British Prime Minister Tony Blair refused this morning to rule out a referendum on joining the euro before the next parliamentary elections, expected in 2005.
Mr Blair, speaking ahead of the opening of his ruling Labour Party's annual conference, said Britain would not be influenced by a Swedish rejection earlier this month of euro membership.
"We should keep the option open," he told BBC Television. "Let us as a country decide when we want to exercise that option. I don't see any point, irrespective of what happens in Sweden, of ruling anything out. Let's keep our options open. That's what we'll do."
Mr Blair has long said he is in favour of joining the euro as long as the economics are right and has pledged to hold a referendum on the issue when they are.
In June, Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown said the right conditions were not yet in place. He pledged to look again early next year.
But after Swedish voters rejected euro membership in a referendum two weeks ago, pro- and anti-euro campaigners in Britain said the odds of a vote before the next election had evaporated.
The collapse in Mr Blair's trust ratings, triggered by growing doubts over his case for war in Iraq, has also prompted many analysts to say he is unlikely to risk an uphill campaign to win over sceptical Britons to the merits of euro membership.
Sweden, Britain and Denmark remain outside the euro zone.