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Euro hostility could hit stocks
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October 7, 1998: 12:31 p.m. ET
Opposition vote against euro currency could hurt British share prices, City warns
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LONDON (CNNfn) - London stock prices could suffer if Britain's government opposition party continues to take an anti-European line, a leading City administrator warned Tuesday.
The Conservatives, Britain's government until they were routed by Labour in May 1997, firmed up their anti-European stance at their annual conference in the British seaside town of Bournemouth this week.
Party leader William Hague asked members to back his plan to rule out Britain joining the single European currency until at least the end of the next Parliament. An emphatic 84 percent of the party supported him.
But addressing a fringe meeting at the conference, Judith Mayhew, chairwoman of the City of London's policy and resources committee, said anti-Euro sentiment could prompt "a flight of capital from the City."
She called on the party to adopt a less outwardly hostile attitude to the currency, as the City would be heavily involved in the euro whether or not Britain joins in European Monetary Union, according to a report in the Financial Times Wednesday.
The Labour government has ruled out Britain's membership of the first wave -- 11 European nations have agreed to fix their exchange rates irrevocably Jan. 1 1999 -- but is considering joining later.
The Conservatives' vote means that, if they were elected the next government in the next general election, Britain would not adopt the euro for at least eight years.
Europe is an issue that has divided the Conservatives for many years and contributed to their defeat at last May's general election. Party leader William Hague said he hoped the membership ballot had lanced the boil that has poisoned the Conservatives for years. 
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