London - British Conservative leader David Cameron Wednesday conceded defeat in his struggle to stop the Lisbon Treaty from coming into force but promised that a future government led by him would not permit any transfer of power to Brussels without calling a referendum. "Our campaign for a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty is over," said Cameron, referring to the signing of the reform treaty Tuesday by Vaclav Klaus, the Czech President.
There was no way "magical way" by which he could make the fact disappear that the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty had been completed, and that it would pass into law, Cameron said in London.
However, he said he would introduce legal changes through a National Sovereignty Act that would ensure that British law would "have supremacy over EU law" and would renegotiate parts of EU legislation if he became prime minister.
Cameron, 43, is widely tipped to win the next general election in Britain which must be held before June, 2010.
