The engine light can be any number of things, it is actually the MIL which is the malfunction indicator lamp, this can be triggered by any one of a number of engine sensors not only the emissions system (lambda).
You would have to give more information, vauxhall corsa's suffer with problems associated with the crank position sensor which can cause the car not to start or suddenly stop. if this happens once the MIL lamp will come on until the fault is cleared even if the car does run again. The ECU stores the fault and the MIL lamp stays illuminated.
Bottom line if the engine light is on get it checked, it could become serious!