 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 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 of 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.