The Lisbon Treaty turns the EU into a state in its own right and gives the bloc its own legal identity. The unaccountable European Court of Justice, an EU institution, would effectively become the ‘supreme court’ of the EU.

Under the treaty, the unelected EU commission would propose all EU law which would then be imposed on member states by the council of ministers mostly on the basis of qualified majority voting.

The treaty also contains a so-called ‘Paseralle clause’ which would allow the EU to give itself more powers as it sees fit without the need for any more treaties.

The Labour government was elected in 2005 on a manifesto promising a referendum on the European Union constitution, which has now been rehashed as the Lisbon Treaty.

The House of Commons’ European Scrutiny Committee even described the Lisbon Treaty as: “substantially equivalent” to the EU Constitution and former French President Giscard D'Estaing even told us the treaty was a con.

“Public opinion will be led to adopt, without knowing it, the proposals that we dare not present to them directly. “All the earlier proposals will be in the new text, but will be hidden and disguised in some way," he said.

As part of this strategy, Gordon Brown’s government reneged on Labour’s manifesto promise to hold a referendum and instead forced the treaty through parliament with Liberal Democrat and Tory help.

The Irish electorate has also been told that they must vote for a second time on the Lisbon Treaty by October 2009 having voted to reject it in 2008. Why? Because EU and Irish politicians have decided Irish voters’ must be overruled.

Politicians across Europe hold their electorates in contempt: refusing to hold a referendum on the Treaty despite voters in France, the Netherlands and Ireland rejecting their plans for an undemocratic, neo-liberal superstate.

Vote No2EU - Yes to Democracy to oppose the Lisbon Treaty and defend democracy across Europe.