New voting allocation

France, Germany, Italy, UK : 29 Spain: 27 Netherlands: 13 Belgium, Greece, Portugal: 12 Sweden, Austria: 10 Denmark, Finland, Ireland: 7 Luxembourg: 4

He added that the UK now had more say in the EU's decision-making body, the council of ministers.

But Conservative leader William Hague said a Tory government would not ratify the draft Treaty of Nice as it stands.

Mr Hague said the summit had not been about enlargement but about further and deeper political integration.

But Mr Blair insisted that throughout the summit, it had been his aim to defend the national interest and "to get more voting strength for the United Kingdom".

Turning to controversial proposals for a European rapid reaction force, the prime minister assured MPs: "Collective defence will remain the responsibility of Nato."

Qualified Majority Voting hurdles

Now:

62 votes out of 87

Post-enlargement:

255 votes out of 345 Half of member states 62% of EU population

The prime minister also said that by 2006 the UK's financial contributions would for the first time drop to a level equal to those of Italy and France.

The unratified Treaty of Nice, which is to be signed next year, apparently secures the UK's place as one of the "big four" in Europe alongside Germany, Italy and France.

Mr Blair added that the UK had willingly agreed to move from unanimity to qualified majority voting (QMV) in key policy areas where it was to Britain's advantage - but had held firm on taxation and social security.

The talks in Nice ran over schedule

The summit had pitted small countries against large ones as the EU struggled to streamline its decision-making procedures in preparation for enlargement by up to a dozen new members.

Belgium had been the last country to resist a compromise proposal from the French EU presidency on the voting strengths of many of the smaller EU countries, including those which will join in the next few years.

'Loose ends'

Mr Blair rejected suggestions that the final outcome amounted to a stitch-up in which the bigger members took charge of Europe.

The Foreign Office said EU leaders agreed to extend qualified majority voting (QMV) to 38 new areas but the UK has an opt-out on 10 of these provisions.

Mr Blair said many were uncontentious issues - like decisions on the pension rights of certain high-ranking Eurocrats.

Others were directly in the UK's interests, he said, such as trade in financial services, where majority voting would stop protectionism holding back British business.

Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Menzies Campbell insisted the summit outcome was not a triumph for the government, warning there remained "too many loose ends".

"The proper reaction to Nice is relief not rapture," he said.

"Failure to agree would have put the European Union into disarray and postponed enlargement indefinitely."

National veto

But despite the prime minister hailing the summit's achievements in the end Nice did not prove as radical as predicted.

But the UK has had some success in its attempts to prevent the emergence of a two-speed Europe but under the Nice declaration, a group of countries may decide to opt for "enhanced co-operation" on a policy area.

In a victory for Mr Blair, defence is explicitly excluded from the chapter on "enhanced co-operation."

Capping the commission

The late night negotiation also saw leaders of the 15 member states agreed to cap the number of seats on the European Commission, and the five largest member states, including the UK will give up their second commissioners in 2005.

Also in a further moves looking towards enlargement the European parliament will in future expand to a total of 740 members.

Although ministers will be relieved the longest EU summit so far is over a new conference will be held in 2004 to define the division of power between Brussels, member states and regions.

This conference will also consider the status of the EU charter of rights.