I FAIL to see what Mr Chris Davies MEP has to gloat about when he states that the euro has made gains against the pound and the dollar during the past few weeks.

Should he have invested his savings in the euro, he will have lost money and still be losing money!

Mr Davies goes on to say that forward investment into Britain has fallen over the past three years. In January, the United Nations issued a report that stated investment into Britain last year was $73 billion, reaffirming its position second only to the USA; Germany and France, together, received $63 billion.

Regarding "job loses", Britain has the lowest unemployment level of any G7 countries, way below the average for euro-zone average. Unemployment in Britain stands at 5.2 per cent, while in Spain, Italy and Portugal it hovers around nine per cent and in France at eight per cent. In February, The German Federal Labour office put its unemployment at 10.4 per cent.

What Mr Davies fails to say is that UBS Warburg claim the first month of the euro changeover cost European citizens £1.8 billion in increased prices. In June, the European Commission and Central European Bank's own survey stated that 68.5 per cent of its 301 million citizens felt that life under the single currency was more expensive. The French Finance Ministry recently said that price increases in common goods and service were running at 5.5 per cent, nearly three times the overall rate of inflation. According to EU's own statistics, the first three months of 2002 saw record increases in prices on 20 categories of goods and services, such as vegetables, tobacco, major tools and equipment, restaurants and cafes, hospital services and insurance, to name a few.

Giving up the pound is an economic gamble.

G Crowther

Heaton

Bolton