Cameron must stop plotting and face Lisbon reality

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Mon 19th Oct 2009

The Irish people have given their decisive backing to the Lisbon treaty. This vote does credit to all those political forces in Ireland which have had to combat, over many months, the lies and distortions about the European project peddled by nationalists and europhobes ‑ many of them British.

Now all 27 countries have taken their own democratic decisions to back EU reform. No further delay can be tolerated in bringing the treaty into force as quickly and efficiently as possible.

David Cameron should stop plotting with Vaclav Klaus to block the entry into force of the treaty. The Tories will not be a credible governing party unless and until they drop their opposition to deeper European integration. It is impossible to take seriously a Conservative policy which prefers the current Treaty of Nice and the weak and rather clumsy EU we have now, to a reformed, more efficient EU which can play a credible role in world affairs.

Today Ireland has clearly and decisively added its weight to the building of a stronger, more effective and more democratic European Union. A Tory Britain going in the opposite direction would divide the UK and Ireland at a time when reconciliation and integration has never been more needed.