Plaid Cymru MEP Jill Evans has repeated calls for an international Robin Hood Tax on financial transactions – with the benefits being used to fight poverty and climate change at home and abroad, following George Osbourne’s court defeat on Wednesday.
The Party of Wales has long supported the tax, including it in manifestos as far back as 2001.
Organisations supporting the tax, such as Oxfam, claim that it could raise around £20bn per year in the UK.
Plaid Cymru MEP Jill Evans says that she would prefer a tax on ‘banksters’ and the financial sector compared to further cuts to public services and benefits that force people to go hungry and use foodbanks.
She added that the UK Government’s commitment to the Square Mile compared to other nations and regions of the UK shows their London-centric attitude.
Plaid Cymru MEP Jill Evans said:
“Plaid Cymru has long supported an international financial transaction tax – a Robin Hood tax.
“Many people in the financial sector have become very rich based on trading, much of which is speculative or un-necessary and is not related to the real world economy.
“We know that the ‘banksters’ were the root of the financial crash – not nurses, teachers or workers, who lost their jobs because of bankers’ mistakes.
“This Robin Hood Tax will ensure that an often unnecessary and unproductive trade of money will become a socially productive investment in our future – tackling poverty and climate change here and abroad.
“Austerity cuts are still being implemented by the UK Government, including the bedroom tax and other benefit changes, forcing people to go hungry or go to foodbanks, so their failure to introduce a tax that charities such as Oxfam think could raise £20bn per year shows where their priorities lie.
“The failure of the UK Government’s challenge earlier this week to the new tax being introduced in eleven EU countries shows how the City of London is still the only Square Mile that the UK Government cares about.
“In contrast, Plaid Cymru would always put the people of Wales first – and that means scrapping the bedroom tax and looking after our families and communities.”
