BRITAIN: The Conservatives have welcomed assurances that the Blair government will not be able to "rig" the questions for any British referendum on membership of the euro.
They were responding to a declaration by the chairman of the Electoral Commission, Mr Sam Younger, that his independent body would assess the fairness of any question or questions to be put in a referendum "without fear or favour."
It is understood the government had hoped to clear the terms of any referendum question with the Commission in advance - assuming the completion of the Treasury's economic assessment and an eventual decision by ministers in favour of scrapping sterling and joining the euro.
In an interview yesterday, however, Mr Younger signalled that, not only would the Commission not give prior approval to any government draft, but would reserve the right to criticise any question it considered unfair post-publication.
"I'm sure it would be the case that government, in bringing in legislation on any referendum, would not want that question to be one that the Electoral Commission rubbished as being unfair," Mr Younger told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "They would not want to be in that position and I would hope that it doesn't get to that position."
However, he continued: "At the end of the day I think there is an obligation on us as an independent organisation to respond to the draft question independently, and say whether we think it is intelligible and whether we think it is fair. And we will do that without fear or favour."
It is believed that concern to ensure fairness could lead the Commission to object to a single-choice referendum question, for example, one simply asking voters if they wished to join the single currency.
Since voters may be naturally inclined to respond positively to being asked to join something - they might be presented with an alternative question asking if they wished to retain sterling.
Mr Younger acknowledged that his organisation could be placed in difficulty should it offer adverse comment on the proposed wording but said the Commission would have to live with that pressure.
"I'm sure we would come under enormous pressure," he said. "But I think in positive terms that the Commission is there to give an independent view and an independent view we will give."
The shadow foreign secretary, Mr Michael Ancram, welcomed Mr Younger's assurance that the Commission would not be restrained and said it was "a setback to those who thought they could rig a euro referendum."
The Conservatives hoped Mr Younger would use all the powers available to him to ensure that any question put was scrupulously fair to both sides of the argument.
However, the more immediate question, Mr Ancram added, was whether Mr Blair "has the courage of his convictions and calls a referendum."