Clarke backs away from Lisbon vote; Poll depends on ratification of Euro treaty.

Byline: Andrew Woodcock

A Conservative Government would not seek to reopen negotiations on the Lisbon Treaty if the controversial document has been ratified by all 27 European Union states by the time it comes to power, shadow business secretary Kenneth Clarke said yesterday.

Mr Clarke risked angering Tory eurosceptics by saying he envisaged only "sensible discussions ... in limited areas" about the division of responsibilities between Westminster and Brussels.

Conservative Party leader David Cameron has promised a referendum on the treaty, which replaces the failed EU constitution, if he reaches office before ratification is complete.

But he has declined to spell out exactly what he would do if the treaty has been implemented, as is likely if the Irish vote Yes in a re-run referendum this autumn, saying only that he "would not let matters rest".

Yesterday, Mr Clarke said this would not mean renegotiation of the treaty, which creates an EU President and removes some national vetoes, but a discussion about the return of competencies to nation states in areas such as employment law. He told BBC1's The Politics Show: "If the Irish referendum endorses the treaty and ratification comes into effect, then our settled policy is quite clear that the treaty will not be reopened.

"But it has also been said by David Cameron ... that it will not rest there, and he will want to start discussions on divisions of competence between national states and the centre of the EU." Prominent Conservative backbench eurosceptic Bill Cash condemned Mr Clarke's comments and demanded a UK referendum on the Lisbon Treaty regardless of how Ireland votes.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband said: "Ken Clarke may wish that the Tories forget about pledges to reopen the Lisbon Treaty, but David Cameron and William Hague have pledged the opposite.

"The country deserves a clear answer: has Conservative policy flip-flopped, or are the Conservatives just divided and incredible in their foreign policy?" A Conservative Party spokesman said: "There is no change to Conservative policy. As Ken Clarke explained, if the Lisbon Treaty is ratified and in force across the EU by the time of the election of a Conservative government, we have always made clear that we would not let matters rest there.

"In other words, we would not regard these matters as closed. We would regard political integration as having gone too far. We have consistently made clear, for example, that the return of social and employment legislation to UK control would be a major goal.

"But today the Treaty is not in force and not ratified ... that is why Gordon Brown should give the British people a referendum on it right now."

SATS FACE CONSERVATIVE AXE

A CONSERVATIVE government would abolish all primary school Sats tests for 11-year-olds in England, the party has confirmed.

Shadow schools Michael Gove plans to replace the exams with national tests in the first year of secondary school instead.

He said yesterday that replacing the tests, which were "increasingly discredited", would allow an assessment system which better served the needs of children. By switching them to when children went up to secondary school, the last year of primary education would be freed up for more broader teaching, he argued.

It would also allow a better assessment of how schools were performing in preparing children for their secondary education.

Mr Gove said: "We want to make sure we have a system of testing and assessment which actually serves the interests of children."