PEOPLE in Worcestershire and the rest of the country should be given the chance to have their say on whether Britain should adopt the European Constitution.

That is according to West Midlands MEP Philip Bradbourn, who at a meeting in Welland, condemned the Government's attempt to portray the Constitution as a "tidying-up exercise".

"Under the terms of the constitution, decisions affecting Worcestershire and the rest of the UK would be taken increasingly far away," he said.

"Taxes on local people and businesses would be used to pay for a European Public Prosecutor, an EU President and Foreign Minister and perhaps even a European Army - and all without the residents of Britain being given a choice!

"People think that this is some distant bureaucratic mind game.

"The truth is much more unpalatable. This new constitution will mean that in Worcestershire local people could no longer govern themselves through their local councils, but would have to defer to regional bodies as part of a proposal to create a Europe of the Regions.

"Tony Blair knows this but such is his determination to be a good European that he is peddling the story that these changes are just minor alterations to our relationship with the EU. Nothing could be further from the truth."