Labours Euro Dithering

North West Conservative MEP David Sumberg says the region's families and businesses will pay a heavy price for Gordon Brown's announcement, in the Budget, he is to delay making a decision on joining the Euro.

Mr Sumberg said Labour is guilty of appallingly dither and delay.

"To put off making a decision of this magnitude for yet another year smacks of horrendously weak leadership,' he said. "It is a classic case of burying the head in the sand and hoping it will go away. It is quite clear Tony Blair - an ardent supporter of the Euro - won't allow a referendum because he knows he would lose. And that would be yet more bad publicity for Labour on the eve of a General Election. Such selfish political expediency, however, only succeeds in unsettling our economy."

Mr Sumberg argued the last thing the North West needs is more years of economic uncertainty.

"The region is already suffering under the massive burden of high taxes and manufacturing decline,' he said. "More indecision over joining the Euro will only increase the threat to jobs, business, mortgages and savings. We need clear decisive leadership on this most critical of issues. The referendum should be called so we as a country can move on - knowing precisely where we are going. But thanks to Labour the spectre of the Euro will continue to hang ominiously over us."

Mr Sumberg said the Conservatives under Michael Howard passionately believe the Euro would be disastrous for Britain.

"If we join the Euro we give up the fundamental power to our set our own interest rates,' he said. "And what we get in its place - a single European interest rate - would be out of our control. If inflation got out of hand we would be powerless to act. That is a terrifying prospect. Moreover Euroland countries are helped by the fact that 90 per cent of their trade is with each other. Their economies are already substantially interlocked. The UK is intrinsically different. Last year only 21 per cent of our exports were in Euros while 29 per cent were in dollars. We trade far more than the rest of the EU with the USA, the Commonwealth, and indeed the rest of the world. As a global trading nation our currency needs to flex, rather than fix against one trading bloc. But the bottom line remains every family and business in the North West suffers because Gordon Brown and Tony Blair cannot lead and cannot make a decision."

Labour's Euro dithering harming North West