Chancellor Osborne and his worthless piece of paper

After Labour had lost the last election but before the coalition took office the then Chancellor Alistair Darling signed the UK up to participation in the EU bail-out mechanism.  It is costing us six billion pounds just for the Irish bailout.  We all know that Portugal, Spain even Belgium and Italy are all possible candidates for bailouts. Asked whether the UK will have to participate in these future bailouts George Osborne is short of straight answers, he blames Alistair Darling for our current involvement in bailing out euro countries and emphasizes that he has blocked our permanent participation in this bail-out mechanism from 2013. He is unable or unwilling to say whether the UK will be helping in future bailouts before the 2013 deadline.

Treasury officials insisted that the UK had been tied into the fund by the previous Chancellor Alistair Darling in the final hours of the last Labour Government. Treasury sources also confirmed that the deal agreed by George Osborne in Brussels on Sunday night will mean that Britain would be freed from any obligation to financial rescue measures for euro countries after 2013.

We should be in no doubt the 2013 deadline isn’t worth the paper it is written on. The question is whether we will be bailing out Portugal, Spain, Belgium and Italy in 2010 or 2011. To be quite candid I will be surprised if the euro still exists in it's current form in 2012 never mind 2013.

I sometimes think that signing worthless pieces of paper must be a trait for British politicians.
Best Wishes
Will