ABSTRACT
The UK economy is insufficiently integrated with, and too structurally different from, the EMU12 countries to benefit from participation. The United Kingdom suffered heavy losses of jobs and production due to its following an inappropriate monetary policy during membership of the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM). All the evidence indicates that a single currency would generate similar consequences, except that having lost an independent pound sterling, there would be no escape. The conclusion is unequivocal; Britain should not join EMU, which is prejudicial to its economic interests. However, the issues raised by the single currency are not simply economic; participation would pose problems for the operation of British democratic self-government. A loss of national independence and a weakening of democracy are profound threats arising from the essential character of EMU.
