Tony Blair emerged from tense negotiations today claiming to have secured a new European treaty which protects Britain’s interests but which opponents say hands vast swathes of power to Brussels.

	Blair claims to have protected Britain's interests

The Prime Minister won a legal exemption from a new Charter of Fundamental Rights, one of four "red lines" fought over during days of acrimonious negotiations.

But he surrendered Britain’s right to veto EU decisions in more than 40 other areas of policy including energy, tourism, space policy, transport, civil protection and migration.

     The visibly-tired Prime Minister said the most important thing about the deal was that it allowed European nations to focus on the issues that concerned their citizens: "The truth is we’ve been arguing now for many years about the constitutional question.

     "This deal gives us a chance to move on. It was important to get out of this bind into which we’d got with the constitutional treaty: to go back to making simple changes in our rules that allow us to operate more effectively now we are in a large European Union."

     The outgoing Prime Minister, who hands over to Gordon Brown on Wednesday, said his work on Europe was a key part of his legacy.

     He told reporters as the negotiations came to an end shortly before 4am (GMT): "My position throughout the course of my time as Prime Minister has been to get out of this endless destructive negativity and realise that actually Britain has a lot to offer Europe and Europe has a lot to offer Britain."

     However, critics were keen to point out that the deal secured by Mr Blair was not as watertight as he claimed. An opt-out for Britain on a common foreign policy, another of his "red lines", is included in a mere "declaration" by the 27 members states and not in a legally binding protocol.

     An analysis of the deal suggests that almost all of the key elements of the EU Constitution are to be reintroduced including an EU diplomatic service and EU foreign minister.

     The C! onservat ives immediately called for the British people to be given a referendum.

     Shadow Foreign Secretary, William Hague said: "Not all the details are clear or finalised but we now know the basis of the new EU Treaty and it is clear that large parts of the EU Constitution are repackaged but back.

     "Blair and Brown have signed up to major shifts of power from Britain to the EU and major changes in the way the EU works. Given their manifesto commitment to a referendum on the EU Constitution, the Government have absolutely no democratic mandate to introduce these major changes without letting the British people have the final decision in a referendum."

     But Mr Brown later backed Mr Blair's assertion that a referendum on the treaty would not be required.

     Interviewed for BBC1's Politics Show, he praised the outgoing PM's "skills" in securing a deal that protected Britain's national interest in key areas such as the Charter of Rights.

     "On that basis, like every other treaty that has been negotiated -

     Nice, Amsterdam, Maastricht - while many other people will call for a referendum, it seems to me that we have met our negotiating position," Mr Brown said.

     Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell said Mr Blair had not "covered himself in glory" with his swansong negotiations.

     "The insistence on playing to the press with his "red lines" has undermined the UK's ability to get the best out of the negotiations," he said.

"     While Blair and Brown appear to have met their self-imposed conditions, this has not come cost-free for the UK."