Blair defends EU summit showing

Blair: Britain will safeguard tax, defence and foreign policy

Tony Blair has told MPs the draft constitution presented to the leaders of Europe at the weekend made clear that the EU would remain a union of nation states.

It offered the prospect of stability in the way Europe worked, the prime minister told MPs in a statement, and was a "good basis for negotiation" at the intergovernmental conference beginning in October in Italy.

He insisted the UK would safeguard its right to determine its own tax, defence and foreign policy.

But Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith said the prime minister had failed to raise the common agriculture policy at the summit and failed to win backing for his asylum plans.

He repeated his call for a referendum on the proposed constitution, arguing that 88% of British voters wanted one because it meant a large transfer of power from member states to Brussels.

Meanwhile, Mr Blair insisted that he wanted to plough ahead with pilot schemes for a British proposal to set up special asylum camps in regions which produce large volumes of refugees.

He said the plan had the backing of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The European Commission would report back on the pilots which will go ahead despite the policy being rejected by EU leaders at the summit in Greece, he said.

The proposal was thrown out because some countries argued that the so-called regional "protection zones" sounded more like concentration camps.

Evolution?

Mr Blair also acknowledged there would be battles ahead over tax and defence but insisted "they are battles we can win".

"At this point in time with Europe, at a crucial point of evolution, Britain has to have the confidence to stride forward."

At the summit the prime minister and fellow EU leaders formally took delivery of more than 220 pages of proposals for the draft constitution, drawn up by former French President Valery Giscard D'Estaing.

Difficult negotiations lie ahead

The key proposals are for a new full-time president of the EU and an EU foreign minister or foreign policy representative.

The prime minister has made clear the plans negotiated by the convention were just the start.

As Mr Blair was delivering his statement the Vote 2004 campaign, which wants a referendum on the proposed constitution, seized on remarks reportedly made by French President Jacques Chirac that he might favour a referendum in France.

Website euobserver.com quoted him as saying: "I am logically in favour of a referendum.

"It would be the only legitimate way - but it is not a thing I alone can decide here tonight, it requires political negotiations."

Vote 2004 spokesman Neil O'Brien said: "It is going to be very difficult for the government to explain why people in France are smart enough to have a vote but we aren't."

Meanwhile, a new ICM poll in the Guardian suggests difficulties for Tony Blair are dragging his party down.

The newspaper's survey showed Mr Blair's popularity had plummeted and the gap between Labour and the Conservatives had narrowed to 4%, the worst since the petrol crisis.

With damage caused by the euro decision, the controversial reshuffle and the re-opened tax debate, Labour's share dropped 3% to 38% with the Tories on 34%.

The ICM poll also suggested support for the euro had dropped 9% to only 21% because of the recent machinations.