That this House warmly welcomes the new legislation passed by the Belgium Parliament on 1st July for currency transaction tax (CTT), which serves as a blueprint for the raising of billions in revenue to benefit the world's poorest people and help meet the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); notes that this new law surpasses previous CTT propositions because the tax rate in normal trading conditions is sufficiently low as not to adversely affect the market; acknowledges that this law is testament to the feasibility of the technical aspects of the CTT; further notes that the legislation includes the mechanism of a higher rate tax triggered in the event of a sharp change in the value of a currency to act as a circuit-breaker, to guard against financial shocks and seriously enhance economic stability for the protection of employment and business; further welcomes HM Treasury's acknowledgement that new income streams are urgently required to pay for the MDGs; further recognises the Treasury's efforts to achieve the International Finance Facility to help pay for the MDGs; and further nots that only by means of complementary income streams can a doubling of aid for the reduction and eradication of world poverty realistically be achieved, which is the leadership opportunity for the UK Presidency of both the G8 and the European Union in 2005.

That this House warmly welcomes the new legislation passed by the Belgium Parliament on 1st July for currency transaction tax (CTT), which serves as a blueprint for the raising of billions in revenue to benefit the world's poorest people and help meet the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); notes that...

That this House notes that international currency speculation currently stands at about $1.5 trillion a day and that the vast majority of this is unrelated to trade in real goods and services; further notes that such enormous speculative flows substantially undermine the powers of national governments and regional blocs; believes that a small levy on such speculation, known as the Tobin Tax, after the name of the Nobel Laureate who originated the concept, could both help to dampen down the scale and scope of speculation and raise substantial revenues, raising as much as $250 billion each year for good causes such as development and environmental protection; recognises that such a levy would have to be universal or as near to that as possible and contain safeguards to minimise and eliminate tax evasion; notes that the Tobin Tax has the backing of the Canadian Parliament, the Belgian Parliament, the Finnish Government and campaign groups such as War on Want; and urges the Government to discuss the concept with its partners in international organisations such as the World Trade Organisation, the IMF, G8 and the European Union with a view to drawing up an internationally co-ordinated and feasible tax regime for currency speculation.

That this House notes that international currency speculation currently stands at about $1.5 trillion a day and that the vast majority of this is unrelated to trade in real goods and services; further notes that such enormous speculative flows substantially undermine the powers of national governments and regional blocs; believes...

That this House notes that international currency speculation currently stands at about $1.5 trillion a day and that the vast majority of this is unrelated to trade in real goods and services; further notes that such enormous speculative flows substantially undermine the powers of national governments and regional blocs; believes that a small levy on such speculation, known as the Tobin Tax after the name of the Nobel Laureate who originated the concept, could both help to dampen down the scale and scope of speculation and raise substantial revenues, raising as much as $250 billion each year for good causes such as development and environmental protection; recognises that such levy would have to be universal or as near to that as possible and contain safeguards to minimise and eliminate tax evasion; notes that the Tobin Tax has the backing of the Canadian Parliament, the Finnish Government and campaign groups such as War on Want; and urges the Government to discuss the concept with its partners in international organisations such as the World Trade Organisation, the IMF, G8 and the European Union with a view to drawing up an internationally co-ordinated and feasible tax regime for currency speculation.

That this House notes that international currency speculation currently stands at about $1.5 trillion a day and that the vast majority of this is unrelated to trade in real goods and services; further notes that such enormous speculative flows substantially undermine the powers of national governments and regional blocs; believes...

That this House recognises that an eventual political solution to the crisis in the Balkans will require an internationally co-ordinated programme of reconstruction; further recognises that future instances of ethnically-motivated wars will require some form of international peace-keeping and peace-making; believes that preventing such wars taking place is the most effective way of preserving both life and pluralism in ethnically-riven societies who tensions have often been exacerbated by economic difficulties in a fast-globalising world economy as well as by the restrictive actions of international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank; further believes that whilst military operations, reconstruction and development, including debt-relief and debt-cancellation, will always have to be funded, in part at least, from taxation on individuals and their families, it is also incumbent on international finance capital to shoulder a fair burden of the costs of providing and protecting a stable political environment for commerce and opening up new markets for the prosperity of the many, not the few; and urges the United Kingdom Government to pursue, with vigour, the possibility of an internationally co-ordinated tax on currency speculation which has the potential of raising substantial revenues for the benefit of humanity as a whole.

That this House recognises that an eventual political solution to the crisis in the Balkans will require an internationally co-ordinated programme of reconstruction; further recognises that future instances of ethnically-motivated wars will require some form of international peace-keeping and peace-making; believes that preventing such wars taking place is the most...