International
Britain, the odd man out
By Hasan Suroor
LONDON, JAN 1. Britain was - and felt like - the odd man out today as its continental cousins, in a historic move, switched over to the euro amid scenes of jubilation that many Britons said they would have wished to join.
British tourists in Frankfurt, Brussels and Paris did stagger into the ``party'', but said they felt like outsiders. They said they had the sense of being ``left behind'', of not being quite in step with the rest of Europe despite being a part of the larger European community. Frequent travellers were particularly upset - and envious of their continental friends and colleagues who would now be able to move across European borders freely without having to constantly change their currencies.
``A common currency will make life much easier, you won't have to queue up to change it every now and again, and then worry what to do with the foreign currency when you come back home,'' said a British businessman complaining that his desk drawers were full of leftover full of francs, marks and liras. Most people argued the biggest advantage of a common currency would be that they would be able compare prices in different European countries without ``having to take out our calculators''.
Yet, many Britons continued to have strong reservations - mostly for nostalgic reasons though many said they feared Britain would lose control over its economy. Even those such as lorry drivers who said a common currency would save them a lot of trouble were reluctant to let go of the pound in a hurry. ``From our point of view the euro makes complete sense as it stands...But we don't support moves for Britain to go in. There is reason to join the euro in a hurry. We are very hesitant about losing control of the economy,'' the chairman of the Road Haulage Association, Mr. Bob Ruffett, told The Times even as one of his colleagues, who does ``lorry runs'' across Europe, acknowledged that it would be a big relief not having to change currency at every point of entry. ``At the moment my ashtray is full of francs, my cubbyhole is full of marks and there are other currencies all over the place. Soon I will just have to fill the ashtray with euros'', he said. An opinion poll shows a wide gender split on the issue with more women than men opposed to joining the euro. This has prompted the Government to launch a campaign targeted at female eurosceptics ahead of a proposed referendum on whether Britain should join the single currency.
There is a growing view that as Britons get accustomed to handling euro notes and coins on their foreign travels familiarity is likely to breed ``consent''. More and more people, it is reckoned, would gradually realise the advantages of a common currency. The Foreign Office minister, Mr. Peter Hain, said ``in or out of the euro, it will affect Britain''. He wanted British businesses to start accepting the euro saying it would encourage European tourists to spend more of their euros in Britain. As euro-enthusiasts stepped up pressure to hasten the ``merger'', the Liberal Democrats leader, Mr. Charles Kennedy, said Britain was ``looking more and more out of step'' with the rest of Europe, and ``languishing on the sidelines.''
The Labour Government is committed to a referendum in its present term in office, but first the Chancellor, Mr. Gordon Brown, will determine whether it is in Britain's economic interests to join the single currency.
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