Citation 2008 c.7 Territorial extent United Kingdom | Introduced by David Miliband Royal assent 19 June 2008 | |
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Long title An Act to make provision in connection with the Treaty of Lisbon Amending the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty Establishing the European Community, signed at Lisbon on 13 December 2007. Commencement 19 June 2008, except for section 3 and the Schedule which came into force on 1 December 2009. | ||
The European Union (Amendment) Act 2008 (c. 7) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It gives effect in the law of United Kingdom to the Lisbon Treaty, which was signed there by then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown on 14 December 2007. The Bill was first debated in the House of Commons on 21 January 2008, and passed its second reading that day by a vote of 362-224; Prime Minister Gordon Brown was absent that day, and left the Bill to be defended by the then Foreign Secretary David Miliband who introduced it to the House of Commons. A Conservative amendment led by the then Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague to hold a UK-wide referendum on final approval the Lisbon Treaty was defeated by the Labour Government in a Committee stage debate on 5 March 2008 by 311-248 in the House of Commons. The enactment via royal assent came on 19 June 2008. The Act does not actually ratify the treaty; it merely adds the Lisbon Treaty to the treaties listed in section 1(2) of the European Communities Act 1972. The actual ratification by the United Kingdom of the treaty took place when the British Government deposited the instruments of ratification in Rome on 16 July 2008.