Editorial comment.

AuthorPrickett, Ruth
PositionU.K. businesses could be affected by military action in Iraq - Editorial

After months of speculation and anticipation, we are now at war. As FM goes to press, tanks are rolling towards Baghdad. Most people, whether for or against the war, are hoping for a short and conclusive conflict with as few casualties as possible. At the moment, all eyes are on the action. When the dust settles, the slow process of reconstruction will allow ample time for squabbles about who will foot which parts of the final bill. In the meantime, the chancellor is likely to be casting anxious eyes at the performance of the stock market which, after a brief rally, has not so far shown the rises many people had hoped would appear if war was declared (page 14). The performance of the City, after all, will be crucial to Gordon Brown's budget this month and how he will find the money to pay for our troops.

Military action in Iraq is also likely to have long-term effects on the UK's role in Europe. Not only will the economy play a large part in deciding whether the UK has met the chancellor's five tests for joining the euro (page 32); internal European relationships have also been severely strained by disagreements about the war. Brown has promised that the government will decide whether the five economic tests have been met, and therefore whether to hold a referendum on the euro, in June. At the moment, Anglo-French relations have deteriorated dramatically and many other EU countries also believe that the UK has nailed its colours too firmly to the US mast.

But all this diplomatic wrangling should not obscure the long-term economic arguments. The issue, surely, is not whether the UK government has a special...

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