British Tories risk destroying Britain's membership of the European Union

5.30.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 1st Oct 2008

Reacting to the speech at the Conservative Party conference by shadow foreign secretary William Hague, ALDE spokesman Andrew Duff accused Mr Hague of undermining UK membership of the European Union.

"Mr Hague is now openly threatening Britain's European partners with a renegotiation of the country's terms of membership if the Lisbon Treaty comes into force.

"He is determined to defeat the Lisbon Treaty yet offers no positive alternative European strategy for the UK. What he does not say, in his nationalistic fulminations against Lisbon, is that Tory policy, if successful, will condemn us all to have to live with the Treaty of Nice, which he himself condemned at the time of its signature in 2000 when he was Tory leader."

Duff, who helped to negotiate the Treaty of Lisbon added:

"It is ridiculous to pretend that Lisbon is in any way worse then Nice. How can we rectify the present problems and weaknesses of the EU without a thorough reform of its structure and a strengthening of its democracy?

"Unless the Tories can be defeated, and unless the Irish change their mind about ratifying Lisbon, we face the alarming prospect of a Tory government taking Britain to the margins of European reality.

"To play with Britain's European membership at this time of global insecurity is worse than irresponsible."

ENDS