§ Mr. Skeetasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what are the essential conditions necessary to be established before the United Kingdom joins the European monetary system.
§ Mr. Ian StewartThe United Kingdom is already a member of the European monetary system, but sterling does not participate in the exchange rate mechanism. Participation would require assessment of a wide range of factors. But we would in particular need to be satisfied that it would be consistent with the effective conduct of our monetary policies and that entry would not introduce instability into the mechanism. We do not believe that this is the case at present.