Greece fails to secure EU allies in debt talks

Greece’s new leftist-led government, isolated in the eurozone and under pressure from the ECB, said yesterday it would not accept any deal in crunch talks next week that keeps its current international bailout programme in place.

The defiant stance came as Standard & Poor’s cut its credit rating on Greece amid concerns over the country’s cash position.

The agency said it has lowered Greece’s long-term rating by one notch to B- and warned a further downgrade is possible by keeping the country on so-called “creditwatch negative”.