What Cameron and Clegg do next: UK merry men hold their breath
LONDON: Of the three candidates for UK Prime Minister, Nick Clegg was lauded the one most likely to make the Robin Hood Tax a reality. And now he shares the balance of power as Deputy Prime Minister.
He led the first major political party in the world to formally express support for the Robin Hood Tax. And this week the Liberal Democrats’ Nick Clegg became the Deputy Prime Minister in the first coalition government Britain has seen in 70 years. The question on every Robin Hood campaigner’s lips: will he hold fast to his promise?
In its April 15 election manifesto, the Liberal Democrats announced they were committed to working with other countries to raise money to tackle global poverty through a financial transaction tax. It was a major announcement in that it validated much of the hard work of the Robin Hood Tax campaigners – and put pressure on the competing parties to respond.
And respond they did. Thanks to fierce public support, an amazing 40,000 emails were sent to party leaders and candidates in the week before the election, asking if they supported the Robin Hood Tax. In a sign of just how significant the UK Robin Hood Tax campaign has become, all three candidates responded directly with their position – see the UK website for their individual comments – with Clegg, followed by Brown and then Cameron, deemed the most likely to fight for the Tax should he be elected.
With Cameron now PM, and Clegg his deputy and coalition partner, British Robin Hood campaigners will be watching closely to see what priority the Tax is given. Although the Liberal Democrats have already revealed some of the issues they negotiated hard for in their agreement to form a coalition, including a referendum on voting and less tax for low income earners, the outlook for the Robin Hood Tax has not yet been revealed.
For now, merry men and women in the UK can only wait. Read the UK Robin Hood Tax group’s Response to the New Government here.
