In or out of Europe?

The government's proposed referendum on Britain's EU membership won't be about whether to stay in a new and improved Europe, says Merryn Somerset Webb. The Europe on offer will be exactly the same as the one we have now.

So, there is going to be an in/out referendum on the euro, or at least on an as-yet-undefined "new settlement" with the eurozone. Thanks to the ongoing European crisis, says David Cameron, Europe is "changing". We need to talk about "its future and Britain's place within it".

And we need to find a way for our relationship with Europe to be "focused on competitiveness, fairness, respect for national democracies" and for everyone involved to allow "powers to flow back to states". Politicians are well known for their tendency to live in their own little fantasy lands. This is a fabulously stunning example.

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Merryn Somerset Webb

Merryn Somerset Webb started her career in Tokyo at public broadcaster NHK before becoming a Japanese equity broker at what was then Warburgs. She went on to work at SBC and UBS without moving from her desk in Kamiyacho (it was the age of mergers).

After five years in Japan she returned to work in the UK at Paribas. This soon became BNP Paribas. Again, no desk move was required. On leaving the City, Merryn helped The Week magazine with its City pages before becoming the launch editor of MoneyWeek in 2000 and taking on columns first in the Sunday Times and then in 2009 in the Financial Times

Twenty years on, MoneyWeek is the best-selling financial magazine in the UK. Merryn was its Editor in Chief until 2022. She is now a senior columnist at Bloomberg and host of the Merryn Talks Money podcast -  but still writes for Moneyweek monthly. 

Merryn is also is a non executive director of two investment trusts – BlackRock Throgmorton, and the Murray Income Investment Trust.