British taxpayers back Irish loans

BRITISH taxpayers are standing behind almost £3 billion (€3.3bn) in negative equity mortgages in Ireland.

As part of the British government’s Asset Protection Scheme (APS) more than £167bn of Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) risky assets outside Britain are being insured.

It is understood that €20bn of the total £282bn of assets covered by the APS are based in Ireland.