BRITAIN: The Conservative leader Mr Michael Howard fired the opening shots yesterday in what is set to become a British electoral battle over the proposed new European constitution.
With Dublin now hoping to crown the Irish presidency with agreement on the constitution at the EU heads of government meeting in June, Mr Howard said an incoming Conservative government would seek to overhaul it. In doing so Mr Howard served notice on the Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, that the Conservatives intend to make this a defining issue in the European elections in June and all the way to the British general election expected next year.
"This constitution is unacceptable to me and, I think, to a majority of people in this country," Mr Howard told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Were I faced with that position, I would do what has to be done in order to change a situation which is unacceptable."
He added: "I think we will be able, as an incoming Conservative government, to do what needs to be done to safeguard the vital interests of this country."
Mr Blair's official spokesman said the British government would hold firm to its so-called "red lines", retaining national control over the key issues of taxation, defence and foreign affairs.
However, amid speculation that Britain might agree some compromise on national vetoes in areas such as justice, Mr Howard claimed the new EU constitution would see a vast range of powers handed-over to Brussels, including those relating to asylum and immigration. He said this would enable Brussels to impose quotas on the number of asylum-seekers Britain would be required to admit.
Mr Howard repeated that he wanted a European Union in which member-states could integrate further if they wished, while leaving others such as Britain free not to do so.
And he likened his proposed renegotiation to the British rebate obtained by former prime minister Mrs (now Baroness) Thatcher.
Describing the proposals as the biggest constitutional change in Britain since the 17th century, Mr Howard declared: "I will start renegotiating about it, to change those proposals."
At the same time the Tory leader observed that, even if the heads of government reached agreement, there was no guarantee the new constitution would come to pass because it would have to survive referendums in some seven EU countries where the results were not a foregone conclusion.