Member News
The chancellor has outlined to Parliament details of the £3.25bn loan being offered to help bail out Ireland's economy.
The package will be split into eight payments, the first available to the Irish Republic in September 2011 under a deal agreed on Wednesday.
George Osborne said the loan will be paid in sterling so that Ireland will have to bear the exchange rate risk in the coming years.
Osborne told MPs: "People ask, of course, why are we extending the loan to Ireland? We are doing this because it is overwhelmingly in our national interest that we have a strong Irish economy and a stable banking system.
"It is not just about the Irish economy and Irish jobs, it is about the British economy and British jobs.
"A loan does not add to our deficit and any increase in borrowing is matched of course by the commitment of the Irish to repay with interest."
The chancellor said it had been anticipated that the loan could result in fees and interest of £414m for the UK.
The Loans to Ireland Bill is being rushed through the Commons this afternoon in a rare process usually saved for emergency legislation.
Shadow chancellor Alan Johnson supported the Bill and acknowledged that Ireland was a "special case" because its economy was intertwined with the UK's.
However, he described Osborne as "inexperienced", with the Bill being drawn up "hastily".
He said the legislation had failed to set out the terms of the loan, the interest rate or the schedule.
Johnson told MPs:
"Our main concern is how are we going to draw a line under this?
"We had the Greek bailout, we had the Irish bailout and there is no sign that there is any real stability in the eurozone to stop this happening again.
"As the loan we are being asked to approve today is itself equal to the money we would have contributed if we had been a member of the eurozone, surely that gives us the right to influence the necessary debate on what actually is needed to address the underlying causes of this recurring crisis."
Peter Bone (Con, Wellingborough) said: "It is rushing through legislation at a speed that would win approval in North Korea."
Article Comments
That's not a helping hand/bailout, once again it's Britain trying very hard at bringing Ireland to it's knees with a promised profit of guess what 410,75m pounds into British coffers does this mean that we Irish settled in Britain will now start to get fair and equal access to services and be treated as fairly as all others or is it the case that I will have to learn the words of the song 'I will survive'.
Mrs J Clark
15th Dec 2010 at 10:42 pm
Have your say...
Please enter your comments below.