Total soars after Osborne agrees Portuguese deal
im addying a poll to this news, as to wether the european union is good for us
Signing up: George Osborne agreed to bail out Portugal
Every family in Britain will contribute ?500 to bail out the euro after George Osborne last night signed up to a rescue fund for Portugal.
The Chancellor and fellow finance ministers agreed a Europe-wide ?68billion deal to prop up the single currency by rescuing Portugal, which will cost UK taxpayers ?4.3billion.
The loan deal, which involves the EU and International Monetary Fund, brings the total liability for the UK to ?12.5billion from the three financial rescue efforts so far ? or ?500 per family.
It will be formally signed at a meeting in Brussels this morning.
The UK has already forked out ?7billion to help the Irish Republic and a further ?1.2billion through the IMF during the first bailout of Greece last year.
The one bit of good news for British taxpayers is that Mr Osborne last night got fellow EU governments to sign off an agreement that the UK will not have to contribute to any further bailouts after 2013.
That could save taxpayers up to ?57billion if the single currency continues to have problems.
But with the prospect of a second bailout for the bankrupt Greek economy looming taxpayers may not get immediate relief from saving the single currency.
Last year, in the dying days of the Labour government, then Chancellor Alistair Darling signed Britain up to an EU-wide bailout fund that does not expire until 2013.
Mr Osborne has insisted that he does not wish to get dragged into a bailout of Greece. But he may have no choice.
There is ?1.4billion of British money left in the EU bailout fund, which could be used to prevent the Greeks defaulting on last year?s debts.
If the IMF also chipped in, that would bring UK liabilities to ?2.6billion.
And it would bring the total forked out to ?15.1billion, the equivalent of ?604 for every family in the land.
A Treasury source: ?The deal is done on Portugal.
We do not want to get involved in a Greek bailout.
Christine Lagarde, the French finance minister, has said that she doesn?t think the EU-wide mechanism should be used either.
?We have got the prospect of future EU bailouts off the books as quickly as possible.
?After 2013 the Government has made sure that British taxpayers do not have further liabilities of up to ?57billion.?
Enlarge
Government: Portugal's parliament attends a session on Wednesday to discuss austerity measures by the minority Socialist administration
Last night Eurosceptic Tory MPs reacted with fury to the Portuguese deal.
Bill Cash, chairman of the European Scrutiny Committee, said he would report the Treasury to the Public Accounts Committee, the spending watchdog, over its handling of the bailouts.
He believes the EU-wide fund is illegal and says Mr Osborne should have challenged it in the European courts once the Coalition came to power.
?This whole bailout business is totally unacceptable,? he said. ?The Government should have challenged the legality when it took over.
It?s completely outrageous.?
Douglas Carswell said: ?It is appalling that in the week that it has been confirmed that people who lent money to Greece will not be getting it back that we are going ahead with lending Portugal ?4.3billion.
?Hard-working families struggling to make ends meet will be wondering what priorities the Government has when we can lend Portugal a vast amount of money which, let?s face it, we?re not going to see back.
?Darling may have done the deal, but we nodded it through.
Conservative governments are meant to fix the economy, not make it worse and the Portugal bailout will make the economy worse.?
A No 10 spokesman said: ?We have always made clear that stability in the Eurozone is important to the UK and the UK economy.?
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ees-deal.html#
im addying a poll to this news, as to wether the european union is good for us
Signing up: George Osborne agreed to bail out PortugalEvery family in Britain will contribute ?500 to bail out the euro after George Osborne last night signed up to a rescue fund for Portugal.
The Chancellor and fellow finance ministers agreed a Europe-wide ?68billion deal to prop up the single currency by rescuing Portugal, which will cost UK taxpayers ?4.3billion.
The loan deal, which involves the EU and International Monetary Fund, brings the total liability for the UK to ?12.5billion from the three financial rescue efforts so far ? or ?500 per family.
It will be formally signed at a meeting in Brussels this morning.
The UK has already forked out ?7billion to help the Irish Republic and a further ?1.2billion through the IMF during the first bailout of Greece last year.
The one bit of good news for British taxpayers is that Mr Osborne last night got fellow EU governments to sign off an agreement that the UK will not have to contribute to any further bailouts after 2013.
That could save taxpayers up to ?57billion if the single currency continues to have problems.
But with the prospect of a second bailout for the bankrupt Greek economy looming taxpayers may not get immediate relief from saving the single currency.
Last year, in the dying days of the Labour government, then Chancellor Alistair Darling signed Britain up to an EU-wide bailout fund that does not expire until 2013.
Mr Osborne has insisted that he does not wish to get dragged into a bailout of Greece. But he may have no choice.
There is ?1.4billion of British money left in the EU bailout fund, which could be used to prevent the Greeks defaulting on last year?s debts.
If the IMF also chipped in, that would bring UK liabilities to ?2.6billion.
And it would bring the total forked out to ?15.1billion, the equivalent of ?604 for every family in the land.
A Treasury source: ?The deal is done on Portugal.
We do not want to get involved in a Greek bailout.
Christine Lagarde, the French finance minister, has said that she doesn?t think the EU-wide mechanism should be used either.
?We have got the prospect of future EU bailouts off the books as quickly as possible.
?After 2013 the Government has made sure that British taxpayers do not have further liabilities of up to ?57billion.?
Enlarge
Government: Portugal's parliament attends a session on Wednesday to discuss austerity measures by the minority Socialist administration Last night Eurosceptic Tory MPs reacted with fury to the Portuguese deal.
Bill Cash, chairman of the European Scrutiny Committee, said he would report the Treasury to the Public Accounts Committee, the spending watchdog, over its handling of the bailouts.
He believes the EU-wide fund is illegal and says Mr Osborne should have challenged it in the European courts once the Coalition came to power.
?This whole bailout business is totally unacceptable,? he said. ?The Government should have challenged the legality when it took over.
It?s completely outrageous.?
Douglas Carswell said: ?It is appalling that in the week that it has been confirmed that people who lent money to Greece will not be getting it back that we are going ahead with lending Portugal ?4.3billion.
?Hard-working families struggling to make ends meet will be wondering what priorities the Government has when we can lend Portugal a vast amount of money which, let?s face it, we?re not going to see back.
?Darling may have done the deal, but we nodded it through.
Conservative governments are meant to fix the economy, not make it worse and the Portugal bailout will make the economy worse.?
A No 10 spokesman said: ?We have always made clear that stability in the Eurozone is important to the UK and the UK economy.?
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ees-deal.html#
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