§ Lord Tebbitasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will publish and elucidate the methodology of the calculations which led the Chancellor of the Exchequer to his view that membership of the European Union single currency system would be in the economic and political interests of the United Kingdom.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry for Defence (Lord Henley)The question of UK participation in Stage 3 of economic monetary union is unlikely to be a real issue for the present Parliament because of the lack of economic convergence across Europe. As the Chancellor said in his recent interview withLa Tribune, the UK has a completely open option on when and whether to participate in Stage 3. The Government recognise the significance of any decision on participation in Stage 3, and, through the UK protocol to the Maastricht Treaty, it has ensured that 52WA such a move could not be made without a full Act of Parliament.