Lord Stoddart of Swindon, a man who appears in this blog frequently
asked HMG
whether they could agree to an European Union financial transaction tax without parliamentary approval and a referendum.
The reply from Lord Sassoon was somewhat convoluted but it did give hostages to fortune:
Agreement to a directive on a financial transaction tax would require unanimity in the Council of Ministers, giving the UK Government a veto over any such proposal. Therefore such an EU tax cannot be imposed on the UK without the UK's agreement.
While the UK Government are not opposed to financial transaction taxes in principle, the Government do oppose a European financial transaction tax.
Any EU directive on a financial transaction tax or any other tax could not be implemented in the UK without parliamentary approval of the requisite Finance Bill legislation.
But what, I ask myself, if it does not come in the form of a directive.
Indeed. And the EU bosses have already started to plan how they will impose it without any need for unanimity. I believe they plan to call it a Value Added Tax, which can be passed on QMV, but you'd better ask the boss for the technical details.
ReplyDeleteIn any case, were we actually to arrive at the point where the UK "government"'s approval was the only thing stopping this happening, what do you reckon Call-me-Dave would do?
Yeah, that's what I think he would do, too.
Indeed. And the EU bosses have already started to plan how they will impose it without any need for unanimity. I believe they plan to call it a Value Added Tax, which can be passed on QMV, but you'd better ask the boss for the technical details.
ReplyDeleteIn any case, were we actually to arrive at the point where the UK "government"'s approval was the only thing stopping this happening, what do you reckon Call-me-Dave would do?
Yeah, that's what I think he would do, too.
Indeed. And the EU bosses have already started to plan how they will impose it without any need for unanimity. I believe they plan to call it a Value Added Tax, which can be passed on QMV, but you'd better ask the boss for the technical details.
ReplyDeleteIn any case, were we actually to arrive at the point where the UK "government"'s approval was the only thing stopping this happening, what do you reckon Call-me-Dave would do?
Yeah, that's what I think he would do, too.