Mr John Redwood (Wokingham) (Con): I thank the Chancellor for the guarantee of no bail-outs for other European countries. Does he think the European Central Bank will make available all liquidity needed by major banks in euroland, as it should do because it tells us they are all solvent?
The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr George Osborne): Obviously, the ECB is independent so I will not speak for it. What I have said about the European financial stability mechanism is that we now have a verbal agreement-I will, of course, want to secure it over the coming weeks-that that mechanism will not form a permanent part of the bail-out mechanism that the eurozone wants to put in place from 2013, and we will not be part of that bail-out mechanism. Indeed, if it requires a treaty change, our consent to that change would, of course, be required.
November 30, 2010
Either I’m not understanding this or these two comments seem at odds with each other. On the one hand you have stated that we won’t be liable for any more bail-outs and in his response the Chancellor seems to say we will still be liable for any pre-2013 bail-outs.
If we’re still bailing countries out after 2013 then we may as well just give up now and all go bankrupt so this promise doesn’t seem worth the paper it’s written on.