Daniel Hannan breaks the, sadly, not very surprising news that MEPs have voted overwhelmingly in favour of an EU Tobin tax. The margin: 536 to 80. Only the European Conservatives and Reformist group and a handful of radicals opposed the motion. The EPP, which describes itself as ‘centrist’, voted uniformly in favour. Cameron was right to withdraw from a grouping whose interests are at odds not only with British Conservatives but with Britain itself: a tax on all financial transactions would castrate the City.
What does this division mean for Britain? On the face of it not a lot: anyone of the member governments could veto it. However, many European governments, including our own, seem alarmingly pro the measures. Together with yesterday’s rumblings about a European Monetary Fund, itself reliant upon a further treaty and yet more invasive EU economic management, the steady creep of EU federalism continues.
The prospect of a debate about Britain’s economic relationship with the EU and the eurozone is becoming increasingly imminent.
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