"Now we can read it for what it is, the people should be allowed to vote on it," said Mr Dunne.
With other European leaders openly confirming that the obscure legal text of the official Treaty is essentially the old EU constitution dressed up in a new document, Mr Dunne declared: "The Government wants to avoid a referendum claiming the German proposals are just a 'Treaty' rather then a constitution. Yet the new Treaty contains 96% of the same proposals as the rejected constitution. This is the Constitution in all but name. The British people were promised a referendum in the manifesto on which Gordon Brown was elected, so he should let them have that vote."
A Conservative pamphlet puts the key points of the Treaty into plain English, so they can be understood at first sight, and people can make their own judgment about whether there should be a referendum. So for example:-
- Where the official Treaty says that "the constitutional concept, which consisted in repealing all existing Treaties and replacing them with a single text called 'Constitution' is abandoned", the Conservative version stated: "The EU Constitution's name has changed and it is now much harder to understand, but the content has stayed the same."
- While the Treaty says a High Representative will conduct the EU's common foreign and security policy, the Plain English version says: "The EU will have a foreign minister. He will chair foreign ministers' meetings, have his own diplomatic service and will even, under some circumstances, speak for us at the UN Security Council. Our own voice in the world will be less important."
- And while Brussels claims that the usual responsibilities of individual member states will not be undermined, the Real English version warns that guarantees about the independence of Britain's foreign policy are not legally binding, and may be worthless.
It comes after Lord Malloch-Brown - a Foreign Office Minister- called for Britain to be stripped of its seat on the United Nations Security Council with our place being handed to the EU. He added that he hoped that it would happen "as quickly as possible. I'm a huge fan of it."
Mr Dunne added: "So now we know why Gordon Brown has appointed the former UN official as a Minister: to provide political cover for Britain giving up its influence in the world. This is a disgrace. At a time when Britain is one of the few countries prepared to provide global leadership, Mr Brown wants to give it away to Brussels bureaucrats."
The only country which has agreed so far to hold a referendum on the new Treaty is Ireland.
