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`£160 bill per family` to help Portugal

The latest EU country to be bailed out - Portugal - could cost Britain over £4bn, the equivalent of £160 per household.

After Greece and Ireland, Portugal has become the third country to admit it really needs financial help. It has now agreed to a `rescue package` of €78bn (£70bn), €12bn of which will go to support the country`s banks.

Here in Britain, we`re committed to making a contribution - and many people in Britain are far from happy about it. The Daily Mail quotes Conservative MP and Eurosceptic Douglas Carswell, who said: "All we are doing is giving a new credit card to a debtor.

"It is unfair on the British people. We are struggling as a country to live within our means and in order to do so we are making real cuts. Yet at the same time we are adding to our debts to give vast sums of money to bail out those who have been living beyond their means. It is grotesque and unfair."

Already, Britain has pledged £7bn towards Ireland`s bailout and a further billion pounds to the bailout of Greece.

The Independent supplies some background on the Portuguese bailout. It`s a three-year loan package from the EU that will give the Portuguese government time to work on reducing its budget deficit.

However, the necessary spending cuts and tax rises are bound to cause problems for the Portuguese economy - which has `barely grown` over the last ten years anyway.



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