BRITAIN: The British government has set the scene for a possible confrontation with France and Germany by shelving its plans for a referendum on the EU constitution.
Britain's European Union Bill to effect the treaty and make provision for a referendum was due to have its second reading in the House of Commons shortly. However, in a statement to MPs yesterday, foreign secretary Jack Straw said it would not be sensible to proceed as planned "until the consequences of France and the Netherlands being unable to ratify the treaty are clarified".
Mr Straw resisted invitations from MPs on all sides of the house to declare the treaty dead, insisting "it is not for the UK alone to decide the future of the treaty". And he said the government reserved completely the right to bring the legislation providing for a British vote back before parliament "should circumstances change".
Stressing the need for further discussion with EU partners, Mr Straw said: "The constitutional treaty is the property of the European Union as a whole. It is now for European leaders to reach conclusions on how to deal with the situation."
Mr Straw's carefully-worded statement appeared consistent with 10 Downing Street's view that it is not necessary for the British to take any decision, and that it is for President Jacques Chirac in particular to indicate at next week's European Council whether he intends to put the issue before the French people a second time.
However, the pre-emptive decision to "postpone" the planned second reading of the Bill is likely to enrage Mr Chirac and Germany's Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who have called on other EU countries to continue with the ratification process.
And for all the diplomatic language employed by Mr Straw yesterday, the reaction of MPs on all sides will have reinforced French and German suspicions that the British really regard the ratification process as at an end.
Conservative foreign affairs spokesman Liam Fox derided the president and chancellor as "political dinosaurs" as he urged Mr Straw to "declare the constitution dead", and again sought assurance that the government would not attempt to restore key elements of the constitutional treaty "by the back door". Accusing Mr Straw of "a complacent and condescending response" to the decision of French and Dutch voters, Dr Fox also said the foreign secretary was "wrong" in suggesting it was not for Britain alone to decide the issue.
Rejection of the treaty by the British people in a referendum would bring the process to an end, he observed. "What is it about 'no' they do not understand," he demanded of "the political dinosaurs at the helm in France and Germany and the army of Eurocrats."
And he declared: "I may no longer practise medicine, but I can tell a corpse when I see one and this constitution is a case for the morgue if ever I saw one - this is a dead constitution."
Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith argued if the treaty was not dead, the people should be allowed the opportunity to "kill it off". Leading Europhile and possible Conservative leadership contender Kenneth Clarke said it was "common sense" not to re-introduce the bill or continue the ratification process, and urged Mr Straw to tell other governments to forget about "rule changes" and "get on with the real business of the Union".