British Government's stance on an EU Referendum

AS reported in the post immediately below, Margaret Beckett the Foreign Secretary of State was asked about a possible referendum on any revived EU Constitution, the following is the exact transcription of the exchange as provided by the BBC, linked here: ANDREW MARR.......But let's move on to - because you've got a lot on your plate. Let's move on to the European Union where Angela Merkel for Germany is leading the charge for a new constitution or a new mini constitution which some people say might be agreed as early as this June's summit. MARGARET BECKETT: I think that's over interpretation of what the Germans have been saying. Because what I understand from my German colleagues is that yes they're, they're charged with the duty of trying to find out whether there is, what common ground there is. Whether there is room for a consensus. What kind of consensus. But they were, have been very clear both that they believe that that will mostly happen towards the end of their presidency in May, June. ANDREW MARR: Yes. MARGARET BECKETT: And secondly that they think it's, it's wholly unrealistic to expect that they will just be able to resolve all the problems in their presidency. Now I suppose it's not totally impossible .. ANDREW MARR: Impossible, but unlikely. MARGARET BECKETT: .. they'll find a simple package by June but I don't think they are saying that. That's .. ANDREW MARR: Right. MARGARET BECKETT: .. if I may say so media commentators. ANDREW MARR: Okay. But if it proved possible, as quite a lot of people on the continent seem to want to bundle up parts of the old constitution into a new mini constitution, can you promise people that this country would still be given a referendum on that? MARGARET BECKETT: I'm not going to say what we think the judgment will be on a package that hasn't even been considered or drawn up. One of the things that I think is a bit missing from the debate here is that a lot of the stuff that was in the constitutional treaty actually is in existing treaties. And so that's obviously something that people are looking at to see whether there are things that we already have the capacity to do that might improve the working of the European Union. And you, you wouldn't have a referendum on anything like that. I mean that would be ridiculous. We've already, it's already in the treaties. So we'll judge the situation when we see what kind of proposals are coming forward. And it would be great if we see them as early as June but I'd be a bit surprised to be honest. So what is clear is that Her Majesty's Government will again use every ruse in the book to avoid the people being consulted as they very well know, like several other EU member states, that the electorate want no more sacrifices of sovereignty. Consider especially the nonsense to which they stoop to deprive us of our hard won democratic rights which I have emphasised in the final reply on this topic. If there are powers already existing to improve the workings of the EU why do they need repeating? It is of course the far-reaching new powers which will demand approval through universal democratic consultation a factor in which consideration should, of course, be the means by which those earlier far-reaching powers, certainly in the case of the UK and perhaps elsewhere, have been obtained.