Britain “obviously” remains committed to joining the euro currency, according to newly promoted First Secretary of State ‘Lord’ Mandelson.

Speaking in Berlin, Mr Mandelson, who is unelected despite having the same role as deputy prime minister, said the euro was a saviour that had brought stability to the European Union during financial turmoil.

“It is perfectly clear that the euro has been a great success in anchoring its eurozone members during this financial crisis,” he said.

“Imagine where all of us would have been if it hadn’t. I hope people will recognise that this represents a major vindication for the single currency.”

Asked if the British Government would consider joining the euro, Lord Mandelson replied: “Does it remain an important objective for Britain to find itself in the same currency as that single market in which it interacts? Obviously yes.”

Mr Mandelson is merely repeating the claim made by Labour’s former MEP for Yorkshire, Mr Richard Corbett, who said in January this year that Britain would be better off if it adopted the euro.

“Joining the euro would be good for British jobs, economic stability and prosperity, which it is both politically expedient and, ultimately, profoundly self-defeating to continue to ignore,” Mr Corbett, who lost his seat to the BNP’s Andrew Brons, said in a statement.

At the time, Mr Mandelson was British Business Secretary and backed Mr Corbett’s comments. He said that the government maintained the long-term policy objective of taking Britain into the euro but fudged the issue saying, “It’s not for now.”

* Meanwhile, Poland’s central bank has issued a report questioning the cost of joining the euro. That country’s central bank, NBP, said that it had weighed the costs and benefits of planned entry in the eurozone in 2012.

“When we began work on our report two years ago, it seemed we would find a clear answer on the costs and benefits of integration with the eurozone,” NBP president Slawomir Skrzypek said. “Today this question is open.”

* According to a poll published in May this year, a majority of Danes oppose joining the euro. The survey, conducted by the Jyllands-Posten newspaper, found that 45.2 percent of people questioned by the Ramboell Institute said they wanted to maintain Denmark’s opt-out on joining the euro, 43.6 percent said they wanted it lifted and 11.1 percent expressed no opinion.

Denmark was granted the opt-out after it initially rejected the EU’s Maastricht Treaty, which laid the foundations for the creation of the single currency, in a June 1992 referendum.

This latest survey indicated a drop in support for joining the eurozone among Danes. The last such poll, carried out in January 2009, found that 49.8 percent wanted to scrap the opt-out and 44.6 percent wanted to keep it. Denmark last voted on whether to adopt the euro in 2000, when the measure was rejected by 53.2 percent of voters.