People want to be in Europe but keep the pound

Francis Maude

Mr Maude said the Tories would legislate to create "reserved powers", over which European law could not over-ride the will of Parliament.

He also said that they would insist on a 'mix and match' approach to European laws - apart from those on the single market and core areas - allowing countries to accept only those which met their needs.

One size 'does not fit all'

The shadow foreign secretary said the UK would not stand in the way of other EU countries which wanted to integrate more: "That's their sovereign right. But a Conservative government will not - not - do the same."

Ours is a swirling, tempestuous world; a world bursting with opportunity; a world of lightning information flows; truly a network world

Francis Maude

Mr Maude denied that this would mean the UK becoming isolated.

He said the Danish vote to reject the euro proved that 'one size did not fit all'.

There was "nothing inevitable about scrapping the pound. People want to be in Europe but keep the pound," Mr Maude declared, "And with a Conservative government, they will."

Network world

The shadow foreign secretary began his speech by remarking that the world was now less stable than it was during the Cold War.

Maude expresses Tory determination

"Ours is a swirling, tempestuous world; a world bursting with opportunity; a world of lightning information flows. Truly a network world," he said.

Mr Maude said that if people believed in themselves, then the UK could flourish in this new world.

He said UK assets included the world's fourth largest economy, the greatest financial centre, armed forces admired worldwide, membership of the EU, at the heart of Nato and the Commonwealth, and English - "the language of the internet and global exchange".

Britain could be at the centre of the network world, Mr Maude said, if it looked outwards, not inwards.

He said the British were globalists before the word was invented, and had spread freedom, law and democracy across the globe.