The parties and the single currency Britain may be staying out of the single currency, but as the BBC's Political Editor Robin Oakley explains, the single currency certainly isn't staying out of British politics. The ramifications of economic and monetary union, EMU, are likely to dominate the political scene in the UK for years to come. The Labour government has declared itself in principle for the single currency.
Labour insists that it is making the decision purely on economic grounds.
But it is of course an intensely political business. The Government, like the other parties, is pledged to hold a referendum on any decision to take Britain into a single currency. A government determined to win a second full term simply will not take the risk of a referendum campaign on such a tricky issue in the run-up period to the next General Election. Failure in such an enterprise could be the beginning of a downward spiral . Mr Blair and his colleagues do not want to alienate them before the election.