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Look out Blair on EU treaty, says British press

20 June 2004, 00:04 CET


Britain's newspapers spelt danger Sunday for Prime Minister Tony Blair over the EU constitution as a pair of new polls showed more than twice the number of Britons are against the treaty than for it.

"Blair hit by EU backlash," said The Sunday Times, pointing to pressure mounting on the prime minister from opposition politicians and business leaders to hold an immediate referendum on the constitution.

In the biggest and riskiest U-turn of his career, Blair pledged last April to put the constitution to the people in what will be only the second nation-wide referendum in British history.

The eurosceptic News of the World tabloid claimed that Blair was attempting to dupe the British public by delaying a plebiscite by up to two years.

"After his humiliating U-turn on holding a referendum to allow Britons a say in their future, he seeks to put back the vote, possibly to 2006," the newspaper said.

"Yet again, the premier misjudges the nation," it said. "If he believes he can fob off the electorate in this way, he must expect to pay a heavy price at the next general election", expected early in 2005.

An ICM poll, conducted for the New Frontiers Foundation independent eurosceptic thinktank, showed that 57 percent of those asked in a referendum would vote against the treaty with only 28 percent in favour.

Only 28 percent said they believed Blair that Britain will be able to keep complete control of its taxes, defence, criminal justice, and asylum policy, if it joined the constitution. Sixty-four percent said they did not.

Only 16 percent of 580 people polled on ICM on Saturday thought Britain should integrate further with other countries in the European Union.

Meanwhile, a YouGov poll of nearly 1,300 people for The Sunday Times showed that voters would reject the new constitution by 49 percent to 23 percent.

The anti-EU campaign, backed up by a like-minded popular press, feel emboldened after European Parliament elections that saw a fringe group, the UK Independence Party (UKIP), walk off with a dozen seats with its call for Britain to quit the EU altogether.

The Sunday Mirror tabloid said that Blair was so shocked by Labour's dismal showing in last week's local and European elections that he was considering delaying the next general election.

"May 2005 is still a possibility but only if things take a massive turn for the better," said a government insider qouted in the newspaper. "The case for 2006 is now much stronger."

The News of the World and the Business newspaper said that some 28 of Britain's top business leaders had written to Blair on Saturday to announce a campaign against the constitution.

The Mail on Sunday said that 100 of Blair's own Labour MPs planned to rebel against the prime minister by forming a new anti-EU group called "Labour Against A Superstate".

"When people read the small print they will see that this takes us much closer to a Euro superstate," one of the rebels, former sports minister Kate Hoey, told the newspaper.

The right-wing Sunday Telegraph reported that opposition Conservative leader Michael Howard, whose party is dead against the EU constitution, will call on Monday in the House of Commons for an immediate referendum.

"His message to the prime minister will be - bring it on. We think public opinion is on our side," Howard's spokesman said Saturday, according to the same source.

The Mail on Sunday said that a referendum on the EU constitution provided Britain with a chance for the first time in 30 years to regain control of its national destiny.

"An emphatic national rejection of this document would draw a red line that could not easily be erased and would be, for once, a real victory over the Brussels juggernaut," it said.

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