British Common Sense

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has reaffirmed that the Brits aren't likely to adopt the Euro in the foreseeable future.

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair has reiterated that there was little chance of Britain joining the euro any time soon.

Blair said on Thursday that while it was sensible to keep the option of joining the euro open, the economic conditions were clearly not right now.

"It is not likely in the very near future that this is going to change dramatically," he told a news conference to launch his ruling Labour party's business manifesto just one week before the May 5 general election.

While few have expected that euro entry was in any way imminent, Blair shocked many analysts late on Wednesday by his frank admission on a television interview that euro entry did not look very likely.

Asked why he had chosen to speak now, Blair said: "I probably ... went a bit further than it was necessary to go" but did not draw back from his comments.

"Politically the case for going in is strong. Economically you've got to meet the tests which are essentially to do with economic convergency otherwise you can do damage to your economy.

"The sensible position that we have is to say leave the option open, apply the economic tests of what's in the British national economic interest, and at the moment it clearly isn't."

For one reason or another, the Pound is one of the strongest currencies in the world. It's surprising enough that the Brits want to be teamed with nations like Greece and Spain in the first place through the European Union; jumping on the Euro bandwagon would be a bad move, and I commend the Prime Minister for this statement.