Tony Blair declared on Thursday that the EU constitution would create a union Britain could be proud of.

The prime minister said he had "no hesitation" in recommending the constitutional treaty to the public as the government published a 49-page guide to the constitution before its passage through parliament next year.

In the foreword, Blair wrote: "I have no hesitation in commending it to the country as a success and as a major step forward in creating the kind of Europe that the British people want: a flexible Europe in which Britain remains a strong and influential power; a wider, peaceful and free Europe to which we can be proud to belong; and an effective Europe which benefits all our lives."