Dave Prentis

The European single currency has come under attack from a combination of unions, Labour "luvvies" and left-wing MPs.

As reports continue to suggest strengthening support in Number 10 for Britain's quick entry into the single currency, the No Campaign is set to launch a star-studded cinema attacking possible membership.

The advert sees the Labour-supporting TV comedians Harry Enfield and Rik Mayall join forces for a campaign designed to stop the government claiming that only "Tory extremists" are against the euro.

The 90 second advert, to be screened during forthcoming summer blockbusters, also features comedians Vic Reeves, John Sessions and Phil Cornwell. Musician Jules Holland also stars in the film directed by former Comic Strip member Peter Richardson.

Left-wing Labour backbenchers Diane Abbott and Kate Hoey also take part, voicing their concerns about euro membership.

The advert features Enfield playing his Tim Nice-But-Dim character saying "Yah to the euro" - but then admitting that his position is based on the fact that the word euro "sounds like urine".

And in a send up of a Nuremburg-style rally, Mayall impersonates Nazi leader Adolf Hitler to declare from a Swastika-decked balcony that membership of the euro is inevitable, to cries of "no" from the crowd below.

The advert also includes interviews with public sector workers and people talk about the problems involved in switching currencies.

George Eustice, co- director of Europe Yes, Euro No, said the campaign aimed to build a people-based campaign that would not rely on "political figures".

Public services

Details of the new campaign were revealed as public sector union Unison warned that joining the European single currency could reduce investment in public services by £10 billion.

General secretary Dave Prentis described his union's stance on the EU as "not anti-Europe, but anti the single currency on its current terms".

The union is sending out a pamphlet detailing the dangers of Britain's membership to its 1250 branches.

Losing UK control over interest rates could impact upon jobs which would outweigh any benefit from consumers adapting to the currency easily, the article said.

"It would be a disaster for our public services if we had to cut public spending by such large amounts when the chancellor has only just pumped in huge investment to rebuild our hospitals and schools," Prentis warned.

A spokesman at Business for Sterling agreed.

"Unison are absolutely right. The best way of providing our public services with the investment they need is by keeping control of our economy by keeping the pound," he said.

However, Neil Kinnock, vice president of the European Commission and former leader of the Labour Party, said that the biggest threat to public service investment was currency instability.

"Labour comrades should recall that throughout decades of under-investment, one of the reasons most frequently given by both Tory and Labour governments for not sustaining the necessary spending with necessary consistency was the condition of the economy and, particularly, 'the state of the Pound' - whatever it was at the time," he said.

"The volatility of the pound over the years has inflicted huge costs on the UK. It has led to several governments, Tory and Labour, being forced to put a squeeze on spending in order to rebalance the economy."

"People who care about public services should appreciate that the euro is part of the answer, not part of the problem," he added.

"'Europe Yes, Euro No' is not the comfortable middle way for Britain that some would pretend."

Sir Ken Jackson, joint general secretary of the Amicus union, agreed with Kinnock.

"In the two years following the euro's launch, 115,000 manufacturing jobs were lost because of Britain's isolation from our biggest trading partner. That's an extra 115,000 people unemployed, costing the British taxpayer £1.3 billion. That's £1.3 billion less to invest in public services. That's the real risk to public services," he said.

A spokesman for the Treasury repeated that spending levels had been set in the Budget, and that the government was committed to assessing the five economic tests by June 2003.