Britain’s part of the Ireland loan bill

George Osborne has been explaining to the Commons that the IMF will be expected to put up one third of the loans needed by Ireland, the EU would put up two thirds.

That could – I emphasise could – mean the UK contributes around £3/4bn under the EU mechanism, £2bn through the IMF and perhaps more than £2bn through bi-lateral support. It could easily be nudged higher, sources talk of the total UK liability coming to £7/8 or £9bn.

Only the UK bi-lateral would require the UK to raise money on the markets to lend at a (marginally) higher rate of interest. The way the other facilities operate, the UK would only have to dig deep in what the Chancellor just called the “unlikely scenario” of an Irish default.