Brown defeats drive for EU treaty vote

By Adrian Croft

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Gordon Brown defeated a bid on Wednesday to force him to call a referendum on the new European Union reform treaty.

Many analysts said they believed the treaty, which overhauls EU institutions, would be rejected if put to British voters.

In parliament, about 25 MPs from Brown's Labour Party rebelled against the government and voted with the Conservatives for the referendum on the Lisbon treaty.

But the government won the votes comfortably because most members of the pro-European Liberal Democrats, abstained.

A referendum would have been embarrassing for Brown, whose popularity has been hit by a bank crisis and government blunders during his first eight months in office.

The Conservatives, who accuse Brown of breaking a commitment by his predecessor Tony Blair to consult voters on a proposed EU constitution, pledged to take their battle for a referendum to the upper house of parliament, the House of Lords.

"We hope that in this case the Lords will hold the government to their ... commitment," Conservative foreign affairs spokesman William Hague said in a statement.

Europe Minister Jim Murphy said only Ireland of the European Union's 27 member states was having a referendum, with the rest, including Britain, ratifying the treaty in parliament.