UK Court: Not So Fast, Gordon Brown

The U.K. government’s decision to ratify the European Union’s proposed controlling treaty without a referendum can be challenged by a British businessman, a U.K. court decided.

Former IG Group Plc Chairman John Stuart Wheeler, 73, won permission to have the decision judicially reviewed in a judgment today by the High Court in London. The legal dispute will be heard by the court on June 9 and 10.

The Lisbon Treaty, signed by 27 EU leaders in Lisbon in December, is designed to replace the European Constitution that was rejected by French and Dutch voters in referendums in 2005. The treaty also creates a full-time EU president.

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From 57 percent to 83 percent of British voters would like the opportunity to vote on the treaty, according to YouGov Plc’s polling Web site. Six polls since the middle of last year also show that British voters would vote down the treaty.

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