HIGHLIGHTS-UK's Osborne at Treasury Commitee

LONDON Dec 8 (Reuters) - British finance minister George Osborne gave testimony to parliament's Treasury Committee on Wednesday.

Below are higlights from the session.

FUNDING FOR THE IRISH LOAN

"We will have to borrow the money to lend to Ireland. It adds to our debt but it doesn't add to the deficit.

"We're getting back a very important asset which is a commitment from the Irish government to pay us back with interest.

"Ireland is a very specific case and the only thing I'm asking the House of Commons to vote on is specific legislation that relates to Ireland."

Asked if he would rule out bailing out another country:

"This is not actually just a decision for me, this is a decision for you as well, because I would need to seek parliamentary authority to do that and it would be a decision of the House of Commons."

IRELAND LOAN

"What I'm planning to do is publish tomorrow the legislation, and ask the House to vote it through ... next week. It's emergency legislation, we have spoken to the opposition about this.

"The legislation to be set out tomorrow is absolutely exclusive to Ireland. It is a bill designed to lend money to Ireland and not to other countries.

"It will have a cap on the loan that is provided. There is an ability in the legislation to increase the cap but that would have to be done with the affirmative vote of the House of Commons, and I'm certainly not expecting to exercise that.

"It has also got a sunset clause in it which cannot be renewed, which means the bill will fall after 5-years.

"This is not a permanent provision for making loans to Ireland."

RECOVERY ON TRACK

"Already the UK has been affected by the turbulence in Ireland in the sense that our trade with Ireland has fallen, our exports to Ireland have fallen.

"It's (the OBR's) view that the recovery is sustainable. They're forecasting growth of over 2 percent each year, with employment growth each year. My interpretation of that is that the recovery is on track."

BOE KING'S IMPARTIALITY "He (King) was appointed by (Gordon) Brown, reappointed by (Alistair) Darling. It's not as if he's a Conservative or Liberal Democrat appointment to the Bank, so the idea that he's somehow partisan is wrong."