MAIL ONLINE: Labour last night faced humiliation with the prospect of Britain missing out on a place in a new elite club of economic superpowers.
Reports in the United States claim President Barack Obama is keen to establish a top table of global economies which would leave Britain on the sidelines.
The proposal will put further pressure on Chancellor Alistair Darling and Prime Minister Gordon Brown as Britain also faces dismissal from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The so-called Group of Four (G4) would comprise the biggest global economies: America, Japan, China and the Eurozone countries.
It would have enormous clout over international economic affairs, an arena in which Britain has for many years punched above its weight.
Ironically, if the G4 were made up entirely of individual countries and not the Eurozone, the UK would gain admittance as its national economy is in fourth place internationally.
The proposal has yet to be finalised but international financial sources last night dismissed Britain’s hopes that the Eurozone place at the table could be broadened to comprise the whole European Union.
A key qualification for membership is the ability to deliver on monetary commitment and currency pledges. The Eurozone shares a currency but the EU does not.
Conservative MP Graham Brady, a member of the Treasury Select Committee, said: ‘This is especially embarrassing for a Prime Minister who presided over Britain’s economy since 1997 and used to pride himself on his economic mastery.’
The snub would mean the loss of Britain’s independent voice in high-level economic diplomacy for the first time since the economic summits of the mid- Seventies, held in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis. >>> Dan Atkinson, Mail On Sunday Economics Editor | Saturday, October 03, 2009
