Conservatives to set out policy on Lisbon

LONDON (Reuters) - The Conservatives will set out their position on the European Union's soon-to-be-ratified Lisbon treaty by the end of this week, leader David Cameron said on Tuesday.

The Conservatives, favourites to win a national election due by next June, have promised to hold a British referendum on the Lisbon treaty if it is not in force across the 27-nation bloc if and when they take power.

But party leader David Cameron has acknowledged that this may no longer be possible now that the Czech Constitutional Court has removed one of the final obstacles to its ratification.

"People should be given a referendum when new treaties are proposed," Cameron told reporters. "It looks like this treaty is no longer going to be a treaty, it is going to become part of European law and that will create a new situation."

"We will be responding in full before the end of the week on all the ways we will protect Britain's interests and respond to this new situation," he added.

The Conservatives strongly oppose the treaty, designed to smooth decision-making in Europe, seeing it as a step towards a federal Europe.

Cameron has said that if the treaty were in force when his party came to power, he would not let matters rest there -- but he has refused to say what that means.

Instead of holding a referendum, the Conservatives are expected to seek the repatriation of some powers, such as social policy, from Brussels to London.

(Reporting by Kylie MacLellan; editing by Keith Weir)