Euro treaty is a threat to Britain, warns Labour MP who wrote it

The revived EU constitution will pave the way for the first European
'government' with sweeping powers over Britain, one of its original architects
warned yesterday.

The Prime Minister would be forced to represent the interests of the union
rather than the UK under the terms of the deal, said former Labour minister
Gisela Stuart.

Her warning came as the Conservatives claimed the agreement would see the
biggest sacrifice of Britain's rights to block EU proposals in a single treaty -
and could even allow Brussels to seize control of North Sea oil and gas
reserves.

In a Parliamentary written answer, the Foreign Office listed 50 different areas
where member states will lose their veto if the treaty is agreed. These include
transport, energy, tourism, civil protection, space, research and common
commercial policy.

Eurosceptic backbencher John Redwood, who tabled the question in the Commons,
said the EU was grasping the power to force the sharing of North Sea oil and gas
in the event of a crisis in energy supply.

"It's easy to envisage circumstances of scarcity when the rest of the EU says
this ought to be a common resource," he said.

The Foreign Office insisted the UK would be able to opt out of majority
decisions in 13 areas, including social security and judicial and police
co-operation. But the Tories said the Government's so-called "red lines" were
exactly the same as in the failed 2005 version of the constitution, on which it
did promise a referendum.

Miss Stuart, the Labour MP for Edgbaston who was a member of the group which
drew up the original blueprint, said it was clear from the text of the new
version that the European Council would get massivelyincreased powers. The body
was originally set up in 1974 as an informal forum for heads of EU member states
to meet.

But the treaty will formally incorporate the council into the EU's structure -
and oblige EU leaders to "promote its values, advance its objectives, serve its
interests' rather than those of member states.

Miss Stuart, now a fierce critic of the Government's refusal to offer a
referendum, said: "It used to be that leaders met in order to co-ordinate the
interest of the nation states.

"Under this new structure, that body where heads of state meet will become
subordinate to the union's interests.

"They will now have a duty to represent the interests of the union, not the
interests of the member state. It's a consolidation of the way the union works
into a structure which is much more like a government."

She claims ministers are either being "deliberately disingenuous or
ill-informed" when they claim the treaty is not substantial enough to merit a
referendum.