The UK will be exempt from a new European bailout agreement between eurozone countries, under plans confirmed in the Queen's Speech.
Former chancellor Alistair Darling signed the UK up to support a £750 billion euro bailout scheme during coalition negotiations after the 2010 general election. He described it at the time as "quite a good insurance scheme" for Britain. If the Labour government had not signed up and eurozone countries had defaulted, the losses to the treasury would have been far greater, he said.
But the government said its European Union (Approval of Treaty Amendment Decision) Bill would remove "any UK liabilities for future EU bailouts". The fund signed up to by Mr Darling in the event of Portugal or Ireland defaulting will be replaced by a new facility for eurozone countries. A plan to "safeguard the stability of the euro area" through bailouts was agreed by the European Council in April 2011. The bill announced by the Queen today is an attempt to get parliamentary approval for the change.
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