LONDON () -- British Prime Minister John Major on Thursday offered a key concession to rebels in his party opposed to a single European currency in a bid to get a grip on his campaign for the May 1 election.


Major told an impromptu news conference in northwest England that allowing members of parliament a free vote on whether to join a single European currency was "almost certainly the right way to handle it."


The move was nevertheless hailed by aides and so-called Eurosceptics opposed to European integration as a dramatic but workable solution to a problem that has dogged Major's efforts to unite his party.