Cabinet begins euro discussions
A series of high-level meetings between cabinet ministers to discuss Britain’s possible entry into the single currency has begun.
Tony Blair and Gordon Brown are expected to ask each Cabinet minister in turn what they think of the European single currency.
Cabinet ministers have spent the weekend poring over 2,500 pages of Treasury reports on the euro and will each meet the Chancellor and Prime Minister to discuss their conclusions ahead of a roundtable debate in Cabinet later this week.
A final verdict will not be reached for three weeks and is expected to involve considerable debate and discussion within the Government.
The Prime Minister is believed to view membership of the single currency as inevitable, the key question being when a referendum would be most appropriate.
For his part, the Chancellor appears to remain committed to the primacy of his five economic tests, by which he will measure Britain’s preparedness to join the eurozone.
And it is widely expected that Gordon Brown will tells the Commons that the time is not yet right for the United Kingdom to join the eurozone when he delivers the Treasury assessment of the tests to parliament on June 9th.
However, he has not yet ruled out a referendum during this parliament and insists that the decision will be made purely on whether or not the economic criteria has been met.
Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell and Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt have already voiced their support for British entry to the euro and a majority of the Cabinet are believed to be largely in favour.
Despite such support from the upper echelons of the Government, opinion polls consistently find that UK public opinion remains weighted against euro entry.
Britain is one of only three of the 15 European Union member states to remain outside the eurozone.
The TUC and opposition politicians want Treasury reports on euro entry made public so that Britain as a whole can enter the debate.
