Prime Minister David Cameron with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a press conference at 10 Downing Street, London.
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“As a Greek woman, I am embarrassed at those who are going to vote “Yes” for fear of leaving the euro”.
Greeks are split on whether to accept an offer by creditors that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras calls a “humiliation” and is urging people to reject.
Updating MPs in a statement to the House of Commons, Mr Osborne said: “This is a critical moment in the economic crisis in Greece”. No one should be under any illusions.
“Britain will be affected the longer the Greek crisis lasts, and the worse it gets”.
Anxious Greeks rallying for a “Yes” vote also say Greece has been handed a raw deal but that the alternative, a collapse of the banks and a return of the old drachma currency, would be far worse.
“Of course we want Greece to prosper and succeed – it’s a country we feel a lot of affection for”. In line with FCO advice, and as a precautionary measure, we recommend customers have more than one payment method and take extra Euros with them to cover the duration of their holiday.
Osborne said: “There is considerable uncertainty about what happens next”.
Mr Osborne said that while there was “a lot of sympathy” in the United Kingdom for the plight of the Greek people, the country had to accept the rules of the eurozone if it wished to remain a member.
Treasury officials are so concerned that the Greek economy could freeze up – if the European Central Bank cuts off emergency liquidity assistance to Greek banks – that holidaymakers are being advised to take full supplies of prescription medicines.
“Issues that affect the 28 European Union countries affect all 28, ” a source said.
Mr Osborne said he had spoken to the head of the Eurogroup Jeroen Dijsselbloem as well as the managing director of the worldwide Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde.
TUI said it was working closely with the Foreign Office and its own resort teams to monitor the situation in Greece. Final results are expected later Sunday.
The chancellor raised the prospect of a deadlock between Greece and its creditors at a meeting of eurozone leaders in Brussels on Tuesday night.
Although Britain’s direct exposure to Greece is limited, Downing Street warned that the United Kingdom will not be “immune” to any fallout from the crisis.
British PM David Cameron chaired a meeting of senior ministers and officials to assess the impact of Greece’s “No” vote on Britain.
But it leaves the country facing an uncertain future – with opponents warning he needs a new bailout deal fast if he is to avoid a catastrophic financial crash that could send it spinning out of the single currency.
In a signal that Athens is keen to restart talks, the country’s combative finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, resigned just hours after the referendum result, apparently under pressure from other eurozone finance ministers.
Eurozone authorities had made clear that they stood “ready to do whatever is necessary to ensure financial stability of the euro area”, Osborne said Monday. Greece should never have been included in the euro, but once it was all the Eurozone leaders had a responsibility to make it work.
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She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “There are still 48 hours, there is still this week. We will push as much as possible for an outcome, a result of these negotiations, that does not obligate Greece to go in that direction”.
