Tonight (Wednesday 23rd March) The Portuguese Prine Minister, Jose Socrates has resigned following the rejection of his parties austerity plans. He appeared on the News tonight and confirmed his resignation, after a meeting with President Carvao Silva earlier this afternoon.

The Portuguese opposition parties have rejected the governments austerity budget package of tax rises and spending cuts. This failure of the minority government on this vote, lead to the lead to early elections being called in Portugal and makes an EU Financial Bailout much more likely.