IMF

Matt Hancock Excerpts

Monday 23rd April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

I said very clearly in my statement that the principal reason the world economy is unstable is the problems in the eurozone, and, as all the questions have demonstrated, there is of course a connection between those problems and the need to have a well resourced IMF, but, as I said last autumn, we are not prepared to see IMF resource going into eurozone bail-out funds. It needs to be for individual countries and for individual country programmes, and that is a view which not just I or Britain happens to have, but which Japan, South Korea, Australia and European countries that are not in the European Union, such as Norway and Switzerland, share. Ask yourself the question, Mr Speaker, and the House can ask itself, too: why have all those other countries thought it is in their interests to help to deal with a problem that is actually on Britain’s doorstep as well?

[Matthew Hancock (West Suffolk) (Con)]

What would the Chancellor say to the exporters of west Suffolk about the purpose of the loan, when they need expanding markets in Europe and across the world?

[Mr Osborne]

The exporters of west Suffolk, like people in every other part of the country, have an enormous interest in there being greater stability in the eurozone and in the world economy. What has been so damaging in the past six months has been the flight of confidence from those countries, and its impact on exporters in Britain and elsewhere in the world. We want confidence to return. As I said in the statement, there was a sense in the spring meetings that things were a little better than before Christmas. However, the risks are real and they remain.