Gordon Brown said on Monday that the UK may have some problems while euro entry, after EU finance ministers introduce some changes into its Stability and Growth Pact.

As governments discussed the implications of a new set of EU fiscal rules agreed at the weekend, the chancellor said he had secured that a new medium-term deficit target would only be used in 12 states within the eurozone, unlike those outside the euro, comprising UK .

But speaking on his return from a Brussels summit of EU finance ministers, Mr Brown indicated that the new target under which members must keep borrowing below 1 per cent of national income over the medium term would make it even harder for a Labour government to join the euro whilst retaining key domestic policy objectives, according to the James Blitz.

At a Labour party event on Monday, Mr Brown did not say directly that the new fiscal rules lessen the prospects for UK entry into the euro. But he made clear his idea that it would be better for the UK to be outside the eurozone’s new framework. “We insisted that we would not allow the UK’s plans for investment in the long-term growth of our economy to be undermined or jeopardised by new Commission guidelines or rules,” he said in an interview with James Blitz.

Despite last weekend’s events, Britain has small chances to enter into the euro. But Mr Brown’s belief that the prospects have now shrunk further demonstrates his temper that European finance ministers did not pass those fiscal rules that operate in the UK. These create an opportunity for countries with low debt levels to make investment in infrastructure over the economic cycle.