Intergovernmental Conference

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 4:27 pm on 21 March 1996.

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Photo of Malcolm Rifkind Malcolm Rifkind Foreign Secretary 4:27, 21 March 1996

I recognise the importance of the issue that the right hon. Gentleman has raised, and it is for precisely that reason that the United Kingdom and Denmark were the two countries that refused to accept even the principle of a single currency during the Maastricht negotiation. That is not the view of the other members of the European Union, but the United Kingdom took that position—a rather lonely position but one that demonstrated our determination to protect the United Kingdom's interests and to ensure that no step would be taken that was contrary to our national interests.