Douglas Carswell's Blog

Protecting British households from Euro debt drama

Even if the Finns are not about to renege on having to bailout them out, there are some pretty ominous rumblings from Greece, Ireland and elsewhere inside the Euro debt union. 

What can our own government do about it now? 

The overriding aim must be to ensure UK taxpayers are not sucked into the swirling vortex of Eurozone debt.  Protecting our own taxpayers means extricating ourselves now from the bailout mechanism to which ministers signed us up almost a year ago. 

Alistair Darling has pointed to the fact that he agreed to the bailout mechanism having discussed it with George Osborne.  Indeed, a Treasury memo implies that Britain joined the bailout mechanism on the basis of “cross-party consensus”.  George Osborne, on the other hand, is adamant that he did all he could to prevent us being forced into the bailout Mechanism.

One way of resolving this would be for George to simply publish the note made at the time by civil servants of the discussions between him and Alistair Darling, as well as details of the advice about the deal that George was given on taking office. I’ve been quietly asking for this to happen both on the floor of the Commons, and then through a Freedom of Information request, since last November. 

Why? It has nothing to do with the rights and wrongs of the past, and everything to do with what lies ahead.     

Publishing the evidence showing that George Osborne did all he could to resist the Darling deal, both before and after taking office, would immensely strengthen the UK’s hand for the future - and help to insulate British households from the next episode of the Euro debt drama.  

It would enable George to then issue a statement saying that precisely because he had not agreed to the deal, and because no Parliament may bind its successor, Britain will play no further part in any more bailouts. 

George should make it clear that if necessary we will withhold our share of any EU budget contribution against any further bailouts made under the mechanism in our name – and if necessary fight it through the courts.  There are good legal, as well as political and moral arguments against us remaining liable for the bailout mechanism.

It all seems such an obvious thing to do for anyone really determined to ensure that British households are not liable for any bailout mechanism....

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