A survey of 1,300 voters published on Tuesday indicates that just 17% backed a switch from the pound.

Research group Social and Community Planning Research said there had been a slide in public support for the European Union in recent years, partly because of opposition to a single currency.

It also found that there was no single policy area on which a majority of the British public would give up Britain's national decision-making powers.

Researchers also found that commitment to the work ethic in Britain has fallen over the last eight years.

In Germany and Italy commitment has either risen or stayed the same.

No single policy area where Britons want to give up decision-making powers

In 1989, 65% of Britons said they would want a job even if they did not need the money. But the figure dropped to 58% last year.

In Germany, however, the figure went up from 62% to 73% in the same period.

Only a quarter of British people think work is their most important activity, compared to 46% of Germans and Italians and 42% of Swedes.

The research is based on polls conducted in 1997 and is in sharp contrast to more recent reports showing support for a single currency, particularly among business leaders.

Elsewhere in Europe, on the other hand, other hardened eurosceptics are slowly coming around to the idea of monetary union.

Sweden - which is outside the EMU and suffered in the aftermath of the Asian and Russian economic crises - has seen support for the euro grow by 10% since April.

Now 36% of Swedes think the euro is a good idea, compared to 26% seven months ago.

Opposition to the single currency amongst Swedes has fallen from 41% to 35% in the same period.

In Germany too, support for the euro is creeping up. While in the autumn of 1997 only 40% of Germans backed the single currency, by May this year the figure had reached 51%.

German opposition over the same period dropped from 45% to 36%.

Europe-wide, women are less likely to support a single currency than men.