Austerity vote paves way for massive Greek bailout

Greek MPs have voted overwhelmingly to approve a harsh austerity bill demanded by bailout creditors, despite significant dissent from members of prime minister Alexis Tsipras’ left-wing party.

The bill has fuelled anger in the governing Syriza party and led to a revolt by its members against the prime minister, who has insisted the deal forged after a marathon weekend eurozone summit was the best he could do to prevent Greece from catastrophically crashing out of Europe’s joint currency.