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Half Britons see euro membership by 2010 -poll

LONDON: Fifty percent of Britons believe Britain will have joined the European single currency by 2010 whether they like it or not, according to an opinion poll published on Monday.

The Gallup poll for the Daily Telegraph newspaper showed that 46 percent believed Britain would not join the euro by then.

Sixty-four percent believed euro membership would be a bad development for Britain and only 32 percent thought it would be good.

The poll showed 49 percent of Britons believed control over foreign policy would be removed from London to the European Union's headquarters in Brussels during the coming decade, while 42 percent said it wouldn't.

A majority believed Britain's environmental policy and employment legislation would also be run from Brussels by 2010.

Forty-one percent said Britain's standard of living would fall if the country left the European Union, while 16 percent said it would rise. Thirty-nine percent said it would remain the same.

Prime Minister Tony Blair favours joining the euro after the next general election, provided economic conditions are right and a referendum approves the move. The next general election must be held by May 2002.

The opposition Conservatives, pointing to regular opinion polls showing that most Britons are sceptical about the euro, have pledged to campaign on a "save the pound" ticket.-Reuters