There will be no introduction of the European Union constitution "by the back door", British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said today.
But he said some elements of the constitution, such as its proposals on voting rights of member states, could be salvaged without the need for a British referendum.
"There will be no introduction of this constitutional treaty or indeed of anything that looks like this constitutional treaty by the back door," Mr Straw told BBC Radio 4. "That could only come in in the United Kingdom by a full debate and by a referendum."
Yesterday, Britain shelved plans to hold such a referendum in light of French and Dutch voters' rejection of the treaty.
But London has said the constitution - or at least parts of it - can be salvaged. "There are some things . . . a few, by the way, which everybody is signed up to," Mr Straw said, citing plans to improve the role of national parliaments within the EU.
"The voting system will have to be changed at some stage because the Nice formula will have to be changed," he said, referring to the current voting system, which is widely viewed as unfair and inadequate for the expanded 25-state EU.
"The [proposal for an] EU foreign minister is much more controversial and I accept that could only in practice come in in a major constitutional treaty change," Mr Straw said.
He reiterated Britain's position that no one EU country can declare the treaty dead and that any decision on its future should wait until EU leaders meet in Brussels on June 16th-17th.