UK euro debate enters decisive stage

British Cabinet ministers will spend this weekend reading the reams of information prepared by the UK Treasury on the single currency as the battle over whether Britain joins the eurozone enters a decisive phase.

Prime Minister Tony Blair yesterday set out his timetable for the crucial decision on whether to recommend British membership of the single currency.

Downing Street announced there would be two full-scale Cabinet discussions on the issue before Chancellor Gordon Brown finally announces on June 9 whether or not the government is ready to call a referendum.

And in a highly unusual move, each Cabinet minister will have two meetings with Mr Blair and Mr Brown together before the final decision is taken.

But first they have to study the 18 technical studies drawn up by Treasury economists – running to some 2,000 pages in total – to be presented to Cabinet ministers to read this weekend.

The initial Cabinet discussion will be on May 22. Ministers will then get the Treasury’s final assessment – thought to run to another 200 to 300 pages – on May 26, in preparation for a special Cabinet meeting on June 5 or 6.

The move to involve the Cabinet so heavily was widely being seen at Westminster as an attempt by Tony Blair to try to wrest back some influence over the decision from the Treasury.

It is generally expected that the Treasury’s assessment of the government’s five economic tests will conclude that the conditions are not yet right for Britain to join.

But Mr Blair is reportedly determined to leave open the option of a referendum in the current Parliament – something which the Chancellor is said to be anxious to close off.

The battle is increasingly shaping up into a power struggle which neither man can afford to lose.

Following the announcement of the timetable – after yesterday’s weekly meeting of the Cabinet – Mr Brown swiftly moved to reassert his authority, insisting the “long-term national economic interest” would be the “decisive factor”.

However within hours, the pro-euro Leader of the Commons, John Reid, was telling journalists at Westminster that the Cabinet would be free to consider wider political issues in reaching a decision.

The Chancellor is clearly hoping that the sheer weight of documentation prepared by the Treasury – all of which will be published – will make his assessment of the five tests virtually impossible to challenge.

Mr Brown refused to be drawn on whether the Cabinet would be able to amend or reject the Treasury’s assessment.

However he emphasised that it was an “intricate and long-term piece of work” covering all aspects of the single currency issue.

Both opponents and supporters of the single currency said the move to stretch out the announcement to June 9 was clear evidence that ministers remained deeply divided.

Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith said government infighting had descended to the level of a “pantomime”.

He added: “The government isn’t deciding anything on economic issues. What the Government is doing right now is trying to figure out how they can settle their differences between Gordon Brown and his faction, Tony Blair and his faction and the undecideds in the middle. It is a split Government.”