That judgment is on the way and then we will make a recommendation to parliament, there will be a referendum and the people will make the decision

John Prescott

His comments to the BBC come as euro notes and coins hit streets and stores across 12 European countries.

In Brussels, European Commission President Romano Prodi agreed that the decision was one for the UK alone.

But he declared that the arrival of single currency inevitably meant "common rules" for running national economies in the eurozone.

He said the European Union had taken "a major step down the path which leads ineluctably to greater convergence of economic rules".

Shadow Health secretary Dr Liam Fox accused the UK Prime Minister Tony Blair of failing to show leadership over British entry.

"I am sure the prime minister will set a date for a referendum and I am sure he will do it on the basis of what focus groups and opinion polls say rather than any act of leadership and certainly any act of courage."

But on the BBC's Today programme Mr Prescott pledged a decision would be made "by an early part of this Government".

"That judgment is on the way and then we will make a recommendation to parliament, there will be a referendum...and the people will make the decision."

Time to decide

The Liberal Democrats, in favour of the euro, also went on the offensive, insisting that Mr Blair should name a date for a referendum on whether the UK should join the currency.

In an interview with BBC Radio 4's World This Weekend, Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy dismissed the government's five economic tests as a "fig leaf" that would allow it to put off a referendum decision.

The Conservative former Deputy Prime Minister Lord Heseltine agreed, charging that Mr Blair should tell the backers of the euro: "Follow me over the top".

Lord Owen, former Labour cabinet minister and co-founder of the Social Democratic Party, warned against the UK adopting the euro.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that "it was no accident" that a majority of the British people did not want to get rid of the pound.

The reason was that the economy was performing better than in Europe, with lower unemployment and higher growth rates - and to adopt the euro would mean the loss of interest rates set for the benefit of the UK.