Hague: Lisbon against 'spirit of age'

The EU should not place its own president above any nation, the Tories warned today.

Shadow foreign secretary William Hague set out his party’s opposition to the Lisbon Treaty, telling the Conservative Party conference it was “against the spirit of our age”.

In a speech that roused two standing ovations, Mr Hague told supporters in Manchester: “We seek a European Union that acts by agreement among nations, rather than by placing its own president or foreign minister above any nation.”

He warned that the Lisbon Treaty would result in the “ever greater centralisation of power beyond the democratic control of the people”.

Mr Hague added: “In its lack of accountability and legitimacy it goes against our fundamental belief that people should only be led and governed with their consent.”

It was important for Britain to be part of the EU so that Europe could use its “collective weight” for dealing with Iran over nuclear policy and Russia over energy security.

But under a Tory government, there would be a “distinctive British foreign policy, geared to the promotion of the British national interest.”