NEW EURO CRISIS AS IRELAND AND PORTUGAL PLUNGE DEEP INTO CHAOS

Saturday April 2 2011
by Macer Hall, Political Editor
34 Comments

FRESH fears that British taxpayers will be forced to pay billions of pounds more cash into European Union emergency rescue schemes were raised last night after the euro crisis deepened.

Ireland’s fragile banking sector pleaded for an extra £21billion to stave off collapse yesterday while debt-stricken Portugal came under further pressure to accept a massive EU bailout.

The double blow to the troubled eurozone raised concern that the UK will have to pay more under a controversial agreement to protect the troubled currency.

Critics last night demanded that Britain refuse to pay any more into shoring up struggling eurozone economies.

The backlash followed anger earlier this year at the coalition’s decision to pour more than £6billion into a series of loans to the Irish government at a time when drastic cuts are being made to public services in the UK. Senior Tory backbencher Bill Cash said: “There will be very serious discontent and anger if we are faced with having to contribute to a Portuguese bailout or provide more money for Ireland.â€