Britse premier Tony Blair spreekt zich zonder voorbehoud uit vóór de EU-grondwet (en)

The UK's referendum campaign got underway yesterday, as the government published its case for the Constitution.

The Referendum is likely to be at least a year away, but the campaign has started, with the UK government publishing, yesterday (9 September), a 49-page guide to the Constitution.

"I have no hesitation in commending it to the country as a success and as a major step forward in creating the kind of Europe that the British people want", Mr Blair wrote in the foreword.

It establishes clearly where the EU can and cannot act, and confirms the EU is a union of nation states, Mr Blair added.

The Foreign Secretary Jack Straw told MPs he believed "very strongly" that British people will approve the Constitution. "We are going into this referendum campaign in order to win", Mr Straw added.

The opposition Conservative party condemned the document by claiming it was another spin "designed to deceive the people of Britain".

However while Mr Blair is working hard to win support for the Constitution, Chancellor Gordon Brown appeared to undermine the prime minister's position by sending a warning that the EU must sort out its problems with economic growth.

"It is the weakness of European Union growth that lies at the root of imbalances [in the world economy]", the Chancellor wrote in the Financial Times.