HISTORIC PRESS RELEASE : Chancellor publishes business guide to single currency [July 1997]

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 24 July 1997.

“In or out, British businesses will be affected”

The single currency will have far-reaching effects whether or not the United Kingdom joins and Chancellor Gordon Brown today urged businesses in towns and cities across the country to examine how, in or out, a single currency will affect them.
Publishing a new Treasury guide – “EMU, Practical Information for Business” – the Chancellor also announced he was setting up an advisory group of private sector representatives to provide a two-way exchange between Government and business about the practical effects of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU).

Urging local businesses to get informed by picking up a free copy of the new guide from local outlets, Mr Brown said:

“Local businesses in towns and cities all over Britain need to realise that the single currency is not something that will affect only big business or high-flying London financiers.  Whether or not the United Kingdom joins, it will affect us all. This new Treasury booklet is the first step in telling local businesses how it will affect them.

“It describes what the single currency will mean for financial systems and accounts, computer systems and cash-handling procedures and warns businesses to think about the effects of the single currency on their strategies for pricing, marketing, relations with other firms and raising finance.

“Many businesses, including small and medium-sized companies and retailers, will need to think about these issues so we are making free copies of the booklet easily available over the summer to businesses locally through trade associations, government offices and libraries.  The booklet is exactly the sort of thing that businesses have been asking for and will be followed by detailed factsheets on specific issues.

“I have also written to the heads of about twenty organisations representing different sectors of the economy. They will be asked to nominate an individual to join an advisory group to discuss the practical implications of the single currency.

“The group will allow the Government to provide information to businesses more easily and for businesses to tell the Government how they would like to see practical issues handled.  It will help the Government represent British business interests more effectively in negotiations with other countries about technical aspects of the single currency.

“The Government`s position on EMU has not changed.  While nothing has been ruled out, there are formidable obstacles to the United Kingdom joining on 1 January 1999.  Our aim is to help British companies make the most of opportunities in Europe.  This means being ready for the single currency whether or not we join.  That is what the new guide, the factsheets and the advisory group will be helping them do”.