UK may recast ties with the EU: Foreign secy

Britain may rethink its ties with the European Union, Foreign Secretary William Hague has indicated, as he described the creation of the euro zone without closer tax and spending rules "a giant mistake".

In an interview to The Times, Hague said Britain might prosper by loosening its ties with Brussels.

Britain "may get ahead" by standing apart from the EU on more issues than the euro and that he "would like to see powers returned from the EU" to it, he said.

Throwing his weight behind Tory Eurosceptics who want to recast the relationship with the European Union, Hague said "It's true of the euro, it could be true of more areas in future. In fact we may get ahead as a result of being outside," the Foreign Secretary said.

He said the creation of the eurozone without closer tax and spending rules was "always a giant mistake" and it "would stand as a monument in time to how group-think can go so seriously away from what is realistic".

Hague who in 2001 fought the most aggressively Eurosceptic election campaign of the past three decades, said that his opposition to the single currency had been vindicated by events.

The creation of the eurozone without its members being bound by closer tax and spending rules was "always a giant mistake," he said.

"It will stand as a monument in time to how group-think can go so seriously away from what is realistic."

According to the report, the economic crisis has only strengthened Hague's belief that Britain should pull away from Brussels.