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		Letter to the Editor Friday 29th October 2004 Dear Sir Jack Straw strays from the truth On the BBC's Today programme on Friday, speaking about the EU Constitution being signed in Rome that day, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw repeated two of the key falsehoods of the Yes campaign. He said that the Constitution gives more power to national parliaments, and to member states. It does neither. It centralises power in Brussels. His first claim is based on a purely cosmetic provision that creates a mechanism for national parliaments to raise concerns about subsidiarity. But this is a cumbersome mechanism that requires agreement of several national parliaments, and is unlikely to be used. Worse still, it lacks any teeth at all. Parliaments can raise their concerns with the European Commission (EC), but the EC has absolutely no obligation to do anything at all beyond noting their issues. The provision is there for one purpose only -- so that Yes campaigners can make the claim that Jack Straw made. When Straw speaks of power for member states, he means extra power for the European Council. Even this is debatable. But the Council makes decisions by majority voting in almost all policy areas. So any single country -- especially one like Britain with very different social and legal traditions compared to other members states -- can be outvoted again and again. We politicians hesitate to use the word "lie", but that's what it amounts to. And Jack Straw told another porkie in the same interview. He said that Conservative policy was to oppose the Constitution, and so revert to the current unsatisfactory treaties. He knows this is not true, and he should apologise. Conservative policy is to oppose the Constitution, and after a NO vote, to renegotiate our relationship with Brussels over a range of policy areas. Yours faithfully Roger Helmer MEP East Midlands region (Conservative)