No.
(… See here. And here. And also here)
Sharpe's Opinion
Should Britain Join The Euro?
Tuesday 10th June, 2008 at 7:38 pm
Comments
I would describe ‘No’ as being about the full weight of my rational argument, though. From there it gets less reasoned. As such, this post might be seen as an antidote to the previous 1000-word essay, as well as an opportunity to show off Britain’s beautiful new coinage.
You make good points, though. The problem with the Euro debate is it’s one of those things where both sides are generally right – joining the Euro would definitely prevent the Bank of England from making changes to our economy to suit our unique circumstances, but keeping the pound means we need to compete on our own in a world economy.
To me, the Euro, like much of the EU, is really a solution that is casting around desperately to find a problem. I don’t, in my mind, see anything wrong with keeping the pound. Conversely, I don’t understand why we should have to worry about the economies of 15 other countries in order to make decisions for our own economy.
Another issue is purely political – if economic policy over the UK is relinquished to the EU, what do we have left to distinguish our political parties? A fundamental aspect of our lives would suddenly become beyond the bounds of a general election. The EU, to use slightly more inflammatory language, would make our society less democratic.
So, there are my considered opinions. Not being an economist, nor being entirely EU-agnostic, I can’t tell whether they are reasonable or rational, but I believe that the above Euro-cons outweigh the majority of the Euro-pros that I’ve heard.
My gut instinct is Yes, but I admit to having a handy supply of medication for dyspepsia. Our PM/Chancellor has his own Euro-sceptic agenda, though he’s a trigger for my well-nigh automatic rejection of whatever floats his boat.
That aside, I didn’t have to delve too deeply into Three Line Whip’s arguments when they state rubbish such as “…The last year has been the textbook example of why we need our own currency. The pound has risen against the euro and fallen against the dollar…”
Today £1=E1.25, E1.47 same day last year.
Today £1=$1.97, $1.97 same day last year.
http://www.oanda.com/convert/fxhistory
The essential argument has been whether one is looking at the pros and cons from the wider EU or narrower UK point of view. Emotional appeals such as William Hague’s ‘Save The Pound’ campaign are pointless. The pro-euro lot have moved the goalposts to include the decision to stay or go from the EU. Both sides have preferred to attack each other rather than positively promote their agenda because there is a cost, financially and politically, that goes with each territory. I don’t trust either side to tell the whole truth so I’m back to my gut instinct that is generally pro-EU.
If you want, we could go toe-to-toe and try and sort the damn thing out; ‘No’ doesn’t give much to latch on to.
Tizzy
June 11, 2008 at 2:33 am