Get off the fence, prime minister!

To join the euro or not? That is one of the key political and economic questions facing the UK. MP Ian Taylor, who resigned from the Tory frontbench in 1997 over the issue, says it is time for Tony Blair to sign up.

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The Euro debate will be re-ignited this week with the Conservative Party launching the "Save the Pound" campaign, pro- and anti-euro groups publishing pamphlets and providing platforms for speakers, and various MPs from all parties wading in on the arguments.

Twenty-five years on since the British electorate took the decision to confirm our membership of the EEC the debate is continuing, provoked this time by the question: do we wish to join the Euro?

Over the last year sterling's volatility has given us early warning of the dangers of staying out of the euro for too long.

UK inward investment is down by 4% points in 1999 to 24%, while all the big Euro-zone countries recorded an increase. Many companies are still investing in the UK on the basis of decisions taken when the prospect of sterling joining the Euro was stronger than it seems today.

We are a trading nation with over 50% of our exports going to the EU. "Save the Pound - lose your job" may become a threat for many of those three million people whose jobs are directly linked to the EU, as we have begun to see in the car industry.

The choice is stark. There is a tangible risk for Britain outside the euro-zone.

Benefits of membership

Britain has gained enormously from our involvement with the EU. But the situation is not static. Let's forget the euro myths and focus on fact.

Could we be sure that without our influence, the EU would remain as open a trading bloc as now? Will the Euro-11 Committee take a policy grip of its own by ministers exerting more influence on the outcome of European Central Bank decisions? What would happen to privatisation and liberalisation on the continent? To state aids? To social policy?

Yet most of our larger companies and exporters regard the Euro-11 countries as part of their home market. They are struggling with a sterling crisis. Any government will find managing the UK's competitive position more difficult while sterling is outside the euro zone.

At the margins some politicians are now talking about re-negotiating treaties or applying to join a North American trade block. These are dangerous fantasies.

The uncertainty created even by the prospect of loosening our relationship with or influence on the EU would be damaging to UK industry, employment and our economy.

We risk abandoning common sense. Not to speak of the damaging impact on exchange rates and interest rates. The alternatives are not "no cost options".

A growing power

Those of us who have had the privilege to serve their country in government and in the Conservative Party know where Britain's interests lie in Europe.

Despite the tensions, I shall remain rooted where I belong in the Conservative Party; voting and fighting for the party that has had a proud record of delivering positive European measures.

It has been Tory prime ministers that have taken Britain along every step of that remarkable European journey.

They have done so for one, and one reason only. They believed it to be in Britain's own self interest, and knew that any other policy was detached from reality.

A new power - Europe - is a growing force of influence and respect in Washington, Moscow and Tokyo. Britain's international power is most effectively exercised through its EU membership.

It is our home market in which goods, services, capital and people can move about freely. It is the largest consumer for products. It is the destination of much or our investment. It is increasingly impacting on our foreign and defence policy under initiatives started under the last Conservative Government.

It is the financial world of which London will remain the epicentre only if it rises to the challenge of the single capital market. It is inseparable from our environmental interests.

Thatcher 'farsighted'

We are unquestionably at a key moment in Europe's history.

This Prime Minister risks damage to his reputation by equivocation on Europe. If Tony Blair believes that it is right for Britain to join the euro-zone, then surely now is the right time to start preparing the British people for the referendum? For urging British business to get ready? For ensuring that Labour's economic policy is designed to meet the Chancellor's economic tests within the shortest possible timetable?

And through this commitment, to avoid the key economic and social questions within the euro-zone being dominated by the existing members.

In her final message to the electors before the 1975 referendum, Margaret Thatcher explained why we had decided to leave a free trade area to join the EEC. In effect she said that we needed to be in Europe in order not to be run by Europe.

How farsighted she was.

Prime Minster, get on with it! You will find cross party support from those of us who believe that you are acting in the national interest.

By Ian Taylor MP