The British parliament voted against a referendum on joining the Constitutional Agreement of the European Union

Deputies of the House of Communities of the British Parliament today rejected the idea of ​​holding a national referendum in the United Kingdom with a majority of 63 votes to join the country to the EU constitutional agreement. As ITAR -TASS reports, 248 deputies voted for holding a referendum, 311 against - 311.

The proposal of plebiscite was put forward by an opposition conservative party - it wants to weaken the pace of European integration. The party refers to public opinion - the people of Great Britain traditionally do not support the country's excessive rapprochement with continental Europe.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown, openly opposing the idea of ​​a national vote about joining the UK to the Lisbon Agreement , was faced with the confrontation from many “back-time” (ordinary deputies) in the ranks of the ruling Labor Party. The latter, together with Tori, insisted on the need for a plebiscite, since the former Prime Minister Tony Blair promised the British that a referendum to approve Euroconstitution would be organized in the country.

At the same time, Brown and his supporters assure that then it was a completely different document, since the document approved in the Portuguese capital is not formally not the constitution of the united Europe.

Voting in parliament also led to discontent in the ranks of the party of liberal democrats opposing the referendum. Three representatives of the highest leadership of the party Alistair Karmikel, Tim Farron and David Hit, who voted with Tori in favor of plebiscite, have already resigned from their posts.