(BIRMINGHAM) - Britain's opposition Conservatives pledged Wednesday to hold a referendum on the EU's Lisbon Treaty if they come to power, while rejecting a second poll in Ireland after its shock "no" vote.

Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague said the centre-right party wanted to show the Irish, who threw the bloc into gridlock by rejecting the treaty in a referendum in June, that they were "not alone."

"We congratulate the people of the Irish Republic on having the courage to vote no to a treaty they did not want," said Hague, whose party is seeking to present itself as a government-in-waiting ahead of elections due before 2010.

"In doing so they spoke for many millions across Europe who were denied any vote of their own," he told the Conservatives' party conference in Birmingham, central England.

Hague said the Tories "deplored" the fact that Prime Minister Gordon Brown went ahead with ratifying the treaty despite the Irish result.

"We say to the Irish government -- 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," Hague said.

Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen was meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris Wednesday for talks on a way out of the crisis sparked by Ireland's "no" vote.

The treaty, which is designed to provide the decision-making apparatus for an enlarged European bloc, must be ratified by all 25 member states but Ireland is the only country to have subjected the text to a referendum.

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