European Union: Debts

Lord Stoddart of Swindon Excerpts

Tuesday 8th June 2010 Lords Chamber

[Lord De Mauley]

My Lords, I quite agree with the noble Lord.

[Lord Stoddart of Swindon]

Is the noble Lord aware that people simply will not understand why Britain has to make a contribution to the bailout of a member of the eurozone when the United Kingdom is not a member of that zone? What would our potential liability in a total bailout have been had we been members of the euro?

[Lord De Mauley]

My Lords, the €60 billion euro element of the total €500 billion package is available in the existing EU budget, without a change in legislation, for any member state to drawn on. It is not confined to the euro area. While we declined to participate in the €440 billion element, we cannot and should not simply walk away. A strong and stable euro is in the United Kingdom’s national interest. More than 40 per cent of our exports are to the euro area, and I am sure the noble Lord would agree that it would be unwise to jeopardise that.