Our colleagues over in Sherwood Forest (the totally online Sherwood Forest), have been busy making a big buzz about implementing the Financial Transaction Tax, aka Robin Hood Tax.
Thousands of you wrote to your MP telling them what a marvellous idea a tiny 0.05% tax on financial transactions would be. So the MPs responded to this public pressure by deciding to have a debate. The brief video below explains the ins and outs. Unfortunately it was too late to be considered for the Oscar for best set.
Thanks to merry man Graham Allen MP (Nottingham North) a debate was secured this week. MPs from all parties joined in adding their support for a tax. The public support the campaign has enjoyed was a key point of the debate. The Treasury Minister, Stephen Timms MP, responded and said he commended the Robin Hood Tax campaign.
The Minister agreed that we need to see reform of the financial sector and that the Treasury was working with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and with other European countries to see what kind of international regulation would work best. Some of the MPs present urged the government to take this opportunity to show leadership on the global stage.
So we got an OK response from the Government but they need to go further – we want to see them come out in full support of a financial transaction tax. And with your support we’ll keep making merry until we do.