Gordon Brown yesterday moved to quell the backlash against his refusal to hold a referendum on the new European Union treaty by declaring that the deal struck in Lisbon would rule out any further EU reform for at least a decade.
"I will not support further institutional change," he said at the end of the Lisbon summit, which concluded more than six years of wrangling and finally agreed a new treaty reforming the way the union is run so that it is fit to function with 27 member states.
After the deal was struck yesterday in the early hours, EU leaders including the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, framed a declaration focusing on the challenges of globalisation rather than internal issues.
There was a palpable sense of relief in Lisbon that Europe was putting years of bruising battles behind it and indications that the "big three" - Britain, France, and Germany - could jointly push a more dynamic agenda on everything from climate change to financial markets' transparency to foreign crises such as Kosovo. "This was an extraordinarily important step," said Mrs Merkel. "Now we are fit for action."
German officials agreed with Mr Brown that there was no appetite for further battles over how the EU wields its powers.
"This is it. This discussion has been going on for more than six years. But now we are fitter and we can act," said one official. "No one wants anything like this again for a very, very long time."
Mr Brown hopes to draw some of the political poison from the debate on the new treaty ahead of the big parliamentary battle this winter on ratification.
A committee of "wise men", sought by Mr Sarkozy as a vehicle to block Turkish accession, is to be set up at the next summit in Brussels to look at the shape of Europe in 2030, but Mr Brown and other leaders won agreement that it will not be able to examine institutional issues or defence. Instead yesterday's deal clears the way to further EU enlargement.
The treaty was toasted with champagne as a climax to years of argument about the enlargement of the EU to 27 countries.
Mr Brown, alert to the mood in Britain, pointedly refused to join the champagne toasts of his fellow EU leaders.
"We have agreed that we should rule out further institutional change for years ahead. We have agreed that there should be a new declaration of new priorities to come before the December council and Europe will move away from the institutional, inward-looking agenda of the past, and to deal with the new agenda of globalisation, prosperity and environment," said Mr Brown yesterday.
Mr Brown, who will face Tory allegations of betrayal when he makes a Commons statement on Monday, expects a lengthy battle to force the treaty through parliament. He said: "I am happy now to have the fullest possible parliamentary debate on all the details of the amending treaty. I believe the debate will show that at all points we have defended the British national interest while making it possible for Europe to respond to the larger membership of 27 nations ... I believe those that have asked us to be absolutely insistent that the safeguards are maintained in the final details of the documents will find that we have been totally vigilant and we have achieved our work."
The chief whip, Geoff Hoon, said he did not foresee a big Labour rebellion in the Commons and Nick Clegg, the favourite to become Liberal Democrat leader, also ruled out backing a referendum on the treaty when the issue is voted upon in the Commons. But the Tory leader, David Cameron, said: "In the modern world, where people want power and control over lives, to deny them a referendum is a denial of democracy. It is also the breaking of a clear promise that was made in Labour's manifesto and our manifesto."
Eurosceptic view
The Sun
"The PM transformed the lavish banquet into a sordid Last Supper for Britain as an independent sovereign state."
The Daily Telegraph
"The European reform treaty to be agreed by Gordon Brown and fellow EU leaders in Lisbon today marks a profound shift away from free market reform."
Daily Mail
"He will also be stripping this nation of its sovereignty in crucial areas - and denying future generations of Britons the right, hard-won by our ancestors, to choose who should govern them and how."