LONDON (AFX) - Conservative Party leader William Hague warned that the entry of the UK into the eurozone could destabilise the single currency, likening it to "an elephant getting into a rowing boat," the Guardian reported.
In an interview with the newspaper, Hague drew the analogy with sterling's entry into the European exchange rate mechanism (ERM) in 1989-92 and the destabilising consequences of it's ejection on other European currencies.
"The ERM was a success until we joined it," he said. Hague stressed he did not wish the euro to fail, saying: "if they (other EU member states) want to be in it, we want it to succeed for them," but reiterated his view that the UK would not benefit from membership.
It is "much harder for the British economy to be in the euro than for continental economies because we are in the position of exporting oil and gas, so the pressure on our exchange rate is quite different," he said.