999 set to stay - Liz Lynne

12.44.15pm GMT Tue 21st Mar 2006

Britain's '999' emergency telephone number is set to stay despite claims that it was to fall foul of new EU rules.

Speculation that EU bureaucrats were trying to force Britain to replace the number with a standard '112' across Europe has been dismissed as "nonsense" by Liz Lynne, Lib Dem MEP for the West Midlands.

The EU's Information Commissioner, Viviane Reding, has confirmed that there is no pressure for change. She writes in a Parliamentary Answer that "the Commission has not proposed and never had the intention of proposing the withdrawal of national emergency numbers such as 999 in the UK."

Speaking in Brussels today, Liz Lynne said:

"Politicians and the media need to get their facts right before they jump on the Eurosceptic bandwagon. There has never been a threat to our emergency number."

"Eurosceptics should bother to find out the truth before they make wild anti-EU accusations."

Notes to Editors

1. A standard emergency number of '112' was introduced across the EU in the 1980s. It was designed to operate alongside national emergency numbers - such as our own 999 - and allows anyone requiring emergency help when abroad to speak to an operator in their own language. Although 112 has been in use in Britain since 1993, BT estimates fewer than 5% of emergency callers use it.

2. Last November, former Tory leadership candidate Liam Fox caused confusion when he condemned any changes to Britain's emergency number. He slammed the alleged 'plan' as "a piece of unnecessary intrusion into our national life". (Liam Fox quote reported in The Mail on Sunday, 6 November 2005).