Robin Dean urges us to adopt the euro so our shops, hotels and restaurants will prosper (Letters, December 29).

He believes saving the pound lost votes for the Conservatives at the last election.

If only it were that simple. Firstly, joining the euro is not a party political issue.

When the referendum is held, it will not be conducted on party political lines (whatever pressure Mr Blair may exert on his MPs).

Changing the currency is not in itself harmful. Giving up our independence is.

If we hand over our controls - interest rates, taxation etc - we are doomed to follow the dictates of Frankfurt and Brussels. Their record is abysmal.

More serious still is the loss of control of our vast pension funds, mortgage rates and social spending.

We only have to look at the appalling result of control from Brussels to realise how helpless we would be if we handed over financial control to the European bureaucrats.

Our fishing industry has been crippled, our farmers are giving up the unequal struggle against the Common Agricultural Policy and we are rapidly losing the right to govern ourselves.

EEC regulations are supposed to allow free access between member states over gas, electricity and insurance but France seems reluctant to allow us the same freedom over there it enjoys over here.

We will never have a level playing field with France. Please, Mr Dean, take a long, hard look at the past record and try not to be dazzled by the prospect of becoming a euro millionaire - keep party politics out of this.

-Richard Allden, New Church Road, Hove