Michael Howard has launched his party's manifesto for the European elections with a warning that "Europe must change".

Lambasting Brussels red tape and regulation, the Tory leader said he wanted to end the "one size fits all" culture.

Promising a "modern and mature approach", he said his party wanted to develop a "live and let live" model for the European union.

And calling for decentralisation and the repeal of regulation he said his party would stand firm in its opposition to the EU constitution.

Speaking in Manchester before departing for Edinburgh and Cardiff on Thursday, Howard said the treaty currently under discussion would give the EU the "trappings of statehood".

"Conservatives don't want a European constitution," he said.

Repeating his challenge for a televised debate with the prime minister Howard said he wanted to "let the people decide".

Commitment

Among the policies detailed by the Conservatives is a commitment to a referendum on future treaties which transfer significant powers away from Westminster.

The party is also pressing for the imposition of sunset clauses on new EU directives and a 25 per cent reduction in existing rules.

The Conservatives pledged to dismantle "unnecessary laws" by giving the European parliament the power to repeal regulations and directives.

And the party wants to see an "evidence based approach" to new legislation coming from Brussels.

"Action should only be taken where there is  clear, quantifiable evidence of the need for regulation," says the manifesto.

In the document entitled "Putting Britain First" Howard also calls for a new emphasis on "free markets and free trade" as central treaty objectives. 

The party is also calling for a fundamental reform of the common fisheries policy, which it says is "emptying our seas of fish and has utterly failed our fishermen".

EU exit?

Heading off Labour claims that the Conservatives want to renegotiate membership, Howard said he was determined that Britain should remain a positive and influential member of the EU.

"But I do not want a Europe which is a one way street to closer integration to which we must all subscribe," he declared.

"Those member states which wish to integrate more closely should be free to do so. But they should not drag other member states who do not wish to do so kicking and screaming in their wake.

"We would say to our partners: 'We don't want to stop you doing what you want to do, as long as you don't make us do what we don't want to do'.

"We do not want to impose on the EU a rigid straightjacket of uniformity from Finland to Greece, from Portugal to Poland.  Conservative policy is simple. Live and let live. Flourish and let flourish.

"That is a modern and mature approach to Europe."