BRITAIN:Gordon Brown is under renewed pressure to concede a British referendum after the finding by a committee of MPs that the EU reform treaty is "substantially equivalent" to the constitution rejected by French and Dutch voters.
The British prime minister and foreign secretary David Miliband insist the two documents are substantially different, and that the "red lines" negotiated by the Labour government protect British decision-making in the key areas of foreign and defence policy, human rights and tax and benefits. However, the Labour-led Commons European Scrutiny Committee said it was "likely to be misleading" for the British government to claim that the treaty no longer had the characteristics of a constitution.
The committee also warned that, in its view, the government's "red lines" might not prove effective. "What matters is whether the new treaty produces an effect which is substantially equivalent to the constitutional treaty," the report said. "We consider that, for those countries which have not requested derogations or opt-outs from the full range of agreements in the treaty, it does."
Even with the "red lines" negotiated, the committee argued, the UK could find itself effectively signed up to the provisions set out in the old constitution.
Conservative spokesman Mark Francois said: "It is now crystal clear the two documents are essentially the same, and therefore Gordon Brown is morally bound to offer the people the referendum he promised them."
Mr Brown has said that if his "red lines" are not preserved during the forthcoming negotiations in Portugal, then Britain would either veto the treaty or have a referendum.