned the first EU president.
In a speech that roused two standing ovations, Mr Hague told supporters in
Manchester: “We seek a European Union that acts by agreement among nations,
rather than by placing its own president or foreign minister above any
nation.”
He warned that the Lisbon Treaty would result in the “ever greater
centralisation of power beyond the democratic control of the people”.
Mr Hague added: “In its lack of accountability and legitimacy it goes against
our fundamental belief that people should only be led and governed with
their consent.”
It was important for Britain to be part of the EU so that Europe could use its
“collective weight” for dealing with Iran over nuclear policy and Russia
over energy security.
But under a Tory government, there would be a “distinctive British foreign
policy, geared to the promotion of the British national interest.”
He told the conference to loud applause: “It will be advanced, yes, through
the European Union, but it will also be advanced through the alliance with
the United States the current Government have recently mismanaged; through
new friendships and alliances beyond North America and Europe which they
have neglected to build and through networks such as the Commonwealth they
have never bothered to remember at all.”
He added: “We should never be ashamed of saying we will promote our own
national interest, for the British national interest is no narrow agenda.”
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