Mandelson kicks off new pro-euro campaign

Lord Mandelson will argue today that Britain should eventually join the euro to avoid being frozen out in the “EU mark two” (Getty Images)

Britain should eventually join the euro to avoid being frozen out in the "EU mark two" that will emerge, Lord Mandelson will argue today.

The former Cabinet minister will join calls for a referendum to resolve Britain's future in Europe, admitting that the mandate won by his fellow pro-Europeans in the 1970s "belongs to another time and another generation".

In a lecture, the Labour peer will issue a "wake-up call" to Europhiles to fight back against the sceptics and insist that both the "European project" and the eurozone will survive the crisis.

Lord Mandelson will predict that Britain will face a choice – sticking with "core Europe" or "permanent second tier status" in "a sort of European annexe".