Britain ratifies EU Treaty

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A last-ditch Conservative attempt to delay ratification until the autumn was voted down in the House of Lords by a margin of 93, and peers later gave the Bill its third reading without a vote. Royal Assent is expected to follow within 24 hours.

Parliamentary ratification came on the eve of an EU summit in Brussels expected to be dominated by Ireland's rejection of the Treaty in last week's referendum.

Irish PM Brian Cowen is expected to ask for more time to consider his country's response to the 'No' vote, which threatens to prevent next year's planned implementation of the Treaty's reforms, including a full-time EU president and foreign minister.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said that the Treaty cannot come into force unless it is ratified in all 27 EU states.

On his way to the Brussels summit, he will hold talks in Paris with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who will inherit the headache over how to deal with the Irish vote when he takes over the EU's six-month rotating presidency in July.

At Prime Minister's Questions in the Commons, Mr Brown brushed off a demand from Conservative leader David Cameron to accept that Ireland's verdict has killed off the Treaty, which replaces the constitution rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005.

"We respect the decision of the Irish. They have asked to have more time to discuss what their proposals will be to deal with this situation," Mr Brown told MPs.

"They have not suggested either that they wish to postpone the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty for other countries or that they wish to stall the whole process."

But Mr Cameron accused Mr Brown and other European leaders of trying to pressurise Dublin into a second referendum to reverse the result. As the row escalated, the Opposition leader told Mr Brown: "I've seen more spine and leadership from a bunch of jellyfish."