President of the European Central Bank, Wim Duisenburg, has outlined a possible route for UK membership of the euro without first having to spend two years in the Exchange Rate Mechanism.

Speaking yesterday, Duisenburg said that the decision to join the European single currency was a "purely political decision" taken by heads of EU government and leaving up to the British government to set sterling at an acceptable exchange rate for lasting euro membership. The ECB would have to write a report outlining how far the UK complied with the economic and monetary criteria detailed in the Maastricht Treaty.