Downing Street has rejected claims that a referendum on the euro could be shelved until after a general election in summer 2005.

Number 10 dismissed reports that pro-euro campaigners close to the prime minister accept the five economic tests will not be met for at least two years and "a referendum in a third Labour term is seen as an increasingly live option in Downing Street".

The official spokesman denied the story saying he had "no idea where the story has come from".

Speculation from those papers that ran the story suggested that the denials from Number 10 would not be as vociferous as those from the chancellor's office next door.

The story was described by Number 10 as "crystal ball gazing with a large number of hypotheticals thrown in".