Ananova
June 20, 2008

Foreign Secretary David Miliband has offered an “absolute guarantee” that the Lisbon Treaty will not come into force unless it is accepted by the people of Ireland.

Mr Miliband rejected suggestions that Britain wants Ireland to rerun its referendum in the hope of securing a Yes vote and said there would be “no bamboozling or bulldozing” of Dublin as it considers its next move.

The Foreign Secretary also defended trade commissioner Peter Mandelson, who came under fire on Thursday night from French president Nicolas Sarkozy for his supposed role in Ireland’s rejection of the treaty last week.

The European Council summit in Brussels is expected to finish without a solution to the problem thrown up by last week’s vote in Ireland - the only one of the EU’s 27 member states to put the Lisbon Treaty to a referendum.

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