Europe

Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at 12:10 pm on 12 June 2003.

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Photo of Murdo Fraser Murdo Fraser Conservative 12:10, 12 June 2003

This has been an enlightening debate in which we have heard the parties set out their positions on the European constitution. It seems that Labour now believes unreservedly in the euro but, like some latter-day St Augustine, thinks that it does not want it quite yet. The famous five tests dreamed up on the back of an envelope in the back of taxi to give some credibility to the Government's position are quite irrelevant compared to the sixth test: can Labour win a referendum? The answer to that question is, of course, no. Labour therefore has to dream up all sorts of excuses as to why the other five tests have not been met. I am sure that that process will continue for many years to come.

I am pleased that the Lib Dems are as enthusiastic about the euro as ever. They are the people who said that we should have joined the euro when it was established in 1999, despite all the evidence that that would have been a disaster for the UK economy.

Wim Duisenberg, the president of the European Central Bank, said just yesterday that he had to revise his forecast for euro zone growth from the 2 per cent that he had predicted for the coming year down to between 0.4 per cent and 1 per cent. He said:

"Inflation is dropping significantly, further fuelling economists' worries about the risks that prices might start falling, damaging investment and risking even lower growth."

It is clear that joining the euro in 1999 would have been a disaster for us.