British savers to be protected

British Chancellor George Osborne said the government will compensate any British government and military personnel whose bank accounts in Cyprus may be affected by the EU bailout levy.

European officials said people with less than €100,000 in their accounts will have to pay a one-time tax of 6.75% while those with more money will lose 9.9%.

Speaking on The Andrew Marr Show yesterday, Mr Osborne said: “For people serving in our military, for people serving our government out in Cyprus — because we have military bases there — we are going to compensate anyone who is affected by this bank tax, people who are doing their duty for our country in Cyprus will be protected from this Cypriot bank tax.”