LONDON, Jan 4 - The UK government rubbished reports on Friday that the Treasury official responsible for assessing whether Britain should adopt the euro in favour of the pound had said it was ultimately a political decision. Gus O'Donnell, head of macro-economic policy at the Treasury, was cited in several newspapers on Friday as having said it would be impossible to reach a "clear and unambiguous" verdict on the government's five economic tests for euro entry. "Ultimately, it will be a political decision," The Times quoted O'Donnell as telling a student seminar. A Treasury spokesman said O'Donnell's comments, taken from a careers presentation to a group of undergraduates in late November, had been "totally misrepresented". "Mr O'Donnell has no recollection of saying 'ultimately it will be a political decision'," the Treasury spokesman said. The largely successful roll-out of euro-notes and coins across 12 countries this week has turned up the heat on Prime Minister Tony Blair's government to clarify its "wait-and-see" stance on euro membership. Blair, who on Thursday said Britain would be "very foolish" to run away from the single currency, has promised Britons a referendum on the issue if his government considers entry would serve Britain's economic interests. Five tests were devised by the Treasury in 1997 to assess convergence with the euro zone, the flexibility to deal with economic shocks and the impact on jobs, investment and the financial services sector. The Treasury has promised to complete an assessment of the tests by June 2003, leading to speculation that a referendum on euro membership could be held next year. EURO-SCEPTIC PUBLIC Economists are divided on whether the tests will be met and many analysts agree that the decision on whether Britain joins the euro will depend largely on Blair's political will and whether the government thinks it can win over a euro-sceptic Britical public. Opinion polls place opposition to the euro at around 60 percent although they also reveal that most Britons feel eventual membership of the new currency is inevitable. The Treasury spokesman said that although assessment of the tests had not yet started, "preliminary and technical work is underway". He reiterated Chancellor Gordon Brown's frequent mantra that the assessment would be "rigorous and comprehensive" and that the economic case for entry must be "clear and ambiguous". Anti-euro group Business for Sterling said O'Donnell's reported remarks "blew a hole" in government policy on the euro. "We now know that the tests cannot be met this Parliament. The Government policy is therefore in shreds and they should rule out replacing the pound," said Dominic Cummings, director of the "No" campaign. "If they don't, it is because they want to join the euro for political reasons and are prepared to gamble with British jobs and living standards," he said.