Brown to announce UK euro verdict
The Chancellor Gordon Brown will say whether he believes the UK is ready to join the euro in a historic announcement to the House of Commons later today.
It is expected that Mr Brown will tell MPs that economic conditions are not yet ready for us to join the European single currency, although he is in favour of joining in principle.
It is also believed he will say that the five economic tests he set in 1997 have not been passed, meaning that no referendum will be held yet. However he will say that British membership of the euro could boost trade with other European countries.
Mr Brown yesterday told the BBC: ‘It is important to unite the whole of the country around a pro-European consensus for the future.’
‘In principle I want to join the single currency – in practical terms, we have got to be sure that all the conditions are in the right place and we don’t make the same mistakes of the Exchange Rate Mechanism era,’ he said.
The Chancellor’s statement will be accompanied by the publication of 1,738 pages of technical studies, a 250-page assessment and a new national changeover plan. More than 50 independent economists have contributed to the analysis from all sides of the euro debate.
