Why doesn't Britain start using the Euro as a currency?

[flobadob]

Why does Britain continue to use the pound as it's currency when the other European countries use the Euro? Is it a matter of pride or are there financial reasons for it?

[north star]

Far simpler than the above.

On the assumption that we would have a referendum on the subject, the government knows that it would lose the vote therefore no Euro.

As soon as the government can figure out a way NOT to have a referendum then we will have the Euro.

[Whickerman]

Sorry to disagree - the UK has only ever had one country-wide referendum (in 1975) and they are not binding in the UK.

The link above is actually very precise and concise on the matter.

[north star]

I am sure the link contains lots of good stuff.

The government position will always be 'that economic conditions are not right at this moment for the Euro' until

either

the government feels that it can win a referendum

or

it feels it can introduce the euro without a referendum

Binding or not, woe betide ANY government trying to intoduce anything which a referendum voted against. Even this government is not THAT stupid.

Why do you think they wouldnt let us have a referendum on the EU constitution for Gods sake?

[flobadob]

That link seems to have been written about 6 years ago. The thing is when that was written a stg�1 was worth �1.60 but today a stg�1 is only worth �1.20. Is that good or bad for the british economy? Obviously it's good for british exporters to euro currency countries but must be bad for imports as everything is costing a lot more than a few years ago. Would it not suit everyone to be under the same currency? As I was mentioning in the original post, is it just british pride in their pound rather than any sound financial reasons?

[WoWo]

It's not so much the currency that is the problem it's the fact that the UK would have to give up the right to set interest rates.

Lets say the British economy was in trouble, but things were great for the rest of the Euro zone, the British government would be powerless to do anything to change the situation as the few powers it does have to steer the economy, interest rates would be set centrally.

Having said that the BOE have done a decent job of messing things up on it's own.