The ongoing stand-off in the eurozone over Greece's debts poses a risk to Britain's economic stability, Chancellor George Osborne has warned.
Eurozone finance ministers are going into a third round of talks on the Greek debt crisis in just over a week, after lead lender Germany rejected the latest proposals from Athens as a "Trojan horse" designed to allow it to dodge its commitments.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has dropped key demands made by his Syriza party in its successful election campaign, agreeing to honour debt obligations and accept continued supervision from bailout lenders and the European Central Bank. He is formally requesting a six-month extension of loan agreements which expire this month.
Mr Tsipras last night spoke by phone with French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, after a German representative at the talks was quoted as saying the Greek offer "rather represents a Trojan horse, intending to get bridge financing and in substance putting an end to the current programme".
Mr Osborne said that the eurozone countries must find "a common solution" to ward off a full-blown crisis.
The Chancellor told Sky News: "What you see now in this stand-off between the eurozone and Greece is the risk of a full-blown crisis which would do real damage to the European economy and is a risk to Britain.
"We need the eurozone to find a common solution and here at home we need to go on working through our economic plan, which has kept us safe."
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