Responding to confirmation by the Foreign Office that the European Constitution proposed by Jack Straw would be legally binding and may well include the Charter of Fundamental Rights, North West Euro MP David Sumberg said: "Confirmation that Jack Straw's European Constitution would be legally binding and may include the Charter of Fundamental Rights flies totally in the face of undertakings previously given by the Government that neither of these would be the case.

"This is a serious step towards integration and political union which runs counter to all the government's rhetoric about nation states in Europe.

It underlines the fact that this government is totally committed to the creation of a politically united Europe and emphasises the importance of our campaign to argue for a flexible partnership of sovereign nation states in Europe within which we can retain our right to self determination which Blair and Straw are so keen to betray.

"We do welcome his conversion to our longstanding suggestion of a subsidiarity panel, which should finally give credibility to subsidiarity, although it sits uncomfortably with his determination to create a European superstate."