UK refuses to help fund Greek bailout

British Chancellor George Osborne is seeking to block any move by the European Union to put hundreds of millions of pounds of UK taxpayers' money on the line as part of the latest effort to rescue the Greek economy from collapse.

In a series of telephone conversations with counterparts ahead of a meeting in Brussels tomorrow, the Chancellor is said to have made clear that ignoring a 2010 agreement by using the EU budget as collateral against short-term loans for Athens is a "non-starter".