European Union Bill 2004–05

The European Union Bill 2004–05 (Bill 45) was a bill of the United Kingdom Parliament which proposed to ratify the European Constitution and to incorporate it into the domestic law of the United Kingdom and to amend the European Communities Act 1972 to include it in the list of Treaties and hold a referendum throughout the United Kingdom and Gibraltar on whether to approve the proposed Constitution which would be overseen by the Electoral Commission.

European Union Bill 2004–05
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title To make provision in connection with the Treaty signed at Rome on 29th October 2004 establishing a Constitution for Europe; and to require a referendum to be held about it.
Citation	Bill 45 2004–05
Legislative history
Introduced by	Jack Straw
First reading	25 January 2005
Second reading	9 February 2005
Third reading	Not read a third time.
Introduced by	Jack Straw
First reading	24 May 2005
Second reading	Not read a second time.
Summary
Bill 45 of 2004/05. Bill 5 in 2005/06.
Status: Withdrawn

Part of a series of articles on
British membership of the European Union
Accession to the EC 1972 EC Act 1973 enlargement of the EC
1975 referendum 1975 Referendum Act (results)
Treaty amendments Single European Act, 1986 (UK ratification) Maastricht Treaty, 1992 (UK ratification) Treaty of Amsterdam, 1997 (UK ratification) Treaty of Nice, 2001 (UK ratification) Treaty of Lisbon, 2007 (UK ratification) Related: 2011 UK Act on new EU Treaty amendments EU-related British Acts Proposed European Constitution referendum European Union Bill 2004–05
MEPs for UK constituencies Members 1973–1979 (elected by parliament) Members 1979–1984 (1979 election) Members 1984–1989 (1984 election) Members 1989–1994 (1989 election) Members 1994–1999 (1994 election) Members 1999–2004 (1999 election) Members 2004–2009 (2004 election) Members 2009–2014 (2009 election) Members 2014–2019 (2014 election) Members 2019–2020 (2019 election) Women
Officials and bodies House of Lords EU Committee House of Commons EU Committee Permanent EU Representatives for UK Northern Ireland Executive in Brussels EU Representative in London UK European Commissioners Department for Exiting the European Union
Issues and events Economy The Euro Black Wednesday UK budget rebate Nationality law Euroscepticism in the UK UK opt-outs from EU legislation Maastricht Rebels
Withdrawal from the EU 2015–16 membership renegotiation 2016 EU membership referendum Vote Leave Britain Stronger in Europe Notification of withdrawal Brexit negotiations Impact of Brexit Future relationship Withdrawal agreement No-deal Brexit The Irish border Parliamentary votes Proposed second referendum
EU portal · UK portal

The bill was first introduced during the parliamentary session of 2004/05 and received a second reading. It fell at the end of that parliament. The bill was reintroduced in the new parliament and the 2005/06 session, however it was withdrawn after its first reading by Jack Straw on 6 June 2005 following "no" votes in referendums that were held on ratifying the European Constitution in France and in the Netherlands.[1] If the referendum had gone ahead it would have been the first UK-wide referendum to have been held since the 1975 European Communities membership referendum which at the time had been the only nationwide referendum to be held.. No date for the proposed referendum was ever set however the expectation was at the time that it would have been held sometime in the first six months of 2006 with the possibility that it could have been held on the same day as the 2006 UK local elections which were scheduled and duly held on 4 May 2006.

House of Commons Library Research paper for the European Union Bill.[2]