We cannot long stand aside from the central project of the European Union, already adopted by twelve other member states and soon to be adopted as a matter of course by the thirteen candidate members in central and eastern Europe.

The euro is a big change, but it has come to seem a much smaller one in the context of present hyperactive international markets. Do we want to live in a world where exchange rates can be so buffeted by speculation that they can move by nearly 10 per cent in one trading session, and where the reasonable expectations of our exporters can be overturned in a week? Lord Keynes warned that the financial system should never allow the bubbles and froth of speculation to undermine the steady efforts of commerce and industry. He was right. We need to use our sovereignty to provide a stable environment for our businesses, in the same way that we have rightly used our sovereignty to provide a secure defence within NATO. What sort of freedom is it to hike interest rates so high to defend your exchange rate that you drive the economy into recession? What sort of freedom is it to float your exchange rate and price hundreds of thousands out of work? Our present financial system is not sustainable.

We can move back to a world where free movement of capital and even of trade come increasingly into question. Or we can ensure the benefits of greater international integration by adopting the euro. In a real world of hard choices, the pound's days are numbered. The euro is our future.