Letter: Euro paean

Sir: Donald Macintyre (Comment, 6 November) sums up very clearly the problems facing the pro-EMU ranks, pointing to the fact that the all-party European Movement is the obvious vehicle for the campaign in favour of our joining the single currency. There must be many people who agree with him that the main stumbling block to the "pros" getting their act together is the continuing failure of the Prime Minister to make clear that he is in favour of going in.

There is, I believe, one key factor which the pro-Europeans do not yet fully appreciate, namely the vital role that business and industry should be playing in ensuring that the referendum, when it comes, can be won. All the evidence suggests that an increasing number of companies are becoming frustrated over the lack of a positive lead from No 10.

Whilst the option of letting the issue lie fallow for the time being, as referred to by Donald Macintyre - leaving it to "Eurocreep" - might at first sight appear attractive, it is unlikely to ensure success in the face of the anti-European propaganda to which we are going to be subjected by Mr Sykes and the Goldsmith successors, with the vast sums of money at their disposal, in conjunction with Mr Hague and his colleagues.

Just to be frustrated does not get one very far and the time has surely come for the increasing number of pro-EMU business leaders to back the European Movement. It is imperative that the views of business and industry, who know better than anyone else what it will take to be successful in the 21st century, should be heard much more widely and clearly. This can only be done effectively by means of joint effort between them, the European Movement and other pro-EMU bodies. We would then be properly prepared for the time, the earlier the better, when the all-party pro-European team can be joined by the captain and the "game" can start in earnest.

Sir HAROLD ATCHERLEY

Long Melford, Suffolk