The disturbing pictures showing Czech children caged in their care home beds will have upset all parents who saw the undercover film for the BBC last week. Despite a ban on such beds by the Czech government following international pressure, it’s clear hundreds of children are still being treated badly.

This is exactly the sort of area where the British public might want to see the European Union act to drive up standards across member countries. And the good news is that this is exactly what the new Reform Treaty will enable the EU to do.

It explains why children’s charities have given their enthusiastic support to the provisions on children’s rights in the new treaty which we started debating in the Commons this week. A powerful alliance, including Barnado’s, the NSPCC and Save the Children, has come together to express their belief that the treaty will help tackle abuse and improve the life of children across the EU. They are delighted that it will, for the first time, ensure the interests of children are taken into account whenever EU policies are drawn up or put into practice. The charities hail the treaty as “a significant step” towards improving the welfare of children in the UK, in the EU and across the globe.

And on the environment, the reform treaty will raise standards across Europe to halt the destruction of precious forests and landscapes. By modernising and streamlining the way the EU makes decisions and enabling Europe to speak more forcefully on the global stage, it will also help ensure our voice carries more weight in the coming crucial debates over international action to curb climate change.

Given the treaty also increases Britain’s voting strength in the EU, hands more powers to national parliaments and that Gordon Brown protected every single one of our red lines, you might think even the Tories would support it. You would be wrong. Even when it is a good deal for Britain, the Tories can’t drop their knee-jerk hostility to the EU.

Not for the first time, they find themselves totally isolated. Not a single government or major opposition party across Europe shares their opposition to the treaty. In fact, the only parties which do are the Portuguese communists, Sinn Fein, the Dutch far-right fringe and the Dutch Party for the Animals.

It’s the same story over the referendum. Listening to the Tories, you might think Britain was the only country not holding a referendum on the treaty. It’s the exact opposite. Out of 27 EU members, only Ireland – who by law have to stage a poll on every European treaty – is holding a referendum.

They recognise – as the constitutional courts in both Denmark and Holland did when they examined it in detail – that this treaty is very different from the constitution it replaced. Nor will its impact be anywhere near as big as either the Maastricht Treaty or Single Europe Act, both of which were agreed by Tory governments without a referendum.

But, of course, the Tories really aren’t concerned about this treaty or a referendum at all. To them, it’s another ploy in their long campaign to try to detach Britain from Europe, no matter how disastrous that might be for British jobs, for our prosperity and our influence in the world.

With Europe by far our biggest market for our goods and services, any sensible party would surely want to improve links to the EU, not weaken them.

I suspect even the Dutch Party for the Animals might recognise the Tories are barking up the wrong tree – again.