The domestic politics of British policy on the euro

Abstract:

A wide variety of explanations have been applied by academics and journalists to explain the details of British government policy on the Euro. This article examines four leading explanations rooted in an analysis of domestic politics, arguing that British government reluctance to support Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) membership can be explained more in terms of ideologically infused intra-party politics and the realities of neo-pluralist (interest group) politics, while explanations rooted in an analysis of inter-party politics (electoral considerations) and public opinion are less helpful. The article also compares the relevance of the four domestic political explanations of British policy with regard to the positioning of respectively the two largest political parties in the country: (New) Labour and Conservative (Tory).