The knight who led the charge to revamp Bradford city centre is to help decide when Britain is ready to join the euro.

Sir Graham Hall, former interim chairman of Bradford's Urban Regeneration Company, has been appointed by Chancellor Gordon Brown to sit on the Government's influential standing committee on euro preparations.

The committee aims to lead the planning process to ensure the British economy is ready to adopt the controversial euro.

Yesterday, Mr Brown and Prime Minister Tony Blair were continuing their charm offensive to try to persuade the British public of the benefits of joining their continental counterparts in the single currency, a day after Mr Brown ruled out an immediate referendum on the euro.

Mr Blair said: "It is time to make the argument for Britain in Europe, to take on those who believe if we are pro-British, we must be anti-European, to defeat the false case that if Britain is a full-hearted member of the EU we lose our identity as a nation and to show, in a world that is moving closer together and being transformed by globalisation, it would be a cruel denial of our own proper self-interest to cut ourselves adrift from the major strategic and economic alliance right on our doorstep."

Today, Sir Graham, 59, said he was "absolutely delighted" to be appointed to the committee.

He will be joining some illustrious names on the committee, including Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt and Digby Jones, director general of the Confederation of British Industry.

Sir Graham said he hoped to bring some "regional pragmatism" to the committee.

But, despite not yet having had chance to read through all the documents on the arguments for and against the euro, he feels the country is heading in the right direction.

He said: "I would rather assimilate all the information - I have read a lot of it, but there is more to read - before making my mind up. But the general direction the Chancellor is taking accords with my views.

"We need to be part of the European scene and part of the single currency when the time is right." He said his experience and the views of his colleagues suggested the region could be left behind if the country didn't join the euro.

"It is a high-powered forum and I will be there to represent the English regions and Yorkshire and the Humber," said Sir Graham, who will not be paid for his time on the committee.