Would it not be a good idea for the UK to join the euro-zone?  I can't help think that the poor UK economy/currency would be held up if the UK was in the Eurozone currency.   I'm probably wrong though, my economics knowledge is rubbish at best                                                                                                                                                                             

No. It wouldn't.

:o)                                                                                                                                                                             

We like our pound and want it to stay . ££                                                                                                                                                                             

Oh did you want back-up?

Right... for starters... despite lots of people thinking at the mo that yes, maybe it'd help the UK overcome the current recession, this is not a UK-specific recession, it's global. The current economic problems the UK's having are not because it's got its own currency.

For seconds... IMO it's vitally important that the UK has independence over its monetary policies, particularly in the area of interest rates. We have more property ownership than any other Eurozone country.

The ECB decides a common monetary policy with regard to what's good for the entire Eurozone area, not what's good for the UK. Should the rest of Europe start recovering from the recession quicker than the UK, the interest rates will climb higher, faster, to the detriment of UK citizens. Especially those with high variable rate mortgages... it only needs a tiny fluctuation in interest rates to have a big effect on consumer spending and thus, the economy.

Then you could go onto thinking about the withdrawal of investment in UK businesses which would be a likely side effect of joining the euro... therefore loss to asset value and a reduction in employment.

Leaving out entirely that we're nowhere near a state of convergence with Euroland at the mo - any country wishing to join the currency is supposed to demonstrate a consistent parity with the exchange rate... with the Euro/£ recently varying from 71p, to about 60p and now what, 81p ish? We're not exactly hitting that target.

An economy's deficit is also supposed to be about 3% of it's national income to join Euroland... I believe ours is being forecast to reach 8% in the not too distant future... bad enough as it is, and must be brought down ASAP, but to falsely bring it down to a Eurozone limit, just to join the currency?! Eeeek! Big troubles for us!

I think I'll shut up now.

*ahem*

but the UK is doing worse than anywhere else.  The dollar has really bounced back and the Euro is still strong. The £ is at its weakest against all currencies in years - showing the UK is being harder hit.   Seems u know what ur talking about tho :-)  What u do for a living?                                                                                                                                                                             

I "retired" from accountancy... cos it bores the bejaysus out of me... but I still pay an interest in economic policy... I may even have an anorak knocking about somewhere ;o)

Especially as the firm I work for deals solely in Europe, buying in Germany and selling in Italy and there are plans afoot to pay part of my salary in Switzerland (also outside the Eurozone but I'd be paid in Euros - work that one out?)... erm... and I'd actually be popping out to Italy to do the actual working part of the Swiss salary... OKaaaaaayy...

But the Swiss are more conservative than the UK and protected their currency rather better... and also didn't have a mad eejit Chancellor sell off all their gold reserves just as the price was hitting an all time low!

GBP is indeed suffering badly at the moment, but it wouldn't help our economic recovery to join the Euro right now.... what it might help is yer average Joe Public, who tends to base his personal economic decisions on how much it's going to cost for his annual fortnight on the Costas ;o) At the moment, that hurts! lol But for the UK economy in general, it'd be a bad move. IMO...

Mind you... I did doze off to the pre-budget report today...

Borrowing would reach £78bn this year, £118bn next year - equivalent to 8% of GDP. Mr Darling said that was the "right choice for the country".

Cheers, Darling, darling. You back up my argument, but "right choice"? Not in my book!



Oooh look... Firefox lets me do *real* smileys! Sod the economy, I can do smileys!

                                                                                                                                                                             

lol real smileys as opposed to... fake ones?                                                                                                                                                                             

Well... typed ones anyway... only I keep forgetting I've got the *real* smiley option now - d'oh!

Firefox seems a little more compatible with various options than Safari ever was :o)
                                                                                                                                                                             

let euros stay in Europe, i rode through 9 countries this year and most took Euros, which was easy on watching ye monies, for petrol etc, the other countries that had there own currency , you had to exchange Euro's for say forints, Hungary or lea Romania, try exchanging 50,000 forints for fek knows how many lea...gets confusing

coming back home to the good old sterling pound i knew where i was, could tell what i had in my hand...

If we had the Euro , over here would it be the same as the spanish, finnish, german duthch Euro...
ie will it all be the same value , this will affect trade , as no gain or profit made , remember the pa sata (i know i cant spell) ye went to the bank or post office and enough potatoes to live on the rest of ye Benidorm holiday and have enough change for ye donkey at the tat shop on the way home..
with the euro , ye holls will be just as expensive as popin to the coast on the bike for a weekend or so..

a might be wrong but its probably commin here soon..

yea it would be the same euro as all the other countries. But seeing as the pound is so weak now, imports into the UK cost a lot more as the pound is worth jack.  The euro on the other hand is strong, and other countries (China, US, etc) want euros from us - so importing stuff is cheaper if you have euros. Different to last year tho - pound was strong.                                                                                                                                                                             

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20081130/tuk-britain-thinki...ad41d.html    hmmmmmm DUNNO WAT YU FINK SEEIN AS YUR OUR FINANCIAL EXPERT WB!!sorry didnt mean to shout!                                                                                                                                                                             

*chortles @ financial expert*

An ex is a has-been and a spurt is nowt but a brief gush ;o)

I believe that our economy is too far away from the ECB's criteria for joining the Euro at the mo, so it'd be a very painful transition... Medium term, it's not going to be good for yer average bloke on t'street. But hey, in the short term, yer fortnight on the Costa might *feel* less expensive and most will fall for whatever spin the politicians choose to put on it anyway

                                                                                                                                                                             

If we were to switch to Euros now while the pound is at a low point the exchange rate that there is now, that is all we would get, the pound has been worth less and less against the Euro recently but it also has been worth $2 and more not that long ago and 2 Euros in recent times too, the pound will rally at some point in the future we just have to believe that. Or we will have not lernt anything from selling off our gold reserve...................