Mandelson admits Government has long-term plan to join the Euro

Daily Mail 4th December 2008

Peter Mandelson yesterday admitted he still wants Britain to join the euro.



The Business Secretary said that Labour was clinging on to its long-held ambition to join the single currency, but he acknowledged that now was not the right time.

Ministers were accused of drawing up secret plans to abandon the pound after the European Commission president recently said that the UK was 'closer than ever' to joining the euro.

Jose Manuel Barroso said he had held private conversations with 'the people who count in Britain' and knew that they were now ready to move into the euro-zone.

That was widely seen as a reference to Lord Mandelson, who was the loudest cheerleader for the single currency during his two stints in Tony Blair's Cabinet.

But Mr Mandelson - who was the EU trade commissioner in Brussels until he rejoined the Government in October - dismissed claims he had been behind the suggestion.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I haven't had a discussion with Mr Barroso about this for years. I think I might have exchanged words when I first went to the Commission in 2004, but not since.'

He added: 'My view is that the Government is right to maintain the long-term policy objective of taking Britain into the euro, but it is not for now.

'We have enough challenges and difficulties on our hands steering the British economy through this global downturn without taking on the additional challenge and complexity of taking Britain into the single currency.'

The value of sterling compared with other currencies has fallen during the credit crunch, and the Government has had to spend massively to support the economy.