NORMAN Tebbit, the outspoken Tory peer, is planning to use an EU summit in York next month to launch a scathing anti-Europe attack.

The former Tory party chairman is expected to lambast the Government's stance on Europe and call for Britain to distance itself from the European Union.

It will come a day before the start of the Ecofin conference, on March 20, as York prepares to offer a warm welcome to delegates from 15 European countries. Lord Tebbit will be speaking alongside other Euro-sceptics, including Labour peer Lord Shaw, at a public meeting organised by the Anti-Maastricht Alliance.

The Alliance, born out of the controversial Maastricht Treaty summit in 1992, has booked a room at the York campus of the University College of Ripon and York St John.

The university, displaying mild signs of embarrassment at the booking, is organising a pro-European event on the same evening and is trying to book a speaker of Lord Tebbit's calibre.

Spokeswoman Susan Major said: "It is not our event. We are a city centre conference venue and the booking was made by an outside agency. We are organising various events to celebrate York as an international city."

Lord Tebbit caused a storm at last year's Tory party conference when he warned against the spread of multi-culturalism in Britain. His views were branded "outdated" by Tory leader William Hague.

Lionel Bell, secretary of the London-based Anti-Maastricht Alliance, said: "Going into Economic and Monetary Union will mean a very big transfer of constitutional power from this country.

"We want that message to be heard loud and clear during Ecofin." The three-day meeting of EU finance ministers, chaired by Chancellor Gordon Brown in York's Assembly Rooms, is expected to thrash out further details on the European single currency.

As well as the Anti-Maastricht Alliance meeting, on Thursday, March 19, at 7pm, Euro-sceptics are planning other "higher profile" activities in the city over the Ecofin weekend.

York MP Hugh Bayley said: "In a democracy, everyone should have a right to speak, although I strongly believe that hundreds of jobs in York depend on Britain's EU membership."

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