Early Day Motion 920
Sponsor: Tony Colman
House of CommonsJuly 3, 2000
"That this House, noting that at the UN Social Summit Plus 5 held in Geneva, June 2000, the 160 government delegations present agreed unanimously to ask for a detailed investigation of the practicalities of a 'Tobin' tax on currency speculation so as to both reduce currency speculation and provide a potential source of UN funding, congratulates the non-governmental organisations, War on Want and ATTAC for their work among others to bring this to the attention of the world; and further congratulates the Government for supporting, through the UN Summit, this investigation."
Signatories (as of August 10, 2000):
Colman, Tony; Cox, Tom; Ross, Ernie; Smyth, Martin; Michie, Bill; Godman, Norman A; Caton, Martin; Iddon, Brian; Cable, Vincent; Barnes, Harry; Drew, David; Griffiths, Win; Gibson, Ian; Thomas, Simon; Jones, Barry; Marsden, Gordon; Bottomley, Peter; Fyfe, Maria; Clapham, Michael; Corbyn, Jeremy; Taylor, David; Hancock, Mike; Cummings, John; Chaytor, David; McWalter, Tony; Jones, Lynne; George, Andrew; Etherington, Bill; Vis, Rudi; Williams, Betty; Cryer, Ann; McNamara, Kevin; Corbett, Robin; Todd, Mark; Flynn, Paul; Brake, Tom; Dobbin, Jim; Jones, Jenny; Davis, Terry; Davey, Valerie; Beggs, Roy; Jones, Nigel; Drown, Julia; Llwyd, Elfyn; Simpson, Alan; Cook, Frank; O'Hara, Edward; White, Brian; Edwards, Huw; Austin, John; Sheerman, Barry; Rammell, Bill; Sarwar, Mohammad; Clwyd, Ann; Harris, Evan; Reed, Andrew; Illsley, Eric; Abbott, Diane; McDonnell, John; Ruddock, Joan; Savidge, Malcolm
GPF Note
Also see Early Day Motion 312 of January 24, 2000. It was sponsored by Harry Barnes and had 109 signatories (as of August 10, 2000).
There have been two debates on the subject of the Tobin Tax in the British Parliament:
The views of the British government were spelled out by Miss Johnson during Question Time on June 7, 2000.
"Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he has had with financial organisations on the (a) viability and (b) acceptability of the Tobin Tax initiative. [123179]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The Chancellor meets regularly with members of the international financial community to discuss a range of measures designed to reduce currency market instability.
The Government believe the Tobin tax idea is, in principle, interesting, but has a number of practical drawbacks. In particular, it could introduce serious economic distortions to the international financial system, and is unlikely to have much effect in a crisis. It would be practically impossible to achieve global coverage, and there would be huge scope for avoidance."
More Information on Currency Transaction Taxes
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