Nowhere to Run. ? British MEPs and the Euro

Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) has become one of the most divisive issues in contemporary British politics. When Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) were asked to approve the go-ahead for EMU in May 1998, this raised potential difficulties for British representatives, who were being asked to take a stance on an issue of great domestie sensitivity. Drawing upon both quantitative and qualitative data, this article exarnines why British MEPs voted in the way they did on this issue, and discusses what the vote tells us about current European debates within the major British parties and about national parties' relations with their increasingly important European representatives.