Provisions on tax cooperation that would have allowed governments to pass pan-European laws on combating tax fraud and tax evasion and harmonisation of corporate taxes by
qualified majority voting were jettisoned from the Constitution to the delight of Mr Blair.
The Lisbon Treaty, which entered into force in December 2009, extends
qualified majority voting to new policy areas, such as the budget, immigration, energy and humanitarian aid.
The text retains the
qualified majority voting in the Council on trade agreements, with resort to unanimity for those affecting the cultural and audiovisual sector.
But the UK would give up its veto in areas where it is "in Britain's interest" in favour of
qualified majority voting, she said.
The UK will not be able to veto this decision, which will be decided by
Qualified Majority Voting.
But the Home Office today insisted the veto would remain even if the meeting adopts the
qualified majority voting system (QMV), as expected.
Mr Brown said MPs would have to approve any move to further
qualified majority voting in the decision-making European Council, as he made a Commons statement on the reform treaty.
Britain is confident that a passage in the draft treaty, allowing
qualified majority voting to counter tax fraud, will be struck out.
A revised draft published by the Irish government last night recommends abandoning efforts to move to
qualified majority voting for EU-level decisions involving taxation.
As we move towards
qualified majority voting, its role and powers should rightly be called into question.
There is no question of accepting
qualified majority voting on foreign policy.'