Vince Cable has said the UK could join the euro in the "distant future" despite the current turmoil in the eurozone.
Speaking on the second day of the Liberal Democrat 2011 conference, the Business Secretary said that eurozone countries would "have to europeanise the debt of the sovereign countries. The problem is the political will to do those things."
He also said the 50p tax rate could be scrapped, as long as there was an alternative way of raising revenue from the rich such as a mansion tax. "We can certainly look again at the 50p tax rate", he told Sky News on Sunday morning.
"There are other alternatives to the 50p tax rate – you’re familiar with our party policy that very valuable property could pay a little bit more in tax as an alternative but that’s something we have to discuss within the Coalition."
An hour after party leader Nick Clegg said it was possibly to look at "other ways" to tax the wealthy, Cable said: “We can’t expect ordinary families to take a squeeze while people at the very top are being helped through tax measures – everybody’s got to share so it’s a matter of fairness.
"There are other alternatives to the 50p tax rate – you’re familiar with our party policy that very valuable property could pay a little bit more in tax as an alternative but that’s something we have to discuss within the Coalition.
"If we do have an alternative, which our Conservative partners will work with, which is a tax on property wealth, which is very practical and fair, then we can certainly look again at the 50p tax rate. But there has to be a tax measure in place which makes it absolutely clear that the wealthiest people in the country are making a contribution."
Following an interview with the Sunday Times where Cable pledged to tackle high salaries in business, saying Britain had a "particular problem" with high pay, he denied he wanted to bash the rich.
“I’m not actually in favour of bashing the rich – if we have entrepreneurs that create business, create wealth, create jobs, they should be rewarded. I have no issue with that.
“The issue about executive pay is a rather difficult one. What’s happened over the last decade is executive pay has risen massively at a time when ordinary share prices for the owners of companies... they haven’t risen at all and basic salaries haven’t risen."
Cable also said quantitative easing could be used to help boost the economy: “The best way of doing it is the use of monetary policy –we can’t cut interest rates any further but there is the possibility of promoting credit, particularly credit to a small business, using the Bank of England, its monetary policy, quantitative easing, as a technique.”