AS the row over whether or not Britain should join the euro hots up, Worcester businesses are divided in opinion.

The Government was yesterday accused of being "split from top to bottom" over the euro, as Chancellor Gordon Brown prepares to deliver the Treasury's verdict on the single currency in June.

In a survey carried out by the Chamber of Commerce, Herefordshire and Worcestershire, businesses in the two counties were divided, with 51 per cent of manufacturing businesses saying Britain should join the euro and 43 per cent of service industries keen to join up.

Almost half of all businesses surveyed want to join the euro, with 46 per cent in Worcestershire and 44 per cent in Herefordshire wanting to join the single currency.

The British Chambers of Commerce have urged the Government to end the uncertainty, saying if the Chancellor rules out joining the euro in June it should put the matter aside for three years, to stabilise business.

However, 25 leading businessmen, including Sir Chris Gent, chief executive of Vodafone, and Peter Sutherland, chairman of BP, have written to Prime Minister Tony Blair asking him not to rule out joining the euro before the next election.

But Roger Allsop, a director of Malvern Tubular Components, which exports about 80 per cent of its metal tubes and pipework to 100 countries world-wide, said the euro had had as little impact on the business world as a "cold suet pudding".

"Our international customers have never required it and we've been under no pressure to resort to invoicing in euros," he said.

"Our policy is obviously customer satisfaction and they're not asking for it, so we question what it's all about."

But David Cornelius, a director at Rabjohns Business and Tax Advisers, in College Yard, Worcester, called the euro a "hot potato".

He said there were arguments for joining the euro but the importance of doing this should not be over-exaggerated, as about only 12 per cent of the country's income was derived from trading with the euro-zone.

"If we join the euro, our dealings with Europe will entail lower transaction costs," he said.

"And there will be an end to currency exchange risk. It will be easier to operate across country borders."

He said many businesses already played a part in the supply chain of larger businesses already dealing in the euro.

"This is something known for several years as the 'creeping euro', he said.