One of the worst betrayals was Labour’s General Election pledge to give the British public a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.

I have real anger towards Gordon Brown for signing the constitution and having denied us that referendum. The Conservative Party were committed to that referendum and tried to make it happen through a parliamentary vote, but both Labour and the Liberal Democrats broke their promise. Their behaviour was a betrayal of democracy. Had we had a referendum, I would have campaigned vigorously with my Party against signing the Treaty. Sadly, the Lisbon Treaty has now been absorbed as part of European law and the new posts it created have already been established.

I also opposed the Maastricht Treaty previously, even with the opt-outs Britain won. Similarly, I was angered when Labour gave away those hard-won opt-outs and Blair sacrificed the financial rebate negotiated by Margaret Thatcher.

I am however, delighted that David Cameron has fulfilled his leadership campaign promise to take Conservative MEPs out of the previous pro-federalist group in the EU and establish the new European Conservatives and Reformists Group which argues for reform of the EU and a non-federalist future for Europe. The left-wing parties said he wouldn’t be able to do this, but he did and has been true to his word.

People are tired of a European Union built from the top down, obsessing about its powers, not consulting the people. We need to change that. A Conservative government would never allow Britain to slide into a federal Europe. Britain’s interests are best served by a European Union that is an association of its nation states, working together on our common problems: keeping our economies competitive, securing our energy supplies and dealing with the world’s trouble spots.

A new Conservative government will protect Britain’s interests in Europe and salvage as much as we can from the mess that Labour have made.

First, we must make sure that never again can areas of power be handed over to the EU without a referendum. A Conservative government will pass a law – by amending the 1972 European Communities Act – so that any future treaty which hands over further of areas of power to the EU would be subject to a referendum – a referendum lock for which only the British people will have the key.

Recent events in Greece have shown how right we were to keep the pound. Amazingly, it is still the official aim of Labour and the Lib Dem policy to scrap the pound.  A Conservative government will keep the pound and never take the UK into the Euro, and we will change the law to prevent any future government from doing so without a referendum.

We will also change the law by passing a UK Sovereignty Bill to make it clear that ultimate authority stays in this country, in our Parliament, and does not belong to the EU.

These changes can be put in place by our own Parliament. They will put in place real protection for our democracy – protections other countries have but which are missing here in Britain.

But these measures are about preventing problems in the future. They do not deal with the problems we are facing today, which will now be made worse by the Lisbon Treaty: in essence, the steady and unaccountable intrusion of the European Union into almost every aspect of our lives.

A Conservative Government will address the most pressing problems by negotiating for three specific guarantees with our European partners to bring back powers that we believe should reside with Britain, not the EU: on those EU social and employment laws that are doing the most damage to our businesses and public services, on our criminal justice system and on the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.

These guarantees are essential and deliverable. Essential, because we have identified the areas of the Lisbon Treaty that cause the deepest concern, and the ones with greatest potential to interfere with our democracy. Deliverable, because we have chosen areas where the return of powers from the EU to Britain protects our distinctive national interests without harming the interests of our European partners.

Clearly the urgency of dealing with the staggering debt and other problems which Labour has inflicted on the country means now is not the ideal time to have to focus the energies of politicians and civil servants on what will need to be protracted and tough negotiations with the EU. However, the fact that David Cameron has chosen men of the calibre of Shadow Europe Minister, Mark Francois and the Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague to negotiate for us gives me more optimism on the EU issue than I have had in years – provided the Conservative Party win at this election.