Brussels, Belgium (AHN) – Despite Ireland’s insistence that Dublin still has sufficient cash and does not need an international bailout now, British Chancellor George Osborne pledged Wednesday to provide Ireland with $10.5 billion (GBP7 billion) in assistance.

Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom, but Britain has other reasons to extend a helping hand to Dublin. The biggest reason is the $210 billion (GBP140 billion) exposure of British banks to Ireland. Data from the Bank for International Settlements showed that Britain stands to lose the most if the Irish economy went down because British financial institutions have the largest exposure to the Irish government, residents and businesses.

The Royal Bank of Scotland alone has a minimum $75 billion (GBP50 billion) in outstanding loans to Ireland.

Notwithstanding Ireland’s intransigence for fear of losing economic sovereignty and being forced to increase its 12.5 percent corporate tax rate, financial experts from the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund were arriving in Dublin Thursday to start discussions for a bailout. The arrival of the experts has somewhat calmed global stock markets.

Osborne admitted that aside from Ireland being Britain’s closest neighbor, it is in the interest of the British financial industry that stability be brought back to the region. Opposition MPs, however, criticized London’s bailout offer.

The extent of Irish banks’ financial hemorrhage will be known Friday when the Allied Irish Bank discloses the level of its losses and size of withdrawals from individual and corporate depositors.

Beleaguered Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan also acknowledged for the first time that as a small nation and part of the 16-nation eurozone, Ireland’s banking problems are too large and Europe has extended a helping hand to Dublin to resolve the financial crisis before it becomes too late.

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London, England, United Kingdom (AHN) – British Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne announced Tuesday a plan that would make all 26 million homes in the country green over the next 10 years. Under the New Green Deal, local councils, supermarkets and chain stores would extend loans up to $15,000 (10,000 pounds) to homeowners.

Among the chain stores expected to handle the green loans are B & Q and Marks & Spencers.

The amount would be used to finance double glazing, the purchase of solar panels or other energy efficiency measures.

Huhne said the loans would eventually be paid back not from the pockets of unit owners, but from savings on energy bills spread over 20 years.

However, landlords would be at a disadvantage because they would be mandated to convert their units into environmentally friendly flats, but the reduced fuel bills would be enjoyed by their tenants since fuel bills are shouldered by tenants.

Aside from lower fuel bills, renters would benefit in terms of having more better-insulated homes available on the market. More than 20 percent of about 670,000 units of 3.2 million homes for rent in Britain have the worst efficiency ratings of F or G in the United Kingdom.

However, insurance experts pointed out the landlords may actually pass on the cost of making their units green by charging higher rentals.

Landlords who fail to comply with the New Green Deal would be fined $7,500 (5,000 pounds).

Huhne said about 100,000 jobs are expected to be created over the next five years by the initiative.

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London, England, United Kingdom (AHN) – Britain is set to release a review of university tuition initiated by Lord Edmund John Philip Browne, the former chief executive of British Petroleum.

Browne was appointed in June 2010 by the coalition government to be the lead non-executive director in charge of recruiting business leader to reformed departmental boards.

Under the proposed reforms, all taxpayer funding will be withdrawn from most university degrees. That means students would have to borrow thousands as cost of courses are expected to double.

The measures would translate into requiring universities to charge a minimum of $10,500 (7,000 pounds) a year to make up for the loss of national government funding for education. The cost of some high-end degrees is expected to soar to $18,000 (12,000 pounds) a year.

Graduates who have benefited from public funding of their education would have to pay back more in fees and interests. Ironically, those earning from $52,000 to $90,000 (35,000 to 60,000 pounds) a year would likely pay more than those earning over $150,000 (100,000 pounds) a year.

That is based on estimates made by the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the National Union of Students. On an assumption of a 30-year repayment period, those in the middle-income range would end up paying $56,700 (37,800 pounds), while those in the higher-income bracket of $150,000 would just pay $47,773.50 (31,849 pounds) if they repay their loans in four years.

The new system is set to be put in place in 2012.

The proposal does not sit well with Liberal Democrat backbenchers, who plan to vote against the coalition government, according to the NUS because of the party’s stand against any form of tuition fee hikes.

Business Secretary Vince Cable, who is a LibDem, was scheduled to meet with the party’s MPs Monday night to convince them to turn around by asking Browne to make the variable interest rate on student loans linked to a graduate’s income.

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London, England, United Kingdom (AHN) – To purchase a house, a Briton buying a unit for the first time would need $105,000 (70,000 pounds) savings to qualify for a mortgage. The amount is three times the average salary of British workers.

It is also $30,000 (20,000 pounds) more than the deposit required just four years ago after mortgage firms increased the required deposit to 43 percent in September, which is up from 30 percent in December 2006.

The move makes it even more difficult for first-time home buyers to acquire a house and reinforces a Bank of England warning issued last week that banks are implementing stricter rules before lending money because of fears more home owners would default on their loans as workers are laid off.

Because property prices in Britain remaining are so high and tax breaks to encourage first-time home buyers arenot sufficient to prevent another downturn in the real estate market, the International Monetary Fund warned of a double dip in the country’s property market.

The IMF pointed out a decline in property purchases after the stamp duty holiday on properties worth up to $262,500 (175,000 pounds) expired on December 2009. Former British Chancellor Alistair Darling replaced the stamp duty holiday in the March budget with a two-year exemption for first-time home buyers up to $375,000 (250,000 pounds).

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Mark Burns works for Offplanworld.tv, a UK based real estate consultancy specialising in off-plan property and who offer a wide portfolio of Red Sea Property.

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