Britain’s summit price for backing treaty change was a financial services protocol packed with half-a-dozen complex, arcane regulatory fixes that left most European leaders “baffled”, according one official at the summit.
Contrary to widely believed French claims, the protocol was neither a demand for a general veto, nor a manifesto for light-touch regulation. Instead it covered more technical guarantees to address British gripes across 20 or more pieces of regulation in the Brussels pipeline.
In some areas, such as bank capital rules, Britain even wanted to be tougher than the European Commission is proposing. Other measures covered threats that had yet to even materialise.
The Robin Hood tax itself is no answer to either speculative investment or raising extra tax funds. It would merely move the gambling off shore while the tax on transactions would be passed on to the majority of us through higher charges to our pension and insurance funds (these make up about 70% of daily financial transactions).
Instead if you want to reform the system then split investment banks away from other banking and impose higher capital requirements and stricter regulatory control. Raise the tax on banks’ profits to 50% and up the tax on incomes over £100,000 to 75% while outlawing the payment of bonuses in shares which are only liable to capital gains tax.
