Originally Posted by GJH

I think I would say pro-EU rather than pro-Euro. In the long term I would hope for stability.

We saw just over 15 years ago (Black Wednesday) what acting half-heartedly results in by tying Sterling to the ERM without having the ability to control the ERM as much as (at the time) Germany. We are now seeing problems again (Northern Rock, Scottish Equitable etc), resulting from the policy of basing economic growth on risky financial gambling rather than a solid and sustainable basis.

In both cases the UK has suffered at the hands of speculators who are just out to make money for themselves.

Whether we like it or not, in the modern world the UK is too small to survive alone so we need to work with Europe as a full partner with a right to a full say - giving us the ability to participate in developing policies which will benefit the UK as well as the rest of Europe.

That is not to say that we have to accept illegal immigration or people coming to this country to take what they can get rather than making a positive contribution (which has to be welcome in any society). EU directives include the ability for individual countries to use derogation to tailor the implementation of the directives to national traditions and it is those powers that our government needs to use.

Graham