Letter: Gaining currency

Letter: Gaining currency

SIR: A new European Commission poll showing that support for the single currency is running neck and neck with opposition confirms the sharp move in public opinion that many have detected since the General Election.

The Government's positive stance towards EMU, coupled with the fact that the Euro is now virtually a reality, has clearly made an impact. People are increasingly focusing on a choice between a single currency with lower interest rates, lower inflation, more jobs and a means to tackle currency speculation - and life outside the single currency, with higher interest rates, an over-valued pound and currency instability.

How ironic that this new poll is published just after Francis Maude, the new Shadow Chancellor, declared that he could not foresee any circumstances in which a Conservative government would ever join the single currency.

Never has it been clearer that the Tories are putting outdated dogma ahead of the country's economic interests.

BILL RAMMELL MP

House of Commons

London