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2nd UPDATE: UK Opposition To Seek To Win Back Powers From EU

(Adds pollster, EU reaction.)

By Joe Parkinson and Laurence Norman

Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

LONDON -(Dow Jones)- U.K. Opposition leader David Cameron Wednesday said his party would seek to win back some powers from Brussels if elected and pledged to hold a referendum on any further transfer of sovereignty from the U.K. to the European Union.

In a speech confirming his party won't hold a referendum on the now-ratified Lisbon Treaty, Cameron said the Conservatives would pass a law, if elected, that obliged U.K. governments to hold a vote if further powers were transferred to the EU.

"We will give the British people a referendum lock to which only they should hold they key - a commitment very similar to that in Ireland," adding that his party would "never allow Britain to slide into a federal Europe."

Cameron also said his party would pass a U.K. sovereignty bill that would ensure "the final word on our laws is here in Britain" and not in EU courts.

The center-right Conservatives opposed the Lisbon treaty and promised a referendum if it wasn't already ratified by all member nations before a U.K. election due by mid-2010. However, with the Czech Republic approving the treaty on Tuesday, Cameron said there was no practical purpose to holding a referendum on the treaty now.

The party are currently favorites to win next year's U.K. election but they have come under pressure in local and European elections from the U.K. Independence Party, which supports the U.K.'s withdrawal from the EU.

Cameron also said a Conservative government would seek an opt-out from the Charter of Fundamental Rights, greater protection from E.U. encroachment into the U.K. criminal justice system and restoration of U.K. control over social and employment legislation.

However, Cameron said a Conservative government wouldn't rush into trying to secure the opt-outs but would seek to win the exemptions over its first term in power.

"We will not rush into some massive Euro-bust-up," Cameron said.

The opposition leader stressed his party's attention would be focused on the " generational challenge" of grappling with budget deficits expected to run at around 12% of gross domestic product in the 2009 and 2010 financial years.

Cameron said a Conservative government wouldn't seek "to sabotage the operation of the European Union" and would be an "active member" of the 27- member bloc.

The issue could reawaken the divisions within the Conservatives over the EU that did much to damage the party when it was last in power in the 1990s.

Julia Clarke, head of political research at Ipsos Mori, said she doubts it will create such damage this time but that Cameron would have to tread carefully.

"This is a low salience issue with the public now - its one of those issues where if you poke it with a stick it becomes more important."

There was no immediate response from Prime Minister Gordon Brown's office. However, on Tuesday, the prime minister said he welcomed the Czech decision to ratify the accord and said the EU now needs to focus ahead, setting aside "years of debate on its institutions" and focus on "the issues that matter most to European citizens: security, climate change, jobs and growth."

A spokesman for the European Commission said "the Commission does not comment on political party manifestos."

However, one EU official singled out for concern Cameron's proposal for a sovereignty law placing ultimate authority in U.K. courts.

"Any questioning of the primacy of community law would of course create difficulties," the official said.

Altogether, the official said it was "not a speech to win friends in high places."

Brown's Labour party promised at the last election to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. But after the treaty was revised following no-votes in France and the Netherlands, the government said it wouldn't hold a vote because it no longer represented a significant transfer of U.K. sovereignty.

-By Joe Parkinson and Laurence Norman, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-207-842-9291; joe.parkinson@dowjones.com

  (END) Dow Jones Newswires
  11-04-091251ET
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