Los laboristas se las ingeniaron para no tener que celebrarla con la falaz excusa de que el Tratado Constitucional no era lo mismo que el Tratado de Lisboa. Los conservadores eludieron su responsabilidad porque, según ellos, ya se había ratificado el Tratado de Lisboa y, por tanto, ya no se podía celebrar un referendo.
The former wriggled out of it on the spurious ground that the Constitutional Treaty and the Lisbon Treaty were different; the latter wriggled out of its obligation on the ground that the Lisbon Treaty had been ratified and therefore, it was impossible to have a referendum.