P.M. BRIEFING : Britain Still Holds Out on Pound
The British government today quashed days of sometimes frenzied market speculation that the pound would finally join the European Community’s exchange rate mechanism this weekend.
Britain’s finance minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer John Major, said in a radio interview that while Britain fully intends to join the ERM, it will do so only when its previously stated conditions for entry have been met.
“Not this weekend,” he said.
The ERM is a feature of the European Monetary System. It limits the amount that European currencies can fluctuate against each other and is seen as a stabilizing influence.
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has repeatedly ruled out the pound’s entry into the ERM until British inflation can be brought into line with that of other major Western European countries.
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