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		Brown must keep Labour promise on referendum Thursday, 10th May 2007 Following the public resignation of Tony Blair today and the expected handover of power to Gordon Brown over the next few weeks, East Midlands Conservative MEP Roger Helmer has urged Mr Brown to stick to Labour’s manifesto commitment to hold a referendum on the future of the EU. One of Tony Blair’s last acts in government is likely to be to sign the new EU constitution at an inter-governmental conference on June 22nd. This new treaty is deliberately designed to include most of the substance of the failed constitution that was so explicitly rejected by the people of France and Holland in 2005 while making cosmetic changes to suggest it is less comprehensive. Such a move is directly at odds with the Labour Party’s manifesto in 1997, when Mr Blair claimed that “If there are further steps to European integration, the people should have their say at a general election or in a referendum”. Even in April 2004, in an interview with the Independent, he was categorically stating that “What you cannot do is have a situation where you get a rejection of the treaty and bring it back with a few amendments and say, ‘Have another go’. You cannot do that”. But as he prepares to leave office in the next few weeks, he is expected to sign up to the new European Treaty which has been described by German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a recent letter to member states as a “proposal to use different terminology with the same legal substance, for example the title of the treaty”, while in a recent interview with the Financial Times on April 20th of this year, Mr Blair himself backtracked on his previous manifesto commitment by claiming that “If it's not a constitutional treaty ... then there isn't the same case for a referendum,” Speaking today, Mr Helmer said: “The referendum promised is a Labour Party Manifesto commitment, on the basis of which this Labour Government was elected. The commitment is binding both on Tony Blair and on Gordon Brown”. “It is shocking that an outgoing Prime Minister, bereft of respect and authority, thinks he can sign away the right of the British people without their say-so. The new Treaty is the failed Constitution with cosmetic changes. Blair (or his successor) must honour the Labour Party Manifesto Commitment and give the British people a Referendum.”