Today has been an extremely difficult and turbulent day.Massive speculative flows continued to disrupt the functioning of the Exchange Rate Mechanism. As Chairman of the Council of European Finance Ministers, I have called a meeting of the Monetary Committee in Brussels urgently tonight to consider how stability can be restored to the foreign exchange markets.
In the meantime, the Government has concluded that Britain's best interests are served by suspending our membership of the Exchange Rate Mechanism.
As a result, the second of the two interest-rate increases that I sanctioned today will not take place tomorrow, and Minimum Lending Rate will be at 12% until conditions become calmer.
I will be reporting to Cabinet, discussing the situation with colleagues tomorrow and may make further statements then. Until then, I have nothing further to say.
Thank-you very much.