23.04.2012
By Simon Miller
The Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne has attended the House of Commons to defend his decision to pledge a further £10bn to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
In his statement to the Commons Osborne said that as the world coped with the biggest debt crisis of a lifetime, the UK would "not turn our back on the IMF, or turn our back on the world".
With Tory backbenchers angry at his commitment, he claimed that Britain "was far from alone this weekend" pointing out the countries that had also pledged to the IMF including Switzerland and China.
Osborne conceeded that America had not offered a loan but its position on this was clear.
"The US – because it is the global reserve currency - has in the last few months offered dollar swap lines to the eurozone with outstanding balances peaking at more than $85 billion dollars – far exceeding any contribution anyone else has made," he commented.
Osborne continued: "[£10bn] is in line with Britain's quota share at the IMF. No-one believes that a well-funded IMF is the solution to the eurozone crisis alone. It is a difficult road they have to follow. That is the logic of the single currency."
However, the shadow chancellor Ed Balls said that Osborne had failed at the weekend IMF Spring conference.
"If the IMF steps in where the ECB will not, it may weaken the IMF as an institution, he said. "Rich eurozone nations should bail out their neighbours."
Balls added: "There still is no firewall and the only institution which has the firepower to act is the ECB, which is being held back by rich eurozone nations."
The Commons debate comes as the eurozone crisis claimed another poltical victim.
As expected, the Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte has offered his own resignation and that of the cabinet after talks collapsed over measures to slash the country's deficit.
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