Many people must have rubbed their eyes in disbelief at Gordon Brown’s statement to MPs last Tuesday when, in announcing his new “constitutional settlement”, he promised to give “more power to Parliament and the British people” on the one hand while, on the other, ruling out a referendum on the new EU treaty – which would take away a lot more power from Parliament and the British people.

The layers of spin and deceit that surround this wretched EU treaty are so convoluted that it takes some working out to disentangle the contradictions, U-turns and straight lies it has come to involve.

Britain was on a collision course with Brussels last night as fears grew of a new European Union push to end the right to exempt children’s clothes, newspapers and books from VAT.

The Treasury said the exemption was worth more than £28 billion to UK households each year and saved low income households four per cent of their annual spending.

It vowed to wield the national veto if necessary after the European Commission announced a new “political debate” on how to streamline the patchwork of VAT rules that apply across the 27 EU states. Under these rules, Britain is able to keep a so-called “zero rate” of VAT on the printed word and children’s clothes indefinitely.

But the EU tax commissioner, Laszlo Kovacs, signalled that he wanted to look again at simplifying the regime – which could end the UK’s exemptions. Mr Kovacs said he would seek the opinions of member states.

The new European Union treaty will mean “transfers of sovereignty” from Britain and Gordon Brown is right to hide the fact from the public, an EU leader admitted yesterday.

Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourg’s premier and leader of the bloc of 13 single currency members, spoke out as the Prime Minister faced rising calls for a referendum on the treaty drawn up following the rejection of the old EU constitution by French and Dutch voters in 2005.

Mr Juncker said he supported public debate on the treaty – except in Britain.

Holding a referendum on the EU treaty would entail “sucking the energy out of the country for months”, Tony Blair said today.

Making his final full statement as prime minister before retiring on Wednesday, the prime minister rejected outright Tory demands for a plebiscite on the weekend agreement.

In an unusual move, the prime minister was joined on the frontbench for the statement by the new Labour leader, Gordon Brown, who will have to pilot the bill through parliament this autumn.

Mr Blair repeated his principal reason for refusing to grant a referendum: that Britain’s “red lines” had not been breached by the marathon negotiations, which only came to a close at 5am on Saturday morning.
But Mr Blair conceded that the 48-hour talks had comprised “an exceptionally difficult negotiation”.

Germany has proposed to EU states that they should agree to drop the idea of a constitution when they meet at a summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday. The “constitutional concept… is abandoned”, says a paper circulated by Germany, which will chair the summit.

The paper makes several concessions to EU member states opposed to key parts of the failed constitution.

But Poland and the UK are still warning they could use their vetoes if they do not get their way on a new treaty.

Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski said a veto remained “highly likely” while UK Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said no deal was better than a bad deal.

Gordon Brown has pledged to hold a referendum on the European constitution if Tony Blair failed to get a good deal for Britain this week.

The Chancellor stressed that he was confident the Prime Minister would refuse to give up key powers over foreign policy and crime at his final Brussels summit. Mr Brown predicted that “we will get what we need” to protect the UK’s position.

No10 has claimed it would not hold a referendum on any amending treaty that emerged from the meeting. But Mr Brown told GMTV today he was open to the idea of a vote should Brussels win greater powers over key areas.

Moves to scrap national sovereignty and amplify the power of the EU many many times over are currently in full swing while those who so much as question the centralization have been branded ‘terrorists’.

As reported in the Sunday Express yesterday, the Italian President Giorgio Napolitano told a news conference in Siena that “those who are anti EU are terrorists”.

He attacked eurosceptics who warn that the promised new EU treaty will go too far in eroding the powers of member states, saying: “It is psychological terrorism to suggest the spectre of a European superstate.”

The German President, Horst Kohler was also present with Napolitano and nodded in agreement at the Italian head of state’s comments.

President Kohler also described the tactics of eurosceptics as “populistic, demagogic campaigning”.

The words of the two men were seen by many in Germany and Italy as a thinly veiled attempt to link euroscepticism with the demagoguery and populism of the fascist regimes of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.

In reality the move towards a centralized superstate in Europe that supercedes nationally elected officials on virtually all aspects of governance mirrors almost exactly Hitler’s vision for Europe in the 1930s.

So now you are a fascist if you try to resist fascism.

Gordon Brown dramatically raised the stakes on Europe last night by threatening to let the British people have a referendum on the results of this week’s critical summit. In a clear warning to Tony Blair he offered to put the next European treaty to a popular vote if it fails to take account of Britain’s objections.

With two out of three voters declaring themselves firmly opposed to an EU super-state, a referendum would be certain to produce a resounding “No”.

Mr Brown’s willingness to deploy the “nuclear option” in the event of a British defeat in Brussels sends a clear message to other EU countries that the UK will not budge.

Eurosceptics have been branded “terrorists” just days before Tony Blair prepares to fly to Brussels to smuggle in the new EU constitution by the back door.Critics of the EU’s secret plans to bring back the failed European constitution by stealth at this week’s summit were blasted by the Italian President, Giorgio Napolitano.

The Italian head of state told a news conference in Siena last week that “those who are anti EU are terrorists”.

And he attacked eurosceptics who warn that the promised new EU treaty will go too far in eroding the powers of member states, saying: “It is psychological terrorism to suggest the spectre of a European superstate.”

Tony Blair was accused of a European constitution “sell-out” today after the Government pooled more police co-operation to help fight cross-border crime and terrorism. A two-year-old agreement between just seven EU countries now becomes part of EU law, involving all 27 nations including the UK.

Under-secretary of state for the Home Office Joan Ryan, signing up on behalf of the UK at talks in Luxembourg, said afterwards it was an example of the EU countries working together on law enforcement to protect the public.

Europe’s data protection chief has warned Portuguese ministers that fundamental rights to freedom are being abused in the name of security. Portugal takes over the rotating EU Presidency on 1st July.The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) has told the Portuguese ministers for justice and the interior that anti-terror laws proposed in Europe have shown a lack of understanding of human rights law and says that anti-terror laws could be written which would safeguard privacy rights.

“I fear that messages such as ‘no right to privacy until life and security are guaranteed’ are developing into a mantra suggesting that fundamental rights and freedoms are a luxury that security can not afford,” said EDPS’ Peter Hustinx. “I very much challenge that view and stress that there should be no doubt that effective anti-terror measures can be framed within the boundaries of data protection.”

The EDPS is the privacy advisor for the EU’s governing bodies and has been increasingly critical of some of the legal measures put in place and some of the activity of EU bodies in the name of anti-terrorism.