Europe's Vision Thing  BBC, 17 July 2003

Britain and Europe

Glossary of eurosceptic beliefs

Blair, Brown and the euro

Guardian 20.5.03

Steve Bell Interview

FACTS, FIGURES & PHANTASIES© OCTOBER 2000

CONVERGENCE - DO NOT BELIEVE ALL YOU’RE TOLD

Is Britain converging with the Eurozone? This is the most important of Gordon Brown’s five economic tests. The Treasury qualifies the question in a very significant way by stressing that the convergence was to be "cyclical convergence". That is NOT whether our interest rates, unemployment and inflation are approximately equal but whether they are moving in the same direction and at the same pace. Clearly if Britain has a different economic cycle sometimes the paths of our cycle and the Euro-zone’s will cross. A stopped watch shows the correct time - twice a day!

It is most unlikely that Britain’s cycle will or could coincide with the EU’s. For a start the UK is a net oil exporter (in dollars) while Euroland is a net importer. Thus changes in oil prices have precisely the opposite effect on the EU and on the UK. Also we trade outside the EU to a vastly greater extent than our neighbours do.

The "strength of the Pound" which is supposed to be hurting our economy in fact seems to be having little effect. Our unemployment continues to fall; our inflation is among the lowesrt in the EU, and - most importantly for this argument - manufacturing output grew by 2.8% over the past year!

The Euro is a fundamentally political project and over time the Eurozone countries will have to converge in their tax rates and regulations if they are to converge in their economic cycles. Industrialists may not like the high pound (versus the Euro only) but having a high pound today and a low pound tomorrow is far better than having high taxes,and high regulation tomorrow and the next day and forever after that. {European Journal Summer 2000}

The Prudence of Mr Gordon Brown

by W. Keegan amazon.co.uk

Book Description:

A compelling book that exa-mines Gordon Brown's rise to power, his years as Chancellor, and his dra-matic decision to give the Bank of England indepen-dence

Tony Blair: Prime Minister

by John Rentoul amazon.co.uk

percentage change of £ sterling, Euro and Yen against US $ 99-01

EU dropping UK

Can Europe survive without British membership.

The EU will not survive irrespective of the Uk's entry, it is a forced relationship, brought about by old men seeking a place in history.There will, eventually, be civil war within the EU as countries rise up against the dictatorial and corruptive manipulations of Germany and France

We have one of the strongest economies in the EU thank you. Germany is our biggest trading partner and we buy more from the EU than we sell to our partners. So pulling our may have some positives and it would have negatives.

But as Anglo-Saxons, as most of us still are, we will always have strong ties to Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the US. I have relatives in all these countries, but none in any other EU country. Independent  Message Board

"Britain is trapped inside a Fortress Europe"

"European integration is destroying national identity"

Glossary of Eurosceptic beliefs

"The EU is strangling enterprise with red tape"

"The euro is a straitjacket"

Glossary of eurosceptic beliefs

Rolling out the euro roadshow BBC

"Unaccountable bankers in Frankfurt have far too much power"

There is nothing extraordinary about the independence of the European Central Bank. Other central banks such as the Federal Reserve Bank in the United States and the Bundesbank in Germany are independent in law. In recent years this has increasingly been the trend for central banks worldwide. The 1997 decision to give responsibility for fixing interest rates to the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England was a clear step in this direction.

"The Common Agricultural Policy is a scandal - British fish for the British"

Glossary of eurosceptic beliefs

"There are too many problems for enlargement to work"

Q&A: The Brussels summit BBC Dec 11