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		Gainsborough MEP slams EU constitution Wednesday, 22nd March 2006 Gainsborough - In a speech in Gainsborough on Friday, Conservative MEP for Lincolnshire Roger Helmer criticised the determination of EU leaders to push through the EU constitution. Mr Helmer was attending the Gainsborough Conservative Association branch dinner, at the Hickman Hill Hotel along with local MP Edward Leigh and Branch Chairman Donald Sweeting. After a fine dinner of roast beef Mr Helmer spoke about the future of the EU, the failures of the recent British presidency (July/Dec 2005), and the EU Constitution. His key message was that despite the emphatic rejection of the Constitution by France and Holland last year, EU leaders are determined to get it through one way or another. Mr Helmer said: "They are already implementing huge chunks of it, like a new Human Rights Agency and a diplomatic service, without any legal basis. The will either ask France and Holland to vote again, as they did with Denmark over Maastricht and Ireland over Nice, or they will simply do it piecemeal without ratification". Roger Helmer was first elected in 1999 and re-elected in 2004 as the local MEP for the East Midlands, which includes Gainsborough.