The British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, has given the strongest signal yet that Britain is likely to face a referendum on membership of the European Single Currency in the lifetime of this parliament.
In his keynote speech to the Labour Party conference yesterday, the Prime Minister again insisted that Britain should only join the Euro if the Treasury's five "economic tests" were met. Far from being "window-dressing for a political decision", he insisted, they were "fundamental."
However, if they were met, Mr Blair told conference, "we should have the courage of our argument, to ask the British people for their consent in this parliament." The Prime Minister's director of communications, Mr Alistair Campbell, insisted later that the government's policy on the Euro was unchanged.
But when asked whether, following a positive assessment of the economic conditions, the government would press ahead with a referendum in the face of negative opinion polls, Mr Campbell said ultimately the issue was so important that "you do what you believe is right regardless of what passing opinion polls may say."
Earlier, the party chairman, Mr Charles Clarke, told the BBC he thought a referendum during the life of this parliament was "more likely in that the political pressure is increased."
While political and economic commentators tried to read between the lines of Mr Blair's restatement of the government's position, Mr Bill Morris, general secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union, told Sky News: "He (Mr Blair) made some pretty important points. For example, I am very convinced that we heard the start almost of the campaign for the referendum in the context of the single currency."
In his speech rejecting "isolationism" as a response to the international crisis, Mr Blair said that - with 60 per cent of Britain's trade dependent on Europe, three million jobs tied up in Europe, and much of her political weight engaged in Europe - "it would be a fundamental denial of our true national identity to turn our backs on Europe."
Vowing to "never let that happen", Mr Blair said that for 50 years Britain had uncharacteristically followed rather than led in Europe, at each and every step.
"There are debates central to our future coming up: how we reform European economic policy; how we take forward European defence; how we fight organised crime and terrorism," he told conference.
And he declared: "Britain needs its voice strong in Europe and, bluntly, Europe needs a strong Britain, rock solid in our alliance with the USA, yet determined to play its full part in shaping Europe's destiny."
Mr Blair continued: "We should only be part of the single currency if the economic conditions are met. But if they are met, we should join, and if met in this parliament, we should have the courage of our argument, to ask the British people for their consent in this parliament. Europe is not a threat to Britain, Europe is an opportunity."