David Cameron has rejected calls by Tory Eurosceptics to commit to a referendum on the controversial Lisbon Treaty even if it has been ratified by the rest of the EU.
After the Yes vote in the Irish referendum on the treaty removed a major obstacle to full ratification, the Tory leader was coming under renewed pressure to explain what he would do if it has been fully implemented by the time a Conservative government came to power.
But as activists gathered in Manchester for the start of the party's annual conference, he insisted that he did not want to speculate as long as the two remaining member states - Poland and the Czech Republic - had yet to ratify.
"I don't want to say anything or do anything now that would undermine or prejudice what is happening in other countries where they are still debating whether to ratify this treaty. That is a very sensible thing to do," he told BBC1's The Andrew Marr show.
"There were three countries that it hadn't been ratified in - Ireland, the Czech Republic and Poland. There are now two so I don't see any reason to change our approach because one of those has decided to ratify.
"I think people will understand this argument that while there are other countries actually delaying the implementation of this treaty, don't do anything or say anything that stops them from doing that."
