Cook on euro: delay is not an option

Robin Cook has called for the Government to announce a firm timetable to join the euro in less than four years to prevent Britain being sidelined by its EU partners.

Mr Cook, who resigned from the Cabinet over the Iraq war, entered the debate on the single currency by urging Gordon Brown not to close the door to membership when he delivers his expected "not yet" verdict shortly on the Treasury's five economic tests.

Cabinet sources predicted yesterday that Tony Blair would veto an attempt by the Chancellor to rule out a euro referendum until after the next general election. But Mr Blair and Mr Brown are said to be "some way apart" as they try to reach agreement on a statement of the Government's future intentions. The Prime Minister wants to keep alive the option of a referendum next year or in 2005, while Mr Brown wants to prevent constant speculation causing instability.

Writing in The Independent, Mr Cook says the Chancellor must soften the blow by sending a "positive message" to investors and the EU that Britain intends to join. He proposes that the Government commits itself to entering the single currency in January 2007 and makes this a priority of its economic strategy.

In a blunt warning, Mr Cook warns the Chancellor he will enjoy no influence over crucial reforms to the way the euro operates if he makes a negative announcement. "No member of the eurozone is going to listen to our Chancellor if the Government has just ruled out Britain becoming a member," he says. "A failure now to commit ourselves to membership would lose Britain its unique status as a pre-in and reduce us to a definite out."

Urging Mr Blair to be "bold" on the euro, Mr Cook reveals he warned the Prime Minister a year ago that going to war in Iraq would make it harder for him to take Britain into the euro. "The opinion polls confirm the predictable public rift with France and Germany has made it more challenging to ask Britain to vote for greater integration with those partners. We have pursued a US political priority in Iraq at a cost to British interests in Europe," he said.

Since resigning as Leader of the Commons in March, Mr Cook has restricted his public comments largely to the Iraq war but his decision to speak out on Europe will delight pro-euro campaigners.

Mr Cook, seen as a Euro-sceptic before he became Foreign Secretary in 1997, said his spell at the Foreign Office had changed his views. "It is probably fair to say that anybody who works closely in European policy comes to recognise the enormous strategic significance of Europe to Britain's place in the world," he said.

The Cabinet will discuss the Government's policy before a Commons announcement by Mr Brown. The Chancellor is under pressure from pro-euro ministers to put a positive gloss on his "not yet" decision.

Patricia Hewitt, the Trade and Industry Secretary, said there were "very clear benefits that would come from our joining the single currency". She told BBC Radio 4: "I have made it clear on the basis of discussions with British companies and inward investors this is a hugely important issue on which the health of many manufacturing companies depend."

Today, Mr Cook will debate the euro with John Redwood, a leading Tory Eurosceptic, at a conference staged by the pro-euro Britain In Europe group, which has warned it will close down if the Government rules out an early referendum.

The group has sent every cabinet minister an independent study it funded by 11 prominent economists, published today, which warns that saying "no" would harm Britain. It says: "The alternative to the euro is not the status quo. Permanent rejection would adversely affect trade, inward investment, and the location of financial markets."

Leading article, page 14;

Robin Cook, page 15