Douglas Carswell's Blog

Bailouts, Balls and word play

“Absolutely no bilateral bailout” was the Treasury spin 24 hours ago.  Now, it’s all about how we’re “not writing Portugal a cheque”. Choice words, and technically true. 

Next perhaps we’ll be spun a line that this is all just “contingent liability”, as if the £2 – 4 Billion at stake was somehow not real money.

If it was a dead cert that we’d get this money back, then why are no market lenders willing to come up with the money?  No clever choice of words can conceal the reality; struggling UK taxpayers are being made to assume someone else’s real liabilities with real money.   Welcome to the Euro debt union.       

Even Ed Balls and Labour seem to have clocked that we are simply helping pile up, and parcel out, Portugal’s debts - at the end of which they will only be further into debt.  There are words to describe that. 

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