LONDON, Oct. 29 (Xinhuanet) -- British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said on Friday that Britain's referendum on the EU constitution would take place "early in 2006" if the ruling Labor Party wins a third term.

    "No precise date has been accepted and it depends partly on the parliamentary process," Straw said in an interview with BBC Radio 4.

    He declined to confirm an earlier report in the British Sunday Telegraph newspaper that Britain would hold the referendum on the constitution in mid-March 2006, months after Britain ends its rotating EU presidency.

    "It is likely to be in early 2006 for the simple reason that in the autumn of 2005 we have the presidency of the European Union and it would be practically almost impossible to combine both running the presidency with a referendum. That is true for any government," Straw said.

    Straw, who believed the British public would sign up to the EU constitution, also told the BBC that Britain would face "uncertainty" if it said no to the new treaty, which must be ratified by all the member states and is due to take effect in 2007.

    Straw's comments came on the day when EU leaders were gatheringin Rome to sign the new constitution, which aims to speed up decision-making in the bloc after it was enlarged to 25 nations inMay.

    The British government, which accuses its opponents of spreading "myths" about the constitution, insists that it protected its "red lines" in the treaty negotiations, ensuring keyissues such as defense, foreign policy, taxation and immigration will still be decided in Britain.

    An ICM poll found last month that 59 percent of Britons are against the constitution and much of the country's popular press has vowed to campaign against it.

    Britain's major opposition Conservative Party argued that the constitution would compound Europe's economic competitiveness problems and urged the government to take back powers from Brussels and let those nations who wanted to integrate further go ahead alone.

    The UK Independence Party, a fringe party, wants Britain to withdraw from the EU completely, saying the constitution is another step toward a European super state. Enditem