Making a case for the euro.

(From Western Daily Press)

SIR - I don't understand in what way Mr Smith, of Hampshire (Western Daily Press, September 5) thinks the recent article about the introduction of the euro, which consisted largely of anti-European rhetoric and not fact, has exposed any misdemeanour by the Labour Party.

Councils are required to make contingency plans for all sorts of eventualities which may or may not come to pass. Why shouldn't planning for the introduction of the euro be one of them, especially as all they have to do is publish a paper or something similar? For example, during the Thatcher era councils were required to spend large sums on civil defence. That didn't make nuclear war inevitable.

Mr Smith's letter gives the impression that introducing the euro is solely a Labour policy. Introduction is supported by the Liberal Party and some politicians in the Conservative Party, some of whom were previously associated with the Thatcher regime.

Many large companies (scarcely traditional Labour supporters) have spoken out in favour of the euro. Indeed with Blair's prevarication on this issue and his current preoccupation with the fallout from his recent pathetic eagerness to please George Bush, I doubt if euro introduction is, in fact, Labour party policy.

Independent surveys at the time of the last general election showed that voters generally put the Tory "save the pound" campaign very low ...