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William Hague has said that a Conservative government would hold a referendum on the Lisbon treaty.
Speaking on the final day of the Tory conference in Birmingham the shadow foreign secretary added that his party would campaign for a no vote.
He told activists: "Our position rests on the basic truth that in a democracy, lasting political institutions cannot be built without popular consent.
"If in the end this treaty is ratified by all 27 nations of the EU, then clearly it would lack democratic legitimacy here in Britain, political integration would have gone too far, and we would set out at that point the consequences of that and how we would intend to proceed.
"But we say to the Irish people - you are not alone, and if a Conservative government takes office while the Lisbon treaty remains unratified by Ireland or any other nation, we will hold the referendum the British people want and deserve and we will recommend as their government that they vote no."
The former leader also said that a Tory government would establish a privy council inquiry into the origins and conduct of the Iraq war.
"We supported the decision to remove Saddam Hussein, but we all know that an occupation of Iraq that was better conceived and implemented could have spared so many the agony and bloodshed of the last five years," he will say.
"I make it clear today that if they [the government] do not establish such an inquiry, one of the first acts of a Conservative government will be to do so," he said.
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