On Monday, I will be seeking a declaration by the High Court that the Government's refusal to hold a referendum on whether the Lisbon Treaty should be ratified, is unlawful.

Only last week, a YouGov poll found that two-thirds of the British public agree with me and believe that the Government has reneged on its promise to hold a referendum.

Major trade unions and MPs from all political parties have also stated that they believe the public is entitled to a vote on the Lisbon Treaty.

It is obvious to me, therefore, that we have a cast-iron moral case for
a referendum. There can be no
doubt about that.

Whether you believe that the UK should adopt the proposed Treaty or not, the Government should stand by its repeated promise and give the people of Britain the chance to have their say. I have to admit, though, that as the EU already costs every man, woman and child in this country more than £1,000 a year, I do not
have much doubt what they will say if they get the chance.

The Government claims that the Lisbon Treaty is significantly different to the Constitution. This is simply not true. Instead, the UK Government, and others across Europe, are pushing ahead with the Treaty without referenda.

My solicitors have asked the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary
to produce documents about
these matters.

The reply from their solicitors reads to me exactly like what lawyers would say if their client had some extremely damaging documents and the solicitors had found a clever legal way of justifying refusing to produce them.

I think the documents would show that the Government was bending over backwards to try to find a way of pretending that the two treaties were different, and that they knew they would lose a referendum if they were forced to have one.

In fact, it is only Ireland, out of a total of 27 member states, which is allowing its people the right to decide for themselves in its referendum, on June 12.

European leaders and governments are scared. They do not want to repeat the mistakes of 2005 when the people of France and the Netherlands voted "no" to the Constitution.

After those "no" votes, European leaders instead chose to shake the Constitution about a bit and give it a new name, the Lisbon Treaty, and not to risk a public vote.

Valery Giscard D'Estaing, the former French president who wrote the Constitution, has stated: "Public opinion will be led to adopt, without knowing it, the proposals that we dare not present to them directly."

The Lisbon Treaty is the Constitution in all but name.

According to research by the think tank, Open Europe, only 10 out of
250 proposals in the Lisbon Treaty are different from the proposals in
the original EU Constitution. In other words, 96 per cent of the text
is the same as the rejected Constitution.

The cross-party House of Commons European Scrutiny Committee, dominated by Labour MPs, has also stated that the Treaty is "substantially equivalent" to the EU Constitution.

This Treaty will bind the UK to an unelected EU President and an EU Foreign Minister. It also binds us largely to an EU defined Fundamental Charter of Rights. The British people should have the right to decide if this is what they want.

It is worth remembering that this is not a one-party issue. In their 2005 manifestos, all three political parties pledged to hold a referendum.

The Conservative Party strongly believes that there should be a referendum. Conservative Shadow Minister for Europe Mark Francois, said this week that Brown's duplicity over this was a classic example of
why the Prime Minister has lost the trust of the British electorate and
why he is in such a mess.

And you only have to look at the Commons vote, in March, to realise how controversial this issue is. In all, 29 Labour and 13 Liberal Democrat MPs voted with the Conservative Party for a referendum on the Treaty.

If I lose my case and the Bill returns to the House of Commons, it will be interesting to see what the opposition parties do. The Liberal Democrats are already split over the issue; the result of my case could cause further in-fighting.

In view of what the Prime Minister has said so far, it is very unlikely that he will voluntarily call for a referendum, but if I win the case, he will find it politically impossible to go ahead without one.

It is very likely that the other side would appeal the decision, but with the popularity of the Prime Minister and the Labour Party at such a low level, it would be extremely unwise for the Government to go ahead with ratifying the Treaty while the decision that it was unlawful of them to have refused a referendum stood.

If the judgment goes against me, I may well appeal.

Following disasters at the local elections and the Crewe by-election, the Prime Minister has admitted that he needs to listen to what the general public wants. This is as good an issue as any to start fulfilling that pledge.

The public has a right to make up its own mind on the EU Treaty and the Government should stick to its promise. It is about time Gordon Brown took a U-turn in the right direction and gave us a chance
to speak.


Stuart Wheeler is a businessman who is challenging the Government's decision not to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.