(LISBON) - Britain called Friday for the European Union to "move on" to real reform after agreeing a new treaty, but eurosceptics threatened to keep the wrangling going with fresh demands for a referendum on the pact.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown, whose country has traditionally been one of the most EU-cautious, said the 27-nation EU should rule out any further institutional change for "many years."

"I believe the significance of this summit is that there will be new priorities for Europe," he said after EU leaders agreed a new treaty to replace the bloc's aborted constitution.

"We have agreed that we should rule out further institutional change for years ahead," he added.

Brown, who has long stressed the need for free-market reforms in Europe, said earlier the bloc must focus on jobs, growth and environmental protection after ending two years of institutional "navel gazing."

"It is now time for Europe to move on and devote all our effort to the issues that matter to the peoples of Europe," he said shortly after the EU treaty was agreed in the early hours after late-night talks.

But eurosceptics immediately renewed calls for a plebiscite on the new treaty, which replaces an aborted constitution rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005.

"This is, once again, Gordon Brown and his government treating the British people like fools," said opposition Conservative leader David Cameron, whose party is on a roll after a disastrous couple of weeks for the British premier.

Brown says a referendum is not needed because the new pact is fundamentally different from the constitution, as well as trumpeting the opt-outs Britain secured on foreign policy, labour rights, common law and tax and social security.

But Tories say his motives are more basic: it is widely assumed that a British referendum would reject the EU treaty, especially with the help of a popular press which has long campaigned against a "European superstate."

And they are determined to keep Brown -- widely perceived as cooler on the EU than his predecessor Tony Blair -- on the back foot after he was forced to drop plans for snap elections at the last minute.

British eurosceptics used the Lisbon summit to highlight their call for a plebiscite, setting up a giant inflatable ballot box not far from the summit venue with the message "I want a referendum."

But Foreign Secretary David Miliband again dismissed the calls Friday, as EU leaders held a second day of talks in the Portuguese capital.

"The constitution is dead. Last night marked the end of the constitution," he told BBC radio.

"The myths about this treaty that have been propagated -- that it will mean the end of our seat on the UN Security Council, that we're no longer going to have the Queen's name inside our passports, that it is the end of Britain -- are just myths."

Assuming Brown resists pressure for a referendum, his government will have to ratify the new treaty in parliament next year.

In theory this should be straightforward, given that his ruling Labour party has a 60-plus seat majority in parliament. But a significant number of Labour lawmakers have joined calls for a referendum.

Britain has been there before: in 1993 the Maastricht Treaty only squeezed through parliament in London after a battle of wills which almost brought down the conservative government of then premier John Major.

Brown voiced confidence that MPs can be persuaded to ratify the new Lisbon Treaty, even if the process may be long.

"I do anticipate very detailed debate. I do anticipate a very prolonged discussion about some of the issues," he said. "I look foward to the opportunity to explain how we have defended the national interest."

EU governments are to formally sign the treaty in December, leaving a year for all member states to ratify it individually so that it can come into effect, as planned, on January 1, 2009.

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