David Cameron defends 'make up or break up' euro warning
David Cameron has said there will be no retreat on deficit reduction - and that he was right to speculate publicly about the break up of the euro.
He told business leaders in Manchester that it was "more dangerous to stay silent than to speak out".
The prime minister later discussed the crisis with other European leaders including Angela Merkel and new French President Francois Hollande.
Labour says the recession is caused by coalition policies not the euro crisis.
Mr Cameron raised eyebrows at Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday when he warned the eurozone it "either has to make up or it is looking at a potential break-up".
Chancellor George Osborne has repeatedly warned against speculating about eurozone break-up, saying it would cause instability amid Greece's ongoing inability to form a government able to push through austerity plans.
'Genie out'
But he told MPs earlier on Thursday that the Greek elections had "let the genie out of the bottle" and "some of the things we were happy to say in private we are now also willing to say in public because the issue is out there".
The coalition believed that it was winning the argument on deficit reduction, but fears it is in danger of losing the argument on growth.”
"We have very clear ideas about what the eurozone needs to do to make their currency work," he added, saying he backed austerity measures in "peripheral" countries but also wanted to see the "core of the eurozone" do more "to support demand".
Mr Cameron discussed the eurozone situation with Mr Hollande, Mrs Merkel, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti and EU officials in a conference call ahead of the forthcoming G8 summit in the United States.
The BBC's political editor Nick Robinson said the prime minister had reiterated the importance of decisive action to sort out the eurozone and to prevent contagion and repeated the key points of his speech.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-18098505
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