Blair 'will deny voters a say on EU constitution'

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He was accused of trying to wriggle out of Labour's commitment to a referendum on the issue by pledging to secure a deal in Brussels within weeks.

Mr Blair plans to attend his last European summit at the end of June, days before he is expected to leave Downing Street.

He said his proposal for a stripped-down treaty would not need to be put to voters because it would not involve fundamental changes to Britain's relationship with the EU.

Anti-constitution campaigners last night criticised the move. Neil O'Brien, director of Open Europe, said: "This is a disgraceful attempt to wriggle out of the promise of a referendum.

"Tony Blair knows that the overwhelming majority of people would vote against giving away more powers to EU officials, so now he is going to take away our right to a vote."

The draft EU constitution - giving it a permanent president and its own foreign minister - was rejected by France and Holland in 2005.

European leaders have since threatened to revive the treaty, with current EU president Germany leading the charge for a deal.

Mr Blair stopped short of setting out his stall on what a treaty would contain, saying: "I don't want to negotiate in public what a simplified treaty, an amending treaty, would look like."

He added: "But essentially I think we have to take a step back and not have a constitutional treaty as such but have a treaty that improves the rules of Europe."

Critics fear Germany is pressing to bring back some of the controversial elements of the constitution, such as a declaration of fundamental rights, and say it could lead to Britain losing the right to veto crucial areas of EU policy.