BECAUSE voters in the Netherlands rejected the EU Constitution in 2005, the Dutch Labour Party has decided that there should be no referendum this time round.

Of course, they are not admitting that this is the true reason.

Like our Labour and Liberal Democrat parties, they are trying to fool the people with weasel words about differences between the new treaty and the old Constitution.

Commenting on this, Danish MEP and treaty expert, Jens Peter Bonde, wrote: "I have compared the rejected EU constitution and the new Reform Treaty very carefully and I have not found one important difference in legal obligations. The differences are just in the presentation."

Even Gordon Brown's allegedly new "opt-outs" and "red lines", for what they are worth, are not really new.

They are the same as those negotiated by Tony Blair, and were agreed months before he finally promised that we would have a referendum.

We are still owed that referendum, and we must have it.

Muriel Parsons, Campaign for an Independent Britain, Reading, Berkshire.