Labour prepares to oppose Euro bailouts


by Sunny Hundal    
7:42 pm - May 29th 2011

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I’ve said a few times that Labour should start talking seriously about opposing the Eurozone bailouts.

They are not only a waste of money (since defaults are now clearly on the horizon), but a political disaster waiting to happen.

Labour MPs such as John Cryer have also warned in the past that it could turn nasty if Labour’s own base starts to balk:

From my point of view – I’m a life-long trade unionist and I’m a union MP – you will start to see trade union members and trade union leaderships start taking an interest in this when they see taxpayers – their members – are being told ‘you’ve got to pay out for bailing out other countries’.

The position taken by Ed Balls has been a bit muddled, though somewhat sceptical.

But now it seems Labour is grabbing the bull by its horns and preparing to signal broader opposition to bailouts.

The Guardian reports:

The Labour party said on Sunday it was willing to work with Eurosceptic Tories to reduce the size of UK contributions to the bailout of troubled eurozone nations and to cut the timescale of UK liability.

The decision puts the coalition government’s parliamentary support for its handling of the crisis under explicit threat for the first time.

The potential alliance may reveal a slow shift towards a more Eurosceptic thinking since Labour went into opposition a year ago. The shift is, in part, political opportunism, but also represents a long-standing belief inside the party that the European commission’s reaction to the euro crisis has been too deflationary.

I believe this is the right direction… though I have a feeling Duncan Weldon will disagree.

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About the author
Sunny Hundal is editor of LC. Also: on Twitter, at Pickled Politics and Guardian CIF.
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Reader comments


1. Andreas Moser

A bit late.

2. oldpolitics

Note Lib Dems on Twitter already talking with starry-eyed naivety as though the bailouts are a generous cash gift to distressed companies, as opposed to high-interest loans designed to ensure that bankers get their money back, even if it means the peripheral economies stay in recession and austerity.

3. oldpolitics

Countries, even. See, that commodification gets everywhere…

4. Workman Fred

“Labour prepares to oppose Euro bailouts”

Yes! Good one.
I don’t know one person who approves of these bailouts, all we see is our hard earned cash going into a bottomless pit over there when the poorest of us over here need a bail out.

Well done them.

5. paul barker

Internationalism, solidarity, are there any principles Labour isnt prepared to abandon for short-term Political “gain” ?
This will come back to bite you.

6. Steven

Labour was once more Eurosceptic than the Tories so I can’t see them abandoning solidarity with the European or international community.

7. oldpolitics

It takes a real mastery of doublethink to regard putting taxpayers further on the hook for the debts of bankers, and sacrificing the economies and people’s of some of the poorest countries in Western Europe in the process, as “Internationalism and solidarity”, Paul.

8. crossland

The difficulty with the coalition sanctioning bailouts/loans etc is that they are effectively saying they as a soverign govt know better than the markets.

Yet when jusitifying ‘austerity’ its because the markets know better than the govt


Reactions: Twitter, blogs
  1. Liberal Conspiracy

    Labour prepares to oppose Eurozone bailouts http://bit.ly/kO9I55

  2. paulstpancras

    Labour prepares to oppose Eurozone bailouts | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/o9KJSjQ via @libcon

  3. paulstpancras

    RT @paulstpancras Labour prepares to oppose Eurozone bailouts | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/o9KJSjQ @nosemonkey @jonworth

  4. A C McGregor

    Ask them what Alistair Darling thinks RT @libcon Labour prepares to oppose Eurozone bailouts http://bit.ly/kO9I55

  5. sunny hundal

    Wow, this could get interesting: Labour prepares to oppose Eurozone bailouts http://bit.ly/kO9I55 (I approve of course, @duncanweldon)

  6. Andy Chantrill

    Wow, this could get interesting: Labour prepares to oppose Eurozone bailouts http://bit.ly/kO9I55 (I approve of course, @duncanweldon)

  7. Gods & Monsters

    Wow, this could get interesting: Labour prepares to oppose Eurozone bailouts http://bit.ly/kO9I55 (I approve of course, @duncanweldon)

  8. Millennium Elephant

    “@libcon: Labour prepares to oppose Eurozone bailouts http://t.co/T8fH7so” #Labour combine xenophobia with opposing help for the poor. Nice

  9. SteveCooke

    “@libcon: Labour prepares to oppose Eurozone bailouts http://t.co/T8fH7so” #Labour combine xenophobia with opposing help for the poor. Nice

  10. Kevin McNamara

    “@libcon: Labour prepares to oppose Eurozone bailouts http://t.co/T8fH7so” #Labour combine xenophobia with opposing help for the poor. Nice

  11. The Old Politics

    Wow, this could get interesting: Labour prepares to oppose Eurozone bailouts http://bit.ly/kO9I55 (I approve of course, @duncanweldon)

  12. ‘Shameful’ anti-reform Lib Dem peers, the slowest recovery for 180 years, and is the Labour shadow cabinet half asleep?: round up of political blogs for 28 May – 3 June | British Politics and Policy at LSE

    [...] Sunny Hundal at Liberal Conspiracy reckons that Labour may well be on the way to opposing the Eurozone bailouts. [...]





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