Cameron: I’ll back the City
TORY leader David Cameron yesterday threw his weight behind the City as he hit out at government proposals for a Tobin tax on global financial transactions, saying it was a “bad idea”.
Speaking at an event in the Square Mile, Cameron added that Prime Minister Gordon Brown had lost touch with reality and that his handling of the economy had been irresponsible and reckless.
And the Tory leader spoke candidly about his family’s background in the City, assuring the audience that the financial services industry was close to his heart.
He said: “My father was a stockbroker, my grandfather was a stockbroker – so when my father looks at my career choice, he is full of complete bafflement that I didn’t follow in his foot steps.”
He added: “This party values, understands and will always make sure it looks after the important financial services industry.
“I know, the Conservative Party knows, that the financial services industry counts for 10 per cent of our GDP, that you provide 17 per cent of the taxes paid in this country.”
He went on to praise the City for attracting foreign banks and hedge funds to the capital.
And he said that there had been complete “irresponsibility from government” over the last twelve years with “the problem of government spending the most important of all”.
However there was no mention of Conservative economic policies, including George Osborne’s proposal for a ban on cash bonuses of over £2,000 at high street banks.
“It would have been good to get some clarification on this point,” one trader said. “But he is more in touch than the current government over the economy.”