Brown does not rule out euro entry

BRITISH chancellor Gordon Brown said yesterday he has not ruled out euro entry but reiterated that the decision on entrance would depend on the results of five economic tests.

In a television interview, Mr Brown also defended Tony Blair’s position on war in Iraq, claiming Britain should, if necessary, fund it “at any cost”.

Brown, widely held to be more sceptical over euro entry than Mr Blair, dismissed a Sunday Times report that said he had privately decided Britain should not adopt the euro. “This is not correct,” Brown said of the report on the BBC’s Breakfast With Frost programme. “The assessment has not started. We are doing a tremendous amount of work. We are determined to make it [the decision] on a rigorous economic analysis.”