The Danish No vote would not deflect the British government from pressing ahead with plans to hold a referendum on joining the euro if the economic conditions were favourable, the Foreign Secretary, Mr Robin Cook, declared yesterday.
Insisting it would be "irresponsible" not to hold a referendum on entry if the economic conditions were conducive and Cabinet and parliament agreed, Mr Cook said the people of Britain would ultimately decide whether to join the euro.
"If the Chancellor of Britain does decide that there would be economic advantages to going in, I think it would be very irresponsible for the government now to say that even if he reaches that decision, we are not going to ask the British people," Mr Cook told BBC Radio 4.
As the government bristled at suggestions by Euro-sceptics that the Danish vote was a declaration on national sovereignty (rather than economics) that would be repeated in a British referendum, the shadow chancellor, Mr Michael Portillo, said the No vote overturned the argument that Britain would be isolated in Europe if it did not join the single currency.
"Well of course we are not now isolated, other people in Europe have taken the same view," Mr Portillo declared, encouraged by a Danish vote which he said clearly established that it was not inevitable Britain would join the single currency.
Whatever the timing of a referendum on joining the euro, the Euro-sceptic Labour MP, Mr Tony Benn, who has invited the leader of the Danish No campaign, Mr Ole Krarup, to London for talks next month on the single currency, said it was "vital that we start to use the same arguments in the UK's campaign against the euro".
As Mr Benn rallied the No camp, the car firm Nissan warned the growing strength of sterling had left the firm "barely breaking even" and currency stability would be a major factor in deciding whether to build its new model in Britain.
The warning was ammunition for the pro-European group, Britain in Europe, which said the car firm's difficulties showed the "irrelevance" of the Danish No vote in Britain. "Nissan's investment in Britain is in jeopardy because we are outside the euro," said Mr Simon Buckby, campaign director of Britain in Europe.
"Denmark's vote does nothing to reduce that threat. Anti-European glee will not help the British jobs, exports, and inward investment being hammered by the high pound. That is what matters in Britain," he said.