UK's euro decision day named

The chancellor is expected to say conditions are not right for euro

The announcement on whether the UK should join the euro will be made in the House of Commons on 9 June, Downing Street has said.

The news came after the BBC learned that Gordon Brown and Tony Blair have agreed the UK is not yet ready to join the euro - but remain split on whether to rule out a euro vote before the next election.

Mr Brown had vowed to announce the decision by the first week in June and has decided to take it right to the wire.

Senior ministers will get a chance to see the Treasury's assessment of the euro when they are presented with copies of 18 technical studies into the euro at the weekend.

The issue will then be discussed in cabinet.

Downing Street and a succession of ministers were quick to play down news a decision on the euro had been taken.

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But Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith said indecision and splits on the euro were damaging the whole quality of life of British people.

He told reporters: "This announcement shows what a pantomime they are engaged in. The reality is that the government is split and divided on this issue. They are going to row between now and June 9."

Mr Blair's official spokesman spelled out in detail the steps over the next three weeks leading up to the announcement.

'No window dressing'

He told reporters that after the 2,000-odd pages of Treasury studies into the case for euro entry are circulated to ministers there would be a series of meetings between Mr Blair and Mr Brown and individual cabinet ministers before the cabinet get the chance to discuss it next week.

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Ministers would then receive the Treasury's verdict on the tests, and in the week starting 2 June there will be another series of meetings between the prime minister, the chancellor and individual ministers.

Then a final decision will be taken at a cabinet meeting on 5 June or 6 June.

Mr Blair's spokesman insisted that the cabinet was being given a genuine opportunity to come to a collective decision and the consultation process was not "window-dressing".

'Momentous'

Mr Blair told cabinet colleagues on Thursday that the decision on the euro was "one of the most important this government will make".

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The spokesman stressed that the Treasury's assessment of the five economic tests would not "pre-empt" the cabinet's decision on whether to press ahead with a referendum on the euro.

Mr Brown said he and Mr Blair were "absolutely at one in saying that this decision is both momentous and has got to be made in the proper way".

"This decision is not going to be made on the basis of short term calculations about what is happening here, there and everywhere," he told BBC Radio 4's The World at One.

'Laughing stock'

"It's about the long term national economic assessments and therefore we have been looking at long term trends and long term issues that affect the future of Europe."

The UK's euro verdict

A need-to-know guide

At-a-glance

Earlier, shadow chancellor Michael Howard said the chancellor and prime minister were "becoming a laughing stock".

"To deny that agreement has been reached is absolutely astonishing frankly ..." he said.

"The real tragedy is that in all this, the national economic interest is being lost sight of."

Lib Dem spokesman Menzies Campbell said: "The decision has in effect been taken. The prime minister has acceded to the chancellor's view that the economic conditions are not suitable."

Mr Brown was widely believed to be reluctant to recommend euro entry, but it is the fact that the prime minister appears to have accepted his chancellor's assessment that is most significant.

The UK's five tests

Convergence with eurozone

Enough flexibility to adapt

Impact on jobs

Impact on financial services

Impact on foreign investment

The key question now appears to be when the Treasury might return to assess the economic tests again.

Andrew Marr told Today: "Tony Blair has accepted with some reluctance what he regards as the inevitable position now, which is the chancellor thinks that the economics are not right and therefore they cannot go ahead with the referendum.

"They are still discussing, they are still arguing, about quite a lot of the detail, including above all, whether they can leave the door at least slightly ajar to some kind of referendum later in Parliament."