David Cameron has re-iterated his calls for a "big bazooka" to help solve the eurozone crisis as the chancellor said a resolution to the turmoil would be the best thing for Britain's economy this autumn.
The prime minister told journalists on Friday that Britain is still a "big player" in the single market, after he met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
"We are one of Europe’s major economies, we are a big player in the single market, we want growth on the European continent to help the British economy, we want to drive change in the single market to help drive that and yes we want to help resolve the crisis in the eurozone," he said.
He added the markets needed to be convinced that the euro would be "defended and protected" by institutions - what Cameron called the "big bazooka approach".
"It also means fundamentally grappling with the lack of competitiveness in some European economies and getting to grips with that agenda to make sure the eurozone can function properly. We addressed all of those things and talked about all of those things today," he said.
The comments came after George Osborne backed close fiscal union within the eurozone. Speaking on Friday the chancellor said it was important for countries of the euro "to work more closely together to sort out their problems".
But he maintained that Britain "doesn't want to be part of that integration".
"We’ve got our own national interest, but it is in our economic interest that they do sort themselves out."
Osborne said the best thing for Britain was a resolution to the euro crisis.
"We need the eurozone to resolve their crisis, we need the countries of the euro to stand behind their currency and that is very important for Britain, because for all the steps we can take in Britain, investing in our infrastructure, getting our businesses growing, we also need the eurozone to sort itself out if we’re going to have an economic recovery across the continent", he told journalists.