HC Deb 12 February 1996 vol 271 cc424-6W
Mr. Denzil Davies

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to ensure that a present purchaser of Her Majesty's Government's bonds with a redemption date after 1999 will receive payment in pound sterling. [13615]

Mrs. Angela Knight

The presidency conclusion from the European Council on 15 to 16 December 1995 in Madrid state that, on the assumption that the third stage of EMU starts on 1 January 1999, in participating member states,by 1 January 2002 at the latest, public debt denominated in the former national currencies will be redeemable only in the single currency".

Protocol No. 11 annexed to the EC treaty means that the United Kingdom shall not be obliged or committed to participate in the third stage of economic and monetary union without a separate decision to do so by the Government and Parliament. We will agree to take part in the single currency only if it is in our national interest to do so, given the circumstances at the time.