Boris attacks 'crazy' Euro bailouts

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Boris Johnson said it is "crazy" to think the answer to the eurozone crisis is greater fiscal integration.

"I was, always have been a fervent admirer and lover of Europe," he told journalists at the lobby lunch in Westminster.

"Of course I am, and there are many European countries, civilisations, languages that I venerate.

"That does not necessarily mean that I agree with everything Europe, the EU commission, says or does.

"Indeed, the great thing we can't talk about, well why not, I think it is absolutely crazy to decide that the answer to the Euro crisis is to intensify fiscal union and try to create an economic government of Europe.

"I really can't think for the life of me how that is going to work in the long term, given what we know about the way these things work.

"Fundamentally, if you look at the ERM experience and what’s happening now, you get back to this issue of confidence.

"If people know the system can dissolve then obviously they are going to wait for the moment when it does.

"And that is I am afraid the inescapable problem we face in endlessly trying to bail these countries out.

"Whether that is Eurosceptic or not I don't know, but it seems to me that we are slightly living in a fool's paradise at the moment."

Daily Mirror jounalist Kevin Maguire challenged Johnson's calls for a tax cut for those earning more than £150,000.

"You should declare an interest as you would get a bigger cut than most people in London have to live on in a year," Maguire said.

He cited Johnson's mayoral salary on top of the £250,000 he is paid for his Daily Telegraph column.

"I am grateful for the close attention you pay to my finances, and obviously Kevin you are right, that this is a difficult line of argument for someone like me to make," Johnson replied.

"People do not understand how I can possibly say it when people are hurting so much and it seems obvious that the rich should pay more.

"The only point I am making in a general way is that over the long term you have got to look at competitiveness of London as against other capitals and at the moment they have lower tax rates than us.

"In the long term that will be a disadvantage. Someone has got to say it and it may as well be me."

Johnson also said that too many young people in the capital are "consigned to the dole".

He urged employers to offer apprenticeships, internships and work experience.

"We need to make sure that when the upturn comes, and it will, we have invested in these people."