Britain is still on course to join the euro despite the narrow rejection of formal membership by Denmark in last week's referendum. Denmark is Europe's second-smallest country, represents only 2 percent of European gross national product, and anyway has already tied its currency, the krone, to the euro. Whether this will continue when the currency speculators pounce and the European central banks rightly stand aside is another matter.

The British position is entirely different, and when Britain votes it will be for British economic and political interests. On balance -- and it is a balance, as there are costs as well as benefits involved -- there is a clear case for membership. Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown has paid many of the costs trying to get the economy back on track, while those to come in parts of the financial sector and elsewhere do not outweigh the enormous potential benefits to the economy and the public as a whole. This has not as yet been sold to the electorate.

Were membership of the single currency zone to be ruled out, Britain would not only lose international investor confidence, but the strength of British companies and the security of British jobs would be threatened.