§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to his Answer to the right hon. Member for Wells (Mr. Heathcoat-Amory) of 7 February 2003,Official Report, column 479, on the Convention on the Future of Europe, what plans he has to submit the draft constitutional treaty to Parliament before it is discussed at the inter-governmental conference; whether it is his policy that Parliament will have a chance to vote on the 680W draft treaty (a) before and (b) after the inter-governmental conference; and whether the draft constitution will be put to a referendum of the British people. [99341]
§ Mr. MacShaneThe Praesidium's draft Constitutional Treaty is a public document which can be accessed through the Convention website atwww.european-convention.eu.int. The UK Parliament is already a party to the discussions in the Convention, beingrepresented by four official members, one of whom is on the Convention's Praesidium. As with all previous EU treaties, a Constitutional Treaty would be submitted for scrutiny by Parliament before the UK would ratify it. The Government has no plans to hold a referendum on any new EU treaty.