Quote:
Originally Posted by 1andrew1
It's a pipedream for at least 15 years. But we could probably find a way not to adopt the Euro.
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You might be surprised to learn that *if* we were ever to rejoin, I’d argue that we must adopt the Euro. A bit like the Scottish devolution referendum of 1997, which recognised the possibility of a Scottish parliament with or without ‘tax varying powers’ (it was a two-part question), most voters who believed there should be a Scottish parliament also believed that if there was one, it was logical for it to have some level of financial authority for it to be credible. Likewise, we would have to decide whether we were going to try to go back to something like the membership we had before, or if we were going to see if we could have more success with a different sort of engagement with the institution, namely full commitment to the acquis, the currency and the principle of ‘ever closer union’.
As you say however, it isn’t going to become an issue at any point in this election campaign or the next, if Labour gets anything like the majority it is presently heading for. The campaign for a third term might however be a bit more lively and I wouldn’t be surprised if EU membership was a campaign issue by then.