Hain insists date has not been set for vote on euro referendum

The Government has not set a date for a referendum on the euro and has no secret agenda to hold an early vote, the Minister for Europe insisted.

Peter Hain was acting to scotch reports that the Government is preparing for a vote on the single currency in 18 months' time. His comments contradicted claims from a senior Downing Street adviser that Tony Blair had set a target date. Roger Liddle was overheard telling MEPs at a private dinner that Labour was preparing for a referendum on the euro in spring 2003.

Conflicting signals have been emerging from the Government about the Euro since the election. The Chancellor, Gordon Brown, has taken a cautious approach to joining the single currency but Mr Blair's aides have said there could be a "window of opportunity" to call a referendum as early as the autumn of next year.

Ed Balls, the Treasury's chief economic adviser, has suggested that a referendum would be divisive for Labour and should be delayed while the party delivers its promised improvements to public services.

Mr Hain strenuously denied yesterday that a date had been set. "As Europe minister, I think I would know if some deadline had been set, if some date had been set to target for a referendum, and I can tell you flatly that that is not the case," he told BBC Radio 4.

"There is no target date and nor could there be, because this is a decision that has to be made in Britain's economic interest. How could you set an artificial deadline and then discover whether Britain's economic interests happen to coincide with that deadline – that's not the way to go about this."

Mr Hain, who yesterday began a tour of Britain to promote the benefits of membership of the European Union, risked infuriating Tories by claiming that failure to support UK membership of the EU was "unpatriotic."

The minister, at a conference in Cardiff, claimed that "so called Eurosceptics" were "fundamentally unpatriotic". He said the "patriotic approach" was for Britain to be at the heart of Europe, "engaging with confidence". He accused Eurosceptics of peddling "myths and stories" about Brussels and said people were being turned off Europe because they were "blinded by Euro-gobbledygook." Mr Hain met business people and students on the first leg of his "patriotism tour", designed to promote pro-European sentiment in Britain. In Cardiff, Mr Hain argued that membership of the EU had brought greater prosperity to Britain, created jobs and had ensured that war with our European partners was "unthinkable."

He produced figures for EU investment in Wales, including £1.2bn a year of European grants for redevelopment, to try to counter anti-European propaganda. At the Labour Party conference the Prime Minister gave his strongest indication yet that the Government is planning a referendum during this parliament.

But Mr Hain said yesterday that the party's position had not changed since Tony Blair's speech earlier this month. "The Prime Minister said at conference that if the economic conditions were met then we should have the courage to put the decision to the British people who will make the final decision, not the Government," he said. "That hasn't changed."