EUROPEAN business will soon flock to the City of London in an attempt to
escape the European Union’s fiscal failures, a Ukip MEP claimed in a passionate
rant aimed at his European Parliament colleagues.
David Coburn claimed that plans for a financial transaction tax, which
the bloc will use to plug the vast £8.6billion budget gap left after Brexit, demonstrated Brussels’
“fiscal incontinence” and would have devastating consequences for the
Continent.
Speaking at the EU Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday, Mr Coburn said:
“Can I again try to explain what a thoroughly bad idea financial transaction tax
is.
“Don’t you know who will pay it? It won’t be the fat cats in financial
services, it will be their customers.
“Investors, you demonise them but they are responsible folk investing for
their future in the hope that they will not become a burden on the state –
mostly people saving for their pensions.”
The EU’s financial transaction tax was first proposed by the European
Commission in January 2014, later postponed to September 2016 after much
deliberation by Brussels.
The tax would be levied on all transactions on financial instruments
between financial institutions when at least one party is based inside the European Union.
The Scottish MEP insisted that his European counterparts were simply
intent on crushing a “whole generation” with “tax and
regulation”.
“In the process, you will discourage business from using capital markets
and encourage investors to look outside the EU,” Mr Coburn
continued.
“The costs and risks of investing in Europe are being driven higher at a
time when the returns of investing elsewhere are much more
enticing.”
Chancellor Philip Hammond said that he would seek an alternative
economic model for Britain if the Government fails to reach an agreement with
Brussels, which could see the UK become a “tax haven” to entice business into
the country.
Speaking to German newspaper Welt am Sonntag, Mr Hammond said if Britain
were closed off from European markets after Brexit, it would consider abandoning
a European-style model of tax and regulation, and “become something
different”.
Mr Coburn continued to express his delight that the UK would not be a
part of the EU’s “tax on pensions”, and gloated that Brexit will see European
businesses flock to the City of London.
He added: “I am relieved that the UK will not be taking part in this tax
on pensions.
“But, for your sake, I despair of economically illiterate fiscal
incontinence that will drive down your ability to be
competitive.
“And, of course, the business will move to the City of
London.”
The International Monetary Fund, who had predicted a downturn in
Britain’s post-Brexit economy have since upgraded their forecast for the
country’s growth in 2017.
The head of the organisation Christine Lagarde praised the Bank of
England’s decisions to cut interest rates after the EU referendum and consumers who had remained far more
confident than expected.
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