i think there is one thing that 100% correct here, the current state of UK manufacturing is that of one getting shafted - badly. The advantages of one single currency are not seen to clearly in europe at the moment - especially with most manufacturing going to china - one of the reasons for this is that europes labour laws aren't very flexible, especially when compared to the UK labour laws which enable companies to flit in and out of employing people in this country. The common consense from business and manufacturing is that the euro would be good - these are the people that we should listen to, not politicians who just want to keep us sweet - just look at gordon browns '5 economic tests' these are all worded so they dont actually give a specific figures(s), they are open to interpretation.


Must critisism is levelled at the EU budget, especially CAP, though this is essentially a seperate issue - we'd still have to pay our contributions if we were part of the euro or not.


regarding sovereignty i think this is one of the major sticking points with full European intergration - i doubt anyone wants MEP's in Brussels cocking up our laws even more than our own politicans do already.