Straw and Ancram clash over EU constitution
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw believes “very strongly” that voters will back the new European constitution in a referendum.
Mr Straw said the government had won key concessions from other European countries back in June and as such the treaty was good news for Britain.
Responding to his Conservative shadow, Michael Ancram, in the Commons on Thursday, Mr Straw said: “We are going into this referendum campaign in order to win; our policy is to gain a yes vote and I very strongly believe that we will get a yes vote”.
Mr Straw said the treaty was a “necessary counterpart” to the enlargement process.
Mr Ancram told MPs: “The fact is that the constitution will take huge powers away from Britain and give them to Brussels.
“It forms the basis of a federal European state.
“We should throw this constitution out”.
Mr Ancram said the government’s white paper “mixes fact with spin”.
The treaty seeks to tie up distinct pieces of legislation covering taxation, foreign policy, defence and social security, into one large document.
Yesterday, the foreign secretary published a white paper on the proposed EU constitution.
The Conservatives are opposed to the constitution as it currently stands and want a “constructive renegotiation” of its fundamentals.
Mr Ancram, expressing the Tories’ hostility to the constitution, questioned what would happen if the British people rejected it.
In a foreword to the white paper, Prime Minister Tony Blair commended the constitution to the country as it was a success and “a major step forward to creating the kind of Europe that the British people want”.
The referendum is unlikely to come before the next general election, expected in the first half of 2005.
