Lord Willoughby de Broke
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European Council
Lord Willoughby de Broke Excerpts(12 years, 1 month ago)
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Lord Strathclyde
My Lords, I wrote down what I said and am very happy to repeat it. I said that we do not see the case for increases in spending that are above the rate of inflation.
Lord Willoughby de Broke
My Lords, one of the Council conclusions on which I hope the noble Lord can enlighten the House is headed, “Developing a tax policy for growth”. Is this a tax policy for having higher taxes or lower taxes? Secondly, the same paragraph of the conclusions refers to,
“enhanced cooperation to be launched on a Financial Transactions Tax”.
Was that supported by the British Government?
Lord Strathclyde
My Lords, on the first point, we are not in favour of any new taxes emanating from the EU. Secondly, we have not supported a financial transactions tax. We know that certain elements within EU countries have got together and decided to impose a financial transactions tax. I believe that in the long term that will prove to be against their interests.