In full: Hague EU treaty speech

Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague has delivered a speech on the European Union treaty. Here is the text in full:

Yesterday the draft text of the new EU treaty was published.

This treaty would fundamentally change the European Union and Britain's place in it.

Although to call it a treaty is contentious: the new trade minister Digby, Lord Jones has said 'this is a con to call this a treaty - it's not. It's exactly the same - it's a constitution'.

I think he is right.

It is our belief that this treaty should not be ratified without the British people's agreement in a referendum for two reasons.

First, because the referendum question goes to the heart of the issue of trust in politics.

And, secondly, because such a fundamental change to powers and role of nation states such as ours vis-à-vis the European Union should require the British people's explicit consent in a national vote.

Let me remind you what the Labour Party's election manifesto said: 'We will put it - the EU constitution - to the British people in a referendum and campaign whole-heartedly for a "Yes" vote'.

For the avoidance of any doubt, the last prime minister said: 'what you can't do is have a situation where you get a rejection of the treaty and then you just bring it back with a few amendments and say we will have another go'.

Those promises could not be clearer.

And they touch directly on a crucial issue in today's politics - this issue of trust.

After 10 years of New Labour's style of government trust in politics is at an all time low, not least because under Labour ministers' promises and actions can seem wholly unrelated.

Across Europe there is near unanimity that the new EU treaty is simply the substance of the EU constitution repackaged.

I will not weary you by reading out a long list of quotations from the various EU leaders who have said exactly that but there are three who have summed up what has happened succinctly.

The Danish prime minister put it like this: 'all the symbolic elements are gone, and that which really matters - the core - is left'.

Chancellor Merkel has been quite clear that, I quote, 'the fundamentals of the constitution have been maintained in large part'.

And Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, who, as you know, oversaw the drafting of the original EU constitution, is delighted with what has come out of last month's summit.

He was able to tell the European Parliament that 'the changes compared to the 2004 IGC are few and far between...and more cosmetic than real'.

With power transferred from Britain to Brussels in spades and the EU fundamentally changed there is no question but that the constitution by another name merits a referendum.

And you need not take that simply from me.

After the constitution was rejected the first time round the then foreign secretary, whom the new prime minister has now appointed Justice Secretary and first secretary of state, set out a simple test for any new treaty.

If the new treaty had the president and the foreign minister then, Jack Straw said, it would in essence be the constitution.

The new treaty has the president and foreign minister.

It is in essence the constitution.

The remaining question is where the promised referendum is.

Gordon Brown has talked a lot about accountability since he became prime minister.

Now is the time to see if he means it.

Because only by a referendum can the British people hold anyone to account over this treaty.

Just a week before the summit ministers were still denying, to the astonishment of European observers, that no negotiations were going on at all.

Both of this country's representatives at the summit - Tony Blair and Margaret Beckett - have now left the government.

The intergovernmental conference is due to finish in October, so there will be minimal opportunity for Parliament and public to discuss the treaty or influence the negotiations' outcome before the deal is done.

The government have absolutely no democratic mandate to agree to this treaty without the British people's express permission - the 2005 Labour Party manifesto did not say that the government would bring in 90% of the EU constitution under another guise if another country rejected it before the British people had had the chance to have their say.

Yet, in an act of extraordinary cynicism, Gordon Brown's government is proposing to do exactly that.

We have heard a lot this month about trust and consultation.

But how can the British people trust Gordon Brown if he begins his time as prime minister with a flagrant breach of a solemn manifesto promise? How can they trust him if he won't trust them to let them have their say?

By Jack Straw's test this is the constitution. Digby Jones says it's the Constitution. And now even Gordon Brown has admitted that this is the EU constitution.

What does Gordon Brown think people will make of his talk of consultation if he won't consult them on a question of fundamental importance to this country's future, on which the overwhelming majority of the British people want to have their promised say?

The answer is simple: trust the people and let them decide.