Britain shelves plan for referendum

A spokesman for Prime Minister Tony Blair said the move would be announced by Foreign Secretary Jack Straw in a statement to parliament later yesterday.

It comes despite pleas by London's EU partners, notably France and Germany, to hold off, arguing it would bury the bloc's grand integration project after French and Dutch referendums last week which rejected the treaty.

The official told AFP the move was to allow Britain time to reflect on the fallout from those twin rejections.

"There is a need for a debate and obviously a need for certain European leaders to get together and talk about how we're going to take this forward," he said in a telephone interview.

European leaders are due to discuss the crisis at a June 16-17 summit in Brussels.

Blair's official spokesman told reporters earlier that Blair was "not running away" from a referendum but it "does not make sense" to press ahead regardless of the "no" votes.

"If there is a constitution to vote on there will be a referendum in this country," he said.

"The position at the moment is that obviously, following the French and Dutch votes, there is an issue to be discussed at the European Council," he said, referring to the summit.

"Now given that, it does not make sense to proceed at this point, but that does not mean that we are withdrawing the possibility of British people voting if there is a constitution to vote on."

The spokesman insisted Britain was not pre-empting any decisions the summit may make. "What we are doing is reflecting the fact that we are in uncertain times," he said.

"In uncertain times you should not just give a knee-jerk response."

However, with analysts and some EU countries already saying the treaty is virtually dead in the water, putting plans for a referendum in Britain on the ice is seen as tantamount to signing its death certificate.