SWEDEN'S decision to reject the European single currency has been welcomed by a top Kirklees councillor.
The council's Conservative group leader Clr Robert Light said he was delighted at the news that the Swedish people had voted overwhelmingly against accepting the euro as their national currency.
Despite the murder of the Swedish europhile foreign minister Anna Lindh, which was expected to attract a sympathy vote, a turnout in excess of 80% returned a 56% vote against scrapping the kroner.
Clr Light said: "The Swedish people have made it quite clear how they feel about the euro, and the people of the United Kingdom need to be given the same opportunity at the earliest possible date.
"Instead, the Labour Government waits and waits in the hope that the conditions they require will materialise. The truth is they aren't going to materialise, the Government knows it, and the electorate knows it.
"A referendum needs to take place now to put this matter to bed once and for all.
"Alternatively, the Government could simply rule out a referendum altogether, and save the taxpayers a fortune, by admitting what the majority of people in this country already know - the euro will never be accepted.
"The Government could then have a referendum on the European Constitution, as most other European countries intend to do, but Tony Blair's Government is running scared of this too because he is not confident of getting the result he wants.
"The question has to be asked whether we are living in a democracy or a dictatorship."
Sweden was one of the three European Union nations not to adopt the euro at its launch. Denmark also voted "No" in a referendum in 2000.
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