Germany unveils €200bn help for consumers and says it won’t follow UK’s route

Finance minister announces 200bn fund to protect citizens from rising gas prices driven by Russia's war in Ukraine

Germany's finance minister has vowed that he will not follow the UK down the path of an expansionary fiscal policy" as his government announced a 200bn (177bn) fund designed to protect consumers and businesses from rising gas prices driven by Russia's war in Ukraine.

Europe's largest economy will reactivate an economic stabilising fund previously used during the global financial crisis and the coronavirus pandemic, said the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, at a joint press conference with the finance minister, Christian Lindner, and the economic minister, Robert Habeck, on Thursday afternoon.