UK floats constitution rescue package

The British government is ready to help keep the constitution alive during its six-month presidency if French president Jacques Chirac  admits that a narrow no vote - a “petit non” - would not be fatal to the treaty, reports the Sunday Times.

Paris would hope to win a second referendum in the next 15 months if only two or three of the 25 member states reject the treaty, the paper revealed.

But a survey by Essex University suggested that British citizens are less likely to support the constitution if it is campaigned for by prime minister Tony Blair.

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