Britain will step up preparations for joining the European single currency so that it is ready even before a referendum is held, the British Chancellor of the Exchequer said yesterday.
Although Britain is staying out of the first wave of 11 countries joining the single currency on New Year's Day, Mr Brown said: "We have committed our country to active preparations that will allow us to make a decision, subject to a referendum. "Our strategy is to prepare and then decide," he told the Confederation of British Industry's (CBI) annual conference.
The referendum on the issue is set for after the next general election which must take place by mid-2002.
Most business leaders want the UK to join the European single currency, and a huge majority think membership is inevitable, a bitterly contested debate between leading pro- and anti-emu campaigners at a European Movement fringe event at the CBI's conference suggested yesterday. Some 90 per cent of delegates voted for the proposition that the UK would join the euro at some time.
