Hello! why don't you British people want to adopt the Euro as your currency?

Answer 1

There's reasons for and against the UK adopting the Euro. I should stress I'm not an economics expert and my limited understanding of the issue is mostly from what I've learned as a politics student.

Reasons against UK replacing GB£ with EU€:
1) The UK economy is too different from the Eurozone countries for a shared currency to work in both our interest and theirs. Joining the Euro would damage our economy and theirs.
2) If the UK joined the Euro we would be at a disadvantage as we have a much more free-market than those countries. A very basic example is that UK police cars are often made by different companies (Fords, BMWs, Vauxhalls) as we put our contracts out to tender regardless of where the company is based, but Spanish, French and German governments often give unfair subsidies to home-grown companies.
3) National sovereignty would be lost as the UK could not control interest rates so that they were right for Britain, but would have to give that power over to the European Central Bank which would do what was right for the Eurozone as a whole. This would also mean the UK government would be committed to operating within strict spending/borrowing limits, which is another reduction to the ability of the Eurozone countries to do what is right for them at any given time.

The first 2 are the main reasons why I am against. I don't see the EU as being a big a threat to national sovereignty as other people do, but I am against the Euro as I honestly believe the UK economy is better outwith it. The GB£ is a massively strong currency anyway and at the moment we seem to be doing better financially than the Eurozone countries. If that ever changes and it becomes clear that entry would be good for britain then I may well support it, provided all members are given parity and it is not run in the interests of France, Germany and Italy.

Answer 2

The reason for the euro was to prevent loosing money when exchanging currency, it was really to do with trade. However every European country has different inflation rates, and that can affect the value of the Euro. It will cost Britain a lot of money to convert the pound into the Euro. One day we most probably will have to, but I hope we don't . By having the Euro money can leave our country easier. Britain has the fourth largest economy in the world. It is the second richest country after Germany in Europe. Personally Britain doesn't even benefit from being part of Europe. We put the second most money into Europe after Germany, and get the fifth most back. We would be better off align with Australia, New Zea-land, Canada or even America. Some countries have not been allowed to join the single currency because they are too poor. What is happening in Europe, is the richer countries are loosing out due to the new Europe, especially Britain because we get a lot of Eastern Europeans coming here, learning our language and getting paid about 4 to 5 times more than what they would get in their own country. This is why some British people want to join UKIP(United Kingdom,Independence Party) because the British do not benefit that much for being part of NEW EUROPE, meaning allowing all these poor Eastern European countries to join, old Europe was better because it consisted of rich countries with languages that can be of some benefit to us, like Spanish, French, but Polish and Czech are only spoken in their countries so they are not useful languages to us. So having the single currency is of no good to us. I also personally like our money as it is, and not having to adjust to other currencies, I do not go on holiday to Europe, or very really, My interests are with Africa and the commonwealth countries, and America. There are so many more reasons why the single currency isn't good for Britain. Also if Britain does join the single currency a lot of our wealth, will leave our country. London is a very rich city, it has very good banks and a lot of valuable metals. I had a list of reasons why we should not join the Euro, unfortunately I have lost the list, but there are so many more reasons why we would not benefit. So I would say no to the Euro, and say yes to keeping our currency. We just have idiots running our country, and they think its best to keep in Europe because you are less likely to go to war with trading partners, and the Government thinks that Europe will became one and integrate better.

Answer 3

I think a large portion of it is the British have a history of keeping a "strong" GBP due to the historically added cost of importing most of their goods. Today that added importing cost is greatly negated by technological advances, but being that the England is an island nation keeping a strong currency relative to others keeps their geographical location from being a hindrance to business. I know a lot has been made recently of the "weak" American Dollar, but people who are ignorant of economics confuse that with a bad thing. But an example of how differing exchange rates can work in everyone favor is my friend the graphic artist. He recently responded to an Internet job board posting for a British company that needs some graphic design and layout work done. Since 1 USD is trading for almost 2GB the British company can get their design work done for half the cost of a British citizen doing it and my friend can earn the same wage he is used to earning for his work. If the British company was smart they could also post ads in Australian job forums and get the job done for about one-third the cost of a British artist doing the work! So where the national bank tries to push the exchange rate of its countries currency depends on the countries goals. The US is trying to boost exports, so we weaken the dollar thus making it cheaper for other countries to buy our goods. The Brits need to keep their ability to import strong so the keep the GBP strong relative to other currencies. Strong meaning more valuable and weak meaning less valuable relative to other currencies. How countries control the exchange rate of their currency is a whole new can of worms.

Answer 4

I really wouldn't mind changing to the Euro I think it would make much more sense, however I know I am in the minority. There are a lot of other people in this country that for one reason or another think that the name of the currency is important, beats me why.

Answer 5

In basic terms:

The British pound maintains good international value at the moment. When your economy joins an economy with a currency of lesser value, it generally means that the value of your own economy will decrease.

If Britain joined the EURO, it would do the poorer countries alot of good, because it would bring their economies up in value.

These are the current values in relation to the British Pound (£)

£1 GBP = $ 1.95410 US
= 1.51062 EURO
= $ 2.30505 CAN
= $ 2.53284 AUS

Answer 6

Because every country that has adopted the euro has been ripped off by unscrupulous businesses.

My friend lived in Spain when it took over from the peseta,within a week she had to draw 50% more money out of the bank to live to the same standard each month.

We have already been stitched up by decimilisation,we were robbed then.

Also I dont and never did want to part of the EU.

Answer 7

I'm British, and I wonder exactly the same thing, would make life much simpler, especially with all the new countries having joined the EU and joining the Euro very soon. Fed up with having to change money every time I go back to visit relatives.

Answer 8

Why should we!!!!?
There are no real benefits to it, apart from not having to change our money when on holiday.
Europe has enough of a say in our everyday life without it meddling in our currency, and the only reason Tony Blair wanted us to take it on was because he had a deal going so that he could become president of Europe!!!
Now he has made a pigs ear of running Britain so imagine the screw up he would make trying to run a continent!!!!

So do us a favour and keep your Euro micky mouse money coz you never know when you'll need extra when you are playing monopoly!!!!

Answer 9

It's mainly because we don't want our economy to be tied to yours. If your inflation went up, there would be nothing we could do about it; if you're useless in controlling your unemployment that would affect us if we had the same money. Our governments since the 1970s have already given up too much control to Brussels.

It's all gone a bit quiet over here about us joining the euro; even our business leaders who were 'pro' at one time now say it would be wrong for us.

The other reason is that we don't want a bunch of foreigners dictating to us what our money should look like. The Queen plays a very small role in British life, but I for one like to see her on our currency and stamps. It's part of our identity.

Answer 10

only mark has any idea of economics here. interest rates are the main tool the british govenrnment (or rather the monetary policy committee since it was made independent in 1997) has to curb inflation in our economy. if we joined the euro, we would lose the power to change interest rates for our own benefit. for example, inflationary pressure here means our interest rate is at 5.25%. if we had the lower eurozone rate, we would be experiencing a far higher rate of inflation - the greatest economic evil. it is naive t expect a "one size fits all" interest rate to work.