The outcome of the Swedish euro referendum will have no bearing on the timing of a poll in the UK, Peter Hain has claimed.

Speaking as the people of Sweden went to cast their votes in a poll marred by the murder of their foreign minister, Hain insisted that the government's stance would not be influenced by events abroad.

Whilst the vote is still being seen as too close to call, the pro-euro campaign has been gaining ground throughout the referendumThe death of Anna Lindh, who was a vocal supporter of the single currency, is thought to have galvanised support around the pro-euro cause.

Some domestic commentators suggest a "yes" vote in a country seen as mildly euro-sceptic could revive hopes of an early poll in Britain.

But Hain insisted that the government would make its assessment based on domestic and economic criteria.

"Just as the Swedes are making their own decision about the euro today, so we will make our own decision in Britain's interests in the right economic circumstances," he told Sky News.

The Commons leader went on to warn that Britain would lose out economically if it remained outside the eurozone permanently."On June 9, Gordon Brown set out a route map into the euro, a very clear route map which showed that, although we have increasingly converged with the mainstream European economies on all sorts of measurement in the economic assessment, there was still some way to go on having sufficient flexibility and convergence to make sure that the British economy would go from strength to strength inside the euro," he said.

"The latest figures show that we are massively down in our share of inward investment compared to the eurozone countries.

"Inward investors from Japan and elsewhere find it easier to go into the eurozone, where they have certainty on currency stability. While we remain outside, they are turning towards the eurozone and not towards us.

"These sorts of things are the reasons why we believe, when the circumstances are right, it is still in Britain's interest to join the euro, but not until the economic circumstances are right.

"Whatever the result of the Swedish referendum, that won't change."