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European Council

When it was a constitutional treaty, nine Governments in Europe said there should be a referendum. As it is no longer a constitutional treaty, only one Government—the Irish, who are legally obliged to do so—are having a referendum. This has been through constitutional courts in Denmark and Holland, which agreed that this is not a constitutional treaty. In fact, the first words of the Brussels declaration are that the constitutional concept has been abandoned. The Conservative party would do better to follow us in negotiating better living standards and better deals for the British people than to try to renegotiate past treaties, which is clearly what it will spend all its time doing.