The results in full | The reaction | Brian Cowen's misery | Brown's headache | Comment: EU here to stay | No means No

Irish voters tore up the European Union’s blueprint for the future yesterday in a dramatic and decisive rejection of the Lisbon treaty.

The result leaves Brussels’ plans to streamline EU power – creating a president and foreign minister and reducing the influence for smaller countries such as Ireland – in tatters.

The 53.4 per cent “no” vote should in theory sign the death warrant of the treaty, which has been eight years in the making, since it requires ratification by all 27 members. Gordon Brown faced immediate calls to scrap British ratification.

But some European leaders appeared determined to ignore the result. Suspicions grew of a Franco-German plot to forge ahead and leave Ireland behind after Jean-Pierre Jouyet, the French Europe Minister, said: “The most important thing is that the ratification process must continue in the other countries and then we shall see with the Irish what type of legal arrangement could be found.”

Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, and President Sarkozy of France – seen as the architects of the treaty – issued a joint plea for the remaining eight countries to complete ratification.

Mr Brown called both to say that Britain would comply, but there were dissenting voices elsewhere. Vaclav Klaus, the Czech President, declared: “The Lisbon treaty project ended today with the decision of the Irish voters and its ratification cannot be continued.”

Declan Ganley, the multi-millionaire founder of Libertas, a group that campaigned for a “no” verdict, told The Times that the result showed that a chasm had opened up between Europe’s political elite and its people. “Are we sending them back to the drawing board? Categorically yes,” he said.

The Irish Government and main opposition parties, which had campaigned for a “yes” vote, suffered a resounding defeat. More than half the Irish electorate – 53.13 per cent – turned out to vote, a significant improvement on past referendums.

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