-:Undertaker:-
29-03-2011, 08:44 PM
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1370965/Row-saddled-British-taxpayers-6bn-debt-bail-Portugal.html
Row over who saddled British taxpayers with £6bn debt to bail out Portugal
A row erupted last night over who is to blame for saddling taxpayers with a potential £6billion bill for bailing out debt-laden Portugal. The Tories have always suggested that Labour’s Alistair Darling agreed to a bailout scheme to prop up the euro in his final days as Chancellor. It has also repeatedly been said that his then opposite number, George Osborne, objected to Britain signing up for the deal – hammered out in May last year in the days between the election and the formation of the Coalition.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/03/29/article-0-02F081EA00000578-16_224x331.jpghttp://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/03/29/article-0-0B5D1F8900000578-92_233x376.jpghttp://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/03/29/article-0-0B5069B000000578-96_224x331.jpg
Darling, Cameron and Osborne: Who to blame?
Now a leaked memo signed by a Tory Treasury minister last year has suggested that ‘cross-party consensus had been gained’ on the deal. Its existence emerged hours after David Cameron insisted in the Commons that Mr Osborne did oppose the deal. Under constitutional rules, ministers remain in place in a hung Parliament until a new administration can command a Commons majority.
Mr Darling therefore represented Britain at a Brussels summit two days before the Coalition was formed. It was then that a deal was signed committing the UK to taking part in a £50billion EU bailout scheme for stricken economies.
Under the agreement, Britain is responsible for 13.6 per cent of the fund, mirroring the rate of its overall contributions to the EU. Mr Darling yesterday hit out at Mr Cameron for blaming Labour over existing arrangements. He said: ‘When you referred to the discussions that took place in May of last year in relation to the eurozone fund, you gave a somewhat incomplete account of my conversation with the now Chancellor (George Osborne).
‘We did indeed agree that we should do everything we could to keep Britain out of the main part of the rescue fund.’ But, Mr Darling added, ‘What we discussed was not voting against, but abstention, recognising that Britain could have been out-voted. ‘So when you next refer to it, perhaps you would give a whole account and not a partial account.’ Mr Cameron said: ‘I have had a full discussion with the Chancellor about this issue and he was absolutely clear it was not something Britain should agree to, and nor should we.'
Under the deal, which runs until 2013, Britain will have to stump up to £6billion if Portugal goes bust. Last night Eurosceptics called on Mr Osborne to provide a full explanation of what happened last May. Tory MP Douglas Carswell said: ‘Either the Prime Minister inadvertently misled the House this afternoon, or the Treasury minister’s written memo to the House last summer was incorrect. ‘It is now urgent and vital that government ministers publish the official advice they received.
Oh dear oh dear, been caught out telling lies yet again - and over the issue of Europe, all three of them [the political parties] have a terrible record with the Liberal Democrats promising an all-in or out referendum (I remember some of you advised me to vouch Liberal Democrat before the General Election telling me that if I did, we would have a chance of that referendum - how right I was in not taking up that advice!) and then we've had cast-iron promises from the Conservatives over the issue, along with 'no more power/we need a referendum' gurantees by Labour along with the other two. And I always go on about how they are all the same but often pretend they disagree with one another - this is yet another example.
Thoughts on the bill Mr Osborne and Mr Darling have landed us with?
Row over who saddled British taxpayers with £6bn debt to bail out Portugal
A row erupted last night over who is to blame for saddling taxpayers with a potential £6billion bill for bailing out debt-laden Portugal. The Tories have always suggested that Labour’s Alistair Darling agreed to a bailout scheme to prop up the euro in his final days as Chancellor. It has also repeatedly been said that his then opposite number, George Osborne, objected to Britain signing up for the deal – hammered out in May last year in the days between the election and the formation of the Coalition.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/03/29/article-0-02F081EA00000578-16_224x331.jpghttp://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/03/29/article-0-0B5D1F8900000578-92_233x376.jpghttp://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/03/29/article-0-0B5069B000000578-96_224x331.jpg
Darling, Cameron and Osborne: Who to blame?
Now a leaked memo signed by a Tory Treasury minister last year has suggested that ‘cross-party consensus had been gained’ on the deal. Its existence emerged hours after David Cameron insisted in the Commons that Mr Osborne did oppose the deal. Under constitutional rules, ministers remain in place in a hung Parliament until a new administration can command a Commons majority.
Mr Darling therefore represented Britain at a Brussels summit two days before the Coalition was formed. It was then that a deal was signed committing the UK to taking part in a £50billion EU bailout scheme for stricken economies.
Under the agreement, Britain is responsible for 13.6 per cent of the fund, mirroring the rate of its overall contributions to the EU. Mr Darling yesterday hit out at Mr Cameron for blaming Labour over existing arrangements. He said: ‘When you referred to the discussions that took place in May of last year in relation to the eurozone fund, you gave a somewhat incomplete account of my conversation with the now Chancellor (George Osborne).
‘We did indeed agree that we should do everything we could to keep Britain out of the main part of the rescue fund.’ But, Mr Darling added, ‘What we discussed was not voting against, but abstention, recognising that Britain could have been out-voted. ‘So when you next refer to it, perhaps you would give a whole account and not a partial account.’ Mr Cameron said: ‘I have had a full discussion with the Chancellor about this issue and he was absolutely clear it was not something Britain should agree to, and nor should we.'
Under the deal, which runs until 2013, Britain will have to stump up to £6billion if Portugal goes bust. Last night Eurosceptics called on Mr Osborne to provide a full explanation of what happened last May. Tory MP Douglas Carswell said: ‘Either the Prime Minister inadvertently misled the House this afternoon, or the Treasury minister’s written memo to the House last summer was incorrect. ‘It is now urgent and vital that government ministers publish the official advice they received.
Oh dear oh dear, been caught out telling lies yet again - and over the issue of Europe, all three of them [the political parties] have a terrible record with the Liberal Democrats promising an all-in or out referendum (I remember some of you advised me to vouch Liberal Democrat before the General Election telling me that if I did, we would have a chance of that referendum - how right I was in not taking up that advice!) and then we've had cast-iron promises from the Conservatives over the issue, along with 'no more power/we need a referendum' gurantees by Labour along with the other two. And I always go on about how they are all the same but often pretend they disagree with one another - this is yet another example.
Thoughts on the bill Mr Osborne and Mr Darling have landed us with?