A freshly combative Mr Tony Blair has praised Ireland's EU presidency and again pressed for early agreement on the proposed new European constitution. Frank Millar in London reports
In a report to MPs on last week's European Council meeting in Brussels, the British Prime Minister warned that failure to reach agreement would result in "paralysis ... and an inability to make progress in vital areas of co-operation that are emphatically in the British national interest".
Mr Blair accused the Conservatives of peddling "fantasy rubbish" about the implications of the new constitution, as he insisted Britain would retain control over tax and social security, the UK abatement, defence, foreign policy and the criminal justice system.
However, as Mr Blair again rejected calls for a British referendum, Conservative leader Mr Michael Howard accused him of trying to "bounce Britain into this constitution before the general election".
Citing the commitment of at least seven member-states to hold referendums, he demanded: "Why won't you trust the British people?"
But Mr Blair turned the attack back on Mr Howard, claiming his promise to renegotiate the constitution amounted to a commitment to change the terms of Britain's EU membership, and declaring himself happy to have that debate. He also rejected a suggestion by former Labour minister Mr Frank Field that he was resisting a referendum because he knew he would lose it.
The Conservatives are intent on making the constitution and the referendum demand the central issues for the European elections in June, in which Labour is braced for defeats.
Mr Blair seems to have decided to present the choice as between co-operation with the rest of the member-states who want a constitution, and a Conservative commitment which he will cast as questioning the whole basis of British membership.
As Mr Blair was declaring war on the Tory Eurosceptics, Home Secretary Mr David Blunkett was launching his White Paper heralding a fresh assault on organised crime bosses.
The drive to make the UK "one of the most difficult environments in the world" for organised crime will be headed by the new elite Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), already dubbed "the British FBI".
The plans unveiled yesterday could see wire tap evidence admitted in British courts, despite the reported reluctance of the British security services. And a national witness programme is proposed to encourage people to inform on the "Mr Bigs" of the crime world, with a formal system of plea bargaining for "supergrass" witnesses who "turn Queen's evidence".
Mr Blunkett also announced that criminal "Godfathers" could be forced to hand over their bank statements for a decade after their release from jail.
However, his Commons statement was overshadowed by fresh speculation last night about the position of his Immigration Minister, Ms Beverley Hughes. In a fresh twist to the ongoing row over the alleged waiving of checks on Eastern European immigrants entering Britain, the Conservatives revealed a civil servant in the British consulate in Bucharest had been suspended after telling spokesman Mr David Davis of concerns about immigration checks.