Blair pushes for early EU deal

Blair says he will be holding firm on key issues

Tony Blair has said he wants an early deal on the draft European constitution after meeting fellow EU leaders at a summit in Brussels.

But the prime minister said he was not prepared to give away British controls on key policies like tax, defence and criminal justice.

Despite that pledge, the Conservatives have accused Mr Blair of letting some of his "red line" issues crumble.

They want a referendum on plans they say will create an EU "super state".

Mr Blair rejected suggestions he would have preferred the issue to be put on the backburner until after the next general election to avoid a potentially damaging row.

He was as cut-off and closed-up as a very shy clam Andrew Marr's Blair trip diary

"The sooner we do this the better," he told reporters in Brussels.

He said a "speedy resolution" would "safeguard British interests", because it would make Europe more effective.

The summit has now closed but EU ministers have months of hard negotiations ahead of them.

'Wiggle room'

Earlier Downing Street conceded there was "wiggle room" in the talks on some issues, after Europe Minister Denis Macshane suggested the UK might accept common EU arrest standards.

This constitution marks a real shift of power from our elected representatives in Parliament to Brussels Michael Howard Tory leader

But Mr Blair insisted he was not ready to hand over control of key areas of Britain's court system to Brussels.

"There is no way Britain is going to give up running its criminal justice system in the way it wants to run it," he said.

Nor would he give away control in areas like taxation, defence or foreign policy, he said.

Talks on an EU constitution fell apart in December amid an acrimonious row over voting rights.

But EU leaders resurrected hopes of a deal on Thursday, announcing a new deadline of mid-June to wrap up the debate.

With the accession of 10 new member states on 1 May, an agreement was vital to make the EU work effectively, Mr Blair said.

Ahern's role

Mr Blair has privately told Irish Premier Bertie Ahern, the current EU president, he will back him all the way to get a deal by June or even sooner if possible.

Senior government officials have told journalists travelling with the prime minister that Mr Blair will try to get the constitution ratified by Parliament as soon as possible after any deal and well before the general election.

Tory leader Michael Howard renewed his referendum calls and promised to renegotiate the constitution if he won office after it had been agreed.

He told BBC Radio 4's PM programme: "This constitution marks a real shift of power from our elected representatives in Parliament to Brussels and it's very important that before that happens the British people should have a say."

'Game on'

Labour MP Gisela Stuart, who represented Labour on the convention drawing up the constitution, said a special Commons committee should be set up to examine any deal, with MPs given a free vote.

"We need to get it right rather than rush it through and bind ourselves to artificial deadlines," she added.

The new deadlines means the issue is likely to form a central part of campaigning for the European elections on 10 June.

But Michael McManus, of cross-party campaign group Vote 2004, said the polls were no substitute for a referendum.

Pushing for the vote, he said: "This is game on. After months of uncertainty we now know that we will have a European constitution by June."