Blair revs up pro-euro debate
Prime Minister Tony Blair will tell ministers today to join him in petitioning Britain’s wary public to embrace the single currency.
In a bid to reclaim the euro debate from its detractors and those expounding “anti-European prejudice,” Mr. Blair will speak to non-senior ministers at Downing Street, politicians whose brief covers European matters.
He will call on them to return to their departments and make the case for the UK’s euro embrace.
Despite the “not yet” verdict two weeks ago from Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, who presides over the all-important five economic tests, Mr. Blair will tell ministers to attend so-called “roadshows” up and down the country, platforms from which the public will here the case for the abandonment of the pound.
Minister for Europe Denis MacShane will speak at a meeting earlier in the day at Chatham House.
He will say: “I am not the minister who alone should make the case for Europe in Britain. In fact every minister should be a minister for Europe, arguing in speeches and interviews the need for Britain to be fully engaged in the EU.
“We should stop treating Europe as a faraway place of which we need to know nothing. Ministers can learn from other European nations and we can contribute to EU policy-making in areas like economic policy and job creation.”
On Wednesday, Romano Prodi, President of the European Commission, beseeched the Labour government to fully embrace the euro and Europe, suggesting the UK could not continue to be “half in and half out” of the eurozone.
Mr. Blair will also outline the merits of the European Strategy Committee – a newly formed new cabinet committee.
The new committee is chaired by Mr. Blair and his chancellor and aims to orchestrate the pro-euro campaign across Whitehall.
Its members include Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, Leader of the Commons Peter Hain, Education Secretary Charles Clarke, Lord Falconer, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and Andrew Smith.
