Britain will press the case for European Union economic reform when it adopts the presidency of the bloc later this year, Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown said.
Mr Brown told reporters late on Saturday that Labour party would lay out its plans in a manifesto for business next week as it fights for a third term in power at a May 5th election.
Mr Brown said there was general agreement at the Washington meeting of finance ministers from the G7 economic powers that the EU needed to press ahead with structural reform and become more flexible.
"We will . . . in advance of the referendum on the European constitution continue to push for economic reform in Britain and in Europe," Mr Brown said.
The British government will hold the EU's revolving presidency for the second half of 2005.
Prime Minister Tony Blair has promised the British public a vote on the new EU constitution in 2006. Polls suggest he will be hard-pressed to win such a vote.
Labour strategists hope that if Britain can use its grip on the bloc's presidency to promote a low-regulation, UK-style economic framework in the EU, voters may be more prepared to accept the charter.