The Daily Mail reports: "David Cameron and George Osborne faced a furious backlash over Britain's £7bn loan for Ireland today as the Irish Government was pushed to the brink of collapse by the withdrawal of a junior coalition partner."
Bill Cash was quoted saying: "It is in our national interest to help the Irish but not through this Euro framework. The real issue is the Government saying it will do something about European rules but then acquiescing in another European integration process." Read the article here.
This issue takes my mind back to the banking crisis when the British govt paid billions to bail out our banks. No conditioning was made that in return banks would cease lavish renumeration schemes or guarantee that legitimate & worthy businesses & individuals would be lent to. A great missed opportuniy, and I believe George Osborne should only have been forthcoming with £7bn on condition that the Irish submit to stop massively undercutting us on corporation tax &/or they quit the eurozone. After all, history tends to repeat itself & it seems highly likely that the exchange/interest rate inflexibility of the eurozone will magnify all the evils of future recessions, just as the ERM did for Britain in the early 90s.