SUE DOUGHTY CALLS FOR SEPARATE REFERENDUM ON EURO.

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Sun 20th May 2001

IF PEOPLE SAY NO, THEN NO IT WOULD BE.

Westminster candidate Sue Doughty today slammed Tory plans to deny people a clear choice on the Euro. She said: "Using the General Election as a Euro referendum is short changing the electorate. We need to ensure that people are given the opportunity to be informed before they make the choice. With a referendum there would be the opportunity for both sides to put their case openly, and provide the information people need. If the people of Britain rejected the Euro in such a referendum Liberal Democrats would accept this decision.

Sue added: "The scare tactics being used by the Tories and the UKIP over the Euro are shabby in the extreme. People need factual information on both sides of the argument, not tabloid scares repeated by newspapers with strong transatlantic links. "

Liberal Democrats have opposed proposals for a federal Europe. "People need to understand that many things that people fear such as tax harmonisation cannot be brought in unless all the countries agree. This is European law. While we have welcomed some European environmental initiatives, such as the move away from land fill, we believe that some decisions do not need to apply to everyone, and these must be taken locally."