Ashok Kumar, MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, argues passionately that North-East businesses and people need Britain to join the euro as soon as possible.

"THE single most important decision this Government will take will be to enter the euro.

Gordon Brown may believe that his famous five tests do not yet convincingly show that entry at the moment is feasible, but this does not detract from the fact that in the very near future the decision to join will have to be taken.

I, for one, am already campaigning to bring that time as close as possible.

Nowhere is our joining more important than in the North-East, which still relies heavily on manufacturing and on manufacturing companies that - over the past three decades - have been attracted into the region from overseas.

But other factors are equally as important as sound economics.

Firstly, entry into the euro would finally mean the end of 200 years of isolation from mainland Europe, an isolation that sprang from our dash for a colonial empire.

Before we won our empire, we were the pre-eminent maritime trading nation on the offshore coast of mainland Europe. Now we have lost our empire, those same trade patterns are re-emerging. It is no accident that the East coast estuaries - the Tees, the Tyne and the Humber - are now the great ports of the nation, reflecting the fact that our largest trading partners are on the European mainland.

Secondly, UK entry into the euro would be a huge boost to a currency that is now one of the most important in the world, and help it act as a weapon for economic justice.

Ten new members from central and Eastern Europe are joining the EU, making Europe once again one trading bloc. Its combined GDP will be equal to the US's and its population will be, amazingly, 60 per cent bigger.

This is a huge power base which can mean that the euro can rival the dollar as the unit of world currency. European nations, by and large, believe that free trade can only thrive in a global system dedicated to trade justice.

If the euro can promote this system, many of the social and economic ills brought about by the dollar trade could begin to be eradicated - this would liberate millions of people now condemned to sweatshop conditions in the great new industries of the Pacific Rim.

But, in the final analysis, entry into the euro has to be dictated by our own economic interest.

Of all the goods exported from the North-East, 70 per cent go to Europe; 34 per cent of small and medium-sized employers in this region have some European trade link; 142,000 regional jobs depend on European exports; more than 140 EU companies have branch plants in the North-East.

If we are to survive and prosper as a trading and manufacturing nation, we have to be inside the tent.

Big manufacturers like Ford and Nissan have all said "yes" to the euro. As have the CBI on one hand and some of the larger trades unions on the other.

But is industry in the North-East doing all it can to push the country into joining? In my experience, vital regional employers - such as the steel and chemical employers - have always said they support Britain's entry into the euro, but they have never demonstrated that support in any public way.

They haven't, for example, made much attempt to debate and discuss the case for the euro with their workforce.

Whenever I have raised this, local managers always pass the buck back to the Government.

They seem reluctant to address their workforce's concerns about loss of sovereignty should Britain join the euro, even though this is easy to address.

This country - indeed all countries - have not been sovereign for hundreds of years. We are all interdependent members of political alliances - such as Nato - that impose duties and obligations upon us.

We are not sovereign in trade matters, either. The largest companies straddle the globe, and attempt to dictate terms and conditions to nation states.

This means it falls to something like the World Trade Organisation to represent the nation states and regulate trade.

Local managers also seem reluctant to address the lack of knowledge about the euro. The debate is seen as being stale and boring and best left to political anoraks.

We must make the debate relevant, and not incessantly use the dry language of applied economics. Neither can the legwork of the argument be left solely to the Government.

This is why I call on local industry and local trade unions to make a greater contribution to this vital dialogue. Regrettably, it has only been in the last few weeks that any sense of urgency among local industry has surfaced.

Of course, everyone is aware that the Labour Government is pro-euro - but that does not guarantee the UK's entry. In fact, given present opinion polls and the mid-term blues, the exact opposite may be more likely.

A decision to delay entry or not to enter at the moment would not mean immediate economic catastrophe.

But it would mean that many local companies now trading with Europe will find the going harder, that future fluctuations in exchange rates will make exporting a more perilous affair, and that the possibility of more inward investment from non-EU companies wanting a manufacturing centre within the Eurozone will prove to be non-existent, and that we will see an acceleration of companies re-locating their manufacturing bases on the continental mainland.

So entry into the euro has to be our objective. It fits with the historic trading patterns of this country. It fits with the economic destiny of this country. It fits the needs of our region. It fits with the emerging strength of Europe as a future global economic powerhouse and it fits with a world view that seeks to see global justice as one of the cornerstones of world trade.

For those stark, simple reasons Britain - and the North-East - has to be part of Europe, and not merely a perpetually querulous neighbour of a prosperous mainland."

The five tests for the UK's euro entry

The Government's policy on membership of the European single currency - in favour in principle, providing the economic conditions are right - was set out by Chancellor Gordon Brown in October 1997 and re-stated by Prime Minister Tony Blair in February 1999.

The Government set five tests to decide whether there was a ''clear and unambiguous case'' in economic terms for joining the euro.

These are the five tests laid down by Mr Brown:

* Sustainable convergence between Britain and the economies of a single currency

* Whether there is sufficient flexibility to cope with economic change

* The effect on investment

* The impact on the UK's financial services industry

* Whether it is good for employment.