Heseltine steps up campaign for early euro referendum

Michael Heseltine will fire the starting gun today for a sustained campaign by supporters of the single currency for a referendum they believe will take place next year.

The former deputy prime minister will welcome Tony Blair's strongest signal yet that he will call an early referendum, speaking at the annual conference of the all-party European Movement in Birmingham.

Supporters of British membership, who have struggled to raise funds because of uncertainty over whether a referendum will take place before the next general election, are now so convinced Mr Blair will move quickly that they are recruiting more staff for a "pre-campaign" before the official one begins.

The European Movement has appointed Nick Kent, who ran Kenneth Clarke's campaign for the Tory leadership last year, to run the pro-euro Tory Europe Network.

The Britain in Europe campaign has taken on Alan Barnard, a former head of elections for the Labour Party, and the Campaign Company, a political consultancy run by David Evans and Jonathan Upton, both former Labour Party officials.

At today's meeting, the European Movement will agree to postpone the same event next year to allow its members to concentrate on the expected referendum campaign.

Lord Heseltine will tell the conference that his first reaction to Mr Blair's recent comments about the single currency was "about time too" because political leadership for the pro-euro campaign had been missing. "But while warm words are obviously not enough, it would be churlish not to respond positively to the signs that the Prime Minister is willing to lead Britain into the euro," he will say.

Lord Heseltine will urge Mr Blair to keep up the momentum: "Only the Prime Minister and his Government can lead a successful referendum campaign. Without that leadership the pro-European supporters will remain reluctant and hesitant.

"Europe is about opportunity in a changing world. It is about British self-interest. It is the future. A future designed by us in partnership with others – or to be built by others with us excluded. To isolate ourselves by our own choice from that future would be an historic betrayal of responsibility to ourselves and future generations."

Bill Rammell, the MP for Harlow and the chairman of the Labour Movement for Europe, which is trebling its numbers of parliamentary spokesmen in each region of Britain, said: "It is a part of the growing momentum in advance of a referendum on the euro. It is clear that the pressure is now building for a referendum sooner rather than later."