question about UK further integration into the Eurozone

[steve2470]

I know that the UK is already a member of the European Union. I know the UK does not use the Euro and has no immediate plans to do so.

Is the opposition to further integration into the Eurozone based on purely nationalistic grounds or are there real substantive reasons to oppose it ?

Just a link or very short paragraph will do, thank you very kindly.

Steve, the appreciative Anglophile

eta: I found this article, not sure how accurate it is overall.

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. I suppose it's 'accurate' in what it says really happened

but most of it is supposition.

It's not just nationalism that kept the UK out of the Euro, though I must admit that was what I felt it was in the 90s. I thought joining would be a good idea, because, when the agreement that the UK would not use the Euro was made, UK interest rates were still directly set by the politicians, and obviously manipulated for short-term political advantage. I thought joining the Euro would be the cure for this. But, as soon as Labour got power in 1997, they gave the power to the Bank of England, which had much the same effect.

The Tories did push the idea of staying out of the Euro as a nationalistic policy in the 2001 election ("X days to save the pound!", with lots of Union Jacks about, and the symbol for the UKIP party includes the pound sign), but it didn't do them any good. As the article says, Gordon Brown didn't want to join, and that was because of his economic opinion.

You can read someone like Paul Krugman for why staying out of the Euro can be a good idea - at least in times of trouble, for a reasonable size country. Being able to borrow in your own currency gives a government far greater flexibility - the ability to let a fall in the value of the currency make your exports more competitive, while imports become more expensive, which helps employment, while making it not so expensive for the government to borrow (and it can print money, if necessary). Being in it would mean a simpler way to import and export to the rest of the Euro area, which cuts banking costs, and makes things more predictable for firms.

[steve2470]

2. thank you ! nt

[T_i_B]

3. The basic issue here is national sovereignty

Or to put it another way, the right of the British government to decide on the right policies for Britain.

That's the basic principle behind much of the hostility to the EU in Britain. I have to admit that I'm very glad that we didn't cede monetary policy to the EU by joining the Euro.