Financial Assistance (Ireland)

Debate between George Osborne and Lord Blunkett

Monday 22nd November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

I was very clear that the bilateral loan was given because of the very specific economic relationship between the UK and Ireland, the interconnectedness of our banking systems, the fact that we share a land border, and the importance of the Irish banks in Northern Ireland. Those specific reasons led me to believe that it was right to provide a bilateral loan in these circumstances.

[Mr David Blunkett (Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough) (Lab)]

I wonder whether the Chancellor would help me with a conundrum that the people of Sheffield will no doubt be mulling over tonight. Why, in raising the money for the bilateral loan for the Irish Republic, would it not be possible to help another friend in need by adding a simple £100 million to the loan and helping Sheffield Forgemasters, which after all will repay the loan, just as the Irish will?

[Mr Osborne]

What I am proposing is a bilateral loan to another sovereign nation as part of an international package. Of course, I am doing it to provide stability for the entire UK economy, including the economy of Sheffield. I believe the steps that we have taken in the past six months to move this country, with the highest budget deficit in the G20, out of the financial danger zone provides the platform for economic growth, as it does for the rest of the UK.