IMF

Lord Jackson of Peterborough Excerpts

Monday 23rd April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

No it is not, and there is no connection between the two matters. An IMF loan comes out of our foreign exchange reserves. That has been the case under Labour Governments, Conservative Governments and this coalition Government. It is a contingent loan that will be drawn upon if the IMF needs resources. We swap our foreign exchange asset for the IMF loan. The Chief Secretary said what he did today because we are trying to get a grip on the public finances. To do that, we have to ensure that Departments can deal with their own contingencies, as and when they arrive.

[Mr Stewart Jackson (Peterborough) (Con)]

We all know that what we are discussing is state-sponsored money laundering to prop up the failed and doomed European project called the euro. The deal does not come without a heavy human cost. In southern Europe, it means the imposition of a net tightening of 3% per year, yet there is no monetary stimulus to offset that, no demand for growth in the rest of Europe and no demand for structural reforms. Why is the Chancellor throwing the good money of UK taxpayers after bad for this economic madness?

[Mr Osborne]

This money comes out of Britain’s foreign exchange reserves and is swapped for an IMF loan. It is therefore not money that we would otherwise spend on public services or use to cut taxes. My hon. Friend is being a little unfair to the countries that are having to undertake difficult structural reforms. For example, Spain has recently passed significant reforms to its labour laws to make its employment market more flexible and Italy has made difficult pension reforms. People will remember the scenes in Italy when those reforms were announced a few months ago. Britain is also having to make difficult reforms and take difficult decisions to make our economy more competitive and to deal with the problems in our public finances.