Britain’s Europe minister Mr Peter Hain has urged British businesses and shops to accept the European single currency notes and coins when they are introduced on January 1.
Twelve EU countries - not including Britain - are due to start using the euro.
Mr Hain's upbeat comments about the new currency in the Independentnewspaper are sure to anger eurosceptics, who suspect the government is planning to cajole the electorate into backing British membership.
The Foreign Office minister said: "It is very striking that shops and retail outlets are rushing to use the euro. It is a process of Britain coming to terms with the fact that the euro is here to stay.
"Whether we are in or out of it, it affects us.
"I want our shops and retail outlets to gain from the euro - as they have clearly decided they want to in order to remain competitive - rather than to lose out.
"I want the 13 million continental Europeans who come to shop and visit each year to know they can just bring their money over with them because they will then spend more money here rather than give their 5 per cent (commission) to the money changers.
"I would rather that money went into shops and businesses in Britain than to a bureau de change in Paris or Berlin."
PA