Douglas Carswell's Blog

Treasury fiddles. Eurozone burns

The Treasury is taking action. With the Eurozone on the brink, their spin doctors are on the 'phone. 

Apparently, we are told, ministers are about to get tough. Really, really tough. So tough that they might even say to those Eurozone chappies "So c'mon chaps. What's the plan?"

That is, at least, a welcome change from this time last year when we sat down with the other Ecofin ministers and agreed to pick up the tab for their bailouts - and subject ourselves to pan-European economic governance.

Ministers must make constructive suggestions to their EU colleagues, not merely limp demands for "more detail". 

Firstly, the Treasury must speak the truth; the Eurozone bailouts have not worked – these bailouts have merely ladled water into the boat.  Every single Eurozone member state that has had an IMF/EU rescue package imposed now has higher debts than before.

Secondly, ministers need to propose a radically different policy response to the debt crisis; the three Ds - those countries whose debts have become unmanageable must Decouple from the Eurozone, Default on their debt and Downsize the public sector.

If that is to happen, the Treasury needs to take action now to enable new, post-Euro currencies to be created. We may also need to manage the consequences of sovereign default on UK and other banks.

Let’s hope the Treasury is preparing for this, not just spinning to the press about how tough it is being.

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