European Central Bank President Wim Duisenberg says British industry will be worse off outside the eurozone saying there was "no economic reason" why Britain should not have been in the first wave.

Meanwhile, the number of UK businesses coming out in support of joining European Monetary Union (EMU) is growing.

"More than half of British foreign trade is with Europe and to have a single currency with no exchange-rate risk and with complete transparency, would give a favourable boost to the economy,", Mr Duisenberg said in an interview published in the Sunday Times.

He said the problem of the high pound and its effect on manufacturing is one area in which Britons have suffered.

Staying out has "led to some problems in certain areas of the UK economy, which they would not have any longer" had Britain been a part of EMU from the outset.

British manufacturers have repeatedly blamed the high pound as one of the causes of recession conditions and job losses in the sector ove rthe last year.

On Monday, a cross-party group of MPs called on the government to make joining a single European currency a key aim of economic policy.

In a letter to The Independent newspaper, former Tory Chancellor Kenneth Clarke, Liberal Democrat Menzies Campbell and Labour MP Giles Radice welcome last week's statement by business leaders pressing the government to join the euro.

Exclusion 'threat'

The statement was made at the launch of the European Movement, representing more than 100 British business leaders favouring the UK's adoption of the euro.

In a statement they said not joining the single currency "would pose a serious threat to our future prosperity and to our influence in the world".

Since the launch, the number of businesses and their chiefs joining the public campaign has grown.

Now the likes of Siemens UK, AEA Technology and leading computer services firm Cap Gemini have joined heavyweights such as British Aerospace, Glaxo Wellcome, British Airways and Abbey National lobbying for participation, according to the Observer newspaper.

However, there is also a rival group of business interests calling for Britain to stick with sterling and remain out of EMU.