HC Deb 02 July 2003 vol 408 c273W
Mr. Stephen O'Brien

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what measures he would put in place following a decision to implement a discretionary fiscal policy to stabilise the economy to prevent the ratchet effect on wages and prices described in the Treasury document Fiscal Stabilisation and EMU. [121549]

Mr. Boateng

In the event of EMU entry, one of the Government's fiscal policy objectives would be to support the ECB in its objective of price stability. This would ensure that wage and price expectations in the UK were firmly anchored by the ECB's price stability objective. In addition, the Government will continue to work on enhancing the flexibility of UK labour, product and capital markets to ensure high and stable levels of employment and low unemployment.