Growing push for EU treaty vote dogs Brown

Prime Minister Gordon Brown smiles outside 10 Downing Street in London August 22, 2007.

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Gordon Brown faced a growing revolt on Tuesday over his refusal to hold a referendum on a new European Union treaty when a group of Labour MPs urged him to allow the public a vote.

MP Ian Davidson wrote to Brown on behalf of an unspecified number of Labour MPs to say the treaty should be put to a referendum unless the government pushed for and achieved 12 amendments.

Davidson told Reuters he estimated as many as 120 of the 353 Labour MPs, including some ministers who did not wish to come forward publicly, backed calls for a referendum.

"We want the European Union to be a success but do not support 'ever closer union', nor the creation of a European superstate. All the available evidence indicates that our view is shared by a clear majority of Labour voters and by the people of our country," Davidson's letter said.

Last week two trade unions -- traditional Labour Party backers -- urged Brown to hold a referendum on the treaty. Brown believes the treaty can be ratified by parliament.

The demands are an embarrassment to Brown and risk spoiling the honeymoon he has enjoyed with his party and voters since succeeding Tony Blair as prime minister two months ago.

Brown has fuelled speculation he may call an early general election this year or next but he would risk the campaign being dominated by the referendum issue.

He has resisted calls from the Conservatives for a referendum. The Daily Telegraph is also campaigning for a popular vote and says more than 62,000 of its readers have signed up.

TOUGH BATTLE

In the letter to Brown, Davidson said the proposed EU treaty was "virtually identical" to the European Constitution scrapped after French and Dutch voters rejected it in 2005.

The government was therefore bound by a promise it had made to give Britons a vote on the defunct constitution, he said.

The government says the proposed treaty is much less ambitious than the constitution and can be ratified by parliament. Brown's spokesman said on Tuesday that the prime minister's position had not changed.

Davidson sent Brown a list of 12 amendments to the treaty that they said might remove the need for a referendum if London could persuade its EU partners to accept them.

EU leaders have ruled out readdressing a delicate compromise on the treaty agreed at Blair's last summit in Brussels in June. Brown backed Blair's strategy of insisting on "red lines" where Britain would not give up powers to Brussels.

The Labour MPs who wrote to Brown opposed the creation of an EU diplomatic service. They called for the current EU voting system to be kept, saying proposed changes would make it harder for Britain to block EU laws.