House of Lords reject referendum

The House of Lords have rejected the Conservative amendment that would have forced the government to hold a referendum before the Constitutional Reform Lisbon Treaty became the law of the land through the European Union (Amendment) Bill.

The vote was fairly close: 280 to 218, with HMG and the Lib-Dims arguing that there was no need for that referendum as the new treaty would not change the British constitutional structure. Well, not much more than the previous treaties did, but it is possible that these people believe their own propaganda.

Judgement has been reserved in Stuart Wheeler's legal challenge.

UPDATE: A link to the preliminary record of the debate. Tomorrow morning it will be replaced by the official Hansard version