Geldof joins euro 'no' campaign

Geldof: Anti-euro but not anti-European

LONDON, England -- Rock star and charity crusader Bob Geldof has joined the campaign against the UK joining the European single currency.

The anti-euro No Campaign was launching a video on Tuesday featuring the musician and British comedian Harry Enfield which will be screened in cinemas.

In the video, the former Boomtown Rats singer says: "You know it's not anti-European to be against the euro."

Geldof adds he has not heard one argument which "stacks up" for Britain entering the single currency.

Irish-born Geldof gained the respect of millions with charity work most notably with Live Aid in 1985.

It is believed the UK "no" campaign see him as a figure apart from politics whom ordinary people -- and particularly the young -- are more likely to trust.

The video was being launched against a backdrop of the single currency showing near-parity with the dollar on the currency exchanges.

Sir Ken Jackson, general secretary of Britain's Amicus union and a leading proponent of the single currency, told BBC radio's "Today" programme the euro was now showing its strength.

But anti-euro Labour MP and former social security minister Frank Field denied its significance.

He told the influential programme: "The worry must be that the euro now is stronger only... because the dollar is now so much weaker.

"And the worry that we have as a country is that once you are locked into a currency there is then no coming out."

Field said that Geldof's participation in the video proved that when the referendum arrives the campaign would be broad based and not dominated by politicians.

He added: "It is going to be presumably people who are trusted by the various parts of the campaign and it is going to be more decided on whether we trust what the person's saying than who they are."

Jackson told the BBC: "I think one of the things I do agree with Frank is that it is not going to be about politicians, it is going to be about working people.

"Because it is about jobs, people on the shop floor, people in manufacturing, people in exporting are the ones who have to decide where the future is and the future is about jobs."