Hold referendum on euro and constitution, urges Lib Dem EU leader

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Mon 9th Jun 2003

Britain should hold a double question referendum on the euro and the EU constitution, Liberal Democrat leader in the European Parliament Diana Wallis has urged.

She branded Chancellor Gordon Brown's 'not yet' verdict a failure of political leadership over Europe, rather than failure on economic tests.

" The public is not ready, nor will it be, until the Government grasps the whole Europe agenda: the excitement of enlargement with 10 new countries voting to join in their own referendums and the possibilities of a new constitution for Europe which will entrench the powers of national parliaments, " she said.

She called on the Government to hold a 'proper' debate based on politics like the rest of Europe rather than just economics.

" We desperately need a referendum on the constitution when it is known. In my view, to have a referendum on the euro before that would be ridiculous as people will rightly use such a referendum to vote on the whole European issue. So let's have the political debate that everybody wants."

"Why not set a date, one year hence, when we should know the full outcome of the constitutional changes and have a double question referendum on both the constitution and the euro? In the meantime let's get ready."