Labour leader urges Blair push on euro

Date: 12/09/02

By Martin Banks

THE newly elected leader of the British Labour MEPs has called on UK premier Tony Blair to take the plunge on the referendum to join the euro.

Gary Titley said: 'The UK government needs to make up its mind soon [about the date for a vote].

'If we delay any longer we will find that it won't be so easy to join without having to accept rules that are very unsatisfactory to us, like tax harmonisation.'

He is calling for the referendum to take place in October 2003, calling it 'an open goal waiting to be scored'.

Titley says he will also be pressing Blair to give MEPs more freedom to do their job because Brussels is a very different political landscape from Westminster.

'People have got to understand in Britain that we are working in a consensual environment and it takes a special strategy to deal with this.

'London has had trouble understanding this but I think the message is now getting across.'

Former history teacher Titley defeated Linda McAvan, a Blair loyalist, to become the 28-strong Labour delegation's fifth leader in as many years.

His predecessor, Simon Murphy, quit a fortnight ago, saying the perpetual travel from his constituency to London and the European Parliament's homes in Brussels and Strasbourg meant he was missing the childhood of his 21-month-old-son.

His predecessor, Alan Donnelly, resigned abruptly two years ago, also citing the strain of travel.

Titley, 52, who represents the north west of England and is married to a Spaniard, said:

'The sooner we resolve this nonsense of the travelling circus, the better.'

Many of the party's best-known figures refused to stand for the job.

Michael Cashman, a former actor in the British soap opera EastEnders, who'd been strongly tipped for the post, said he had decided against standing because he felt it was 'too early' in his career.

'I came under strong pressure to stand but I am quite happy doing the work I'm doing at present,' he said.

• See MEPs call for end to Strasbourg 'circus' and Cashman on data protection in this issue.

The newly elected leader of the British Labour MEPs, Gary Titley, has called on the UK Prime Minister Tony Blair to take the plunge on the referendum to join the euro.