Millionaire businessman Stuart Wheeler today won permission for a legal challenge to force the Government to hold a referendum on the EU Reform Treaty.

Mr Wheeler, a major Conservative Party donor, claimed recently at London's High Court that he had "a legitimate expectation" that Gordon Brown would hold a vote.

A senior judge has now ruled that he is allowed to seek a judicial review to get a referendum on the controversial agreement, known as the "Lisbon Treaty". The hearing is expected to start on June 9.

Critics of the Government say that the document contains many of the same measures as the earlier Constitutional Treaty - on which Labour promised a referendum.

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Mr Wheeler said outside court: "The Government's lawyers tried to get the case thrown out, maintaining on various grounds that my case was unarguable. I am delighted that the judge has decisively rejected that.

"The moral case for a referendum was overwhelming. The legal case is strong, based upon a series of promises to the electorate.

"The legal premise of the case is that it is in the interests of good administration that the Government should implement their promises, unless there is a sound reason not to. No reason has been given."

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