Straw: Digging in for fight?

The government has denied that it is toughening its "red line" areas ahead of an intensification of talks on the European constitution.

Amid the threat of a fresh stalemate over the constitutional treaty, the foreign secretary has appeared to toughen the UK’s negotiating stance.

During a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, Jack Straw demanded extra assurances that the Charter of Fundamental Rights would not become a legally enforceable part of the constitution.

Speaking during a break in negotiations, Straw denied he was attempting to derail the talks.

"We are certainly going into negotiations hard for the United Kingdom, as does every other country around the table," he said.

"We want to see an agreement if one can be reached."

But Joschka Fischer and Michel Barnier, Straw's German and French counterparts, said that Britain had already won major concessions last year and could not now come back for more.

"It was... a marker of Franco-German exasperation at Britain's decision to call a referendum," one diplomat said.

"It was a way of telling the British that just because you are having a referendum does not mean that you can open some new credit line on which you can draw more concessions."

Tough negotiations

Speaking on Tuesday a Downing Street spokesman admitted that the British negotiating team was standing firm on key issues.

The official spokesman said: "We are in a real negotiation."

But he insisted "we are not hardening up our negotiating position".

Meanwhile amid growing pessimism the Irish presidency has failed to make progress in other key areas.

Spain and Poland are still fighting to preserve an EU treaty deal that allows both to punch above their population weight in key votes of Europe’s ministers.

The presidency is battling to seal a deal by June 18 and is already set to bring back Europe's foreign ministers next Monday to hammer out agreement.

Madrid and Warsaw were both thought to have softened a hard-line stance but according to senior national officials divisions remain.

Failure to agree a deal could force EU leaders to postpone an agreement for a second time.

Even once the treaty is agreed, several member states will have to sell its contents to voters ahead of a referendum.

Tony Blair has yielded to demands for a poll - a move which has increased the pressure on the UK delegation to reach an agreement palatable to a hostile British public.