After all, so long as the UK remains outside EMU, it will not be permitted to take part in the euro-X group, where the economic policies of the euro area are coordinated by the Ministers of Finance. The City, too, stands to benefit substantially from Britain’s participation, because it will become part of deeper and more liquid financial markets.
Obviously, the City’s position as Europe’s financial centre is not yet in peril. As my colleague, Eddie George, neatly pointed out, the number of people working in the financial sector and affiliated industries in Greater London equals the population of Frankfurt: 600,000. But the City is not impregnable.