A referendum on joining the euro is inescapable, the Liberal Democrat leader, Mr Charles Kennedy, said yesterday. He said: "I think it is pretty inescapable there will have to be a referendum on Europe in the first couple of years of the next parliament.
"This boil has got to be lanced one way or the other. When that happens, I think the holiness of William Hague's position . . . will be exposed for the sham it is."
Mr Kennedy launched a bitter attack on the two political parties, saying Mr Blair's party was labouring under a "terrible poverty of ambition" while the "burnt out" Tories face "meltdown".
He said: "If William Hague is now saying we have got 11 days left to save the pound, I think we have got 11 days left to save the country from a William Hague Conservative government.
"This election is not a referendum on Europe . . . this election is a referendum on the quality of our public services."