The business secretary admitted the UK is not immune from the crisis, warning a ‘massive’ economic impact awaits Britain if the eurozone crisis is not curtailed.
Speaking to the Sunday Times, Cable said the UK is powerless to stop the threat of contagion.
“The problem would affect us if it spread, if you had these contagion effects in Italy and Spain,” said Cable.
“Michel Barnier, the EU Commissioner for the internal market, has expressed optimism that those firewalls have now been created, and we must hope he is right – because if they are not, then of course it has a massive impact on our trade.
“Half of our exports go to the eurozone countries, our banks are quite substantially exposed to those countries.”
His comments come amid fears Greece is preparing to exit the euro. Greece’s inconclusive elections have left the country struggling to form a government, increasing the likelihood of a default.
This has led eurozone central bankers to talk publicly for the first time about how they would manage a possible Greek exit from the euro.
