Caution on Archbishop’s call for ‘Robin Hood tax’

The Prime Minister said Dr Rowan Williams spoke “for the whole” country when he condemned the excesses of those at the top of society.

However, he told MPs that the Government would only support a tax on financial transactions if it was adopted around the world.

In an article for the Financial Times, Dr Williams aligned himself with the anti-capitalist protesters camped outside St Paul’s Cathedral by listing the tax as one of the specific measures that might advance their aims.

He described the Occupy London Stock Exchange demonstration as an “expression of a widespread and deep exasperation with the financial establishment”.

At Prime Minister’s questions, Mr Cameron said: “I think the Archbishop of Canterbury speaks, frankly, for the whole country when he says that it is unacceptable in a time of difficulty when people at the top of our society are not showing signs of responsibility.”

Mr Cameron acknowledged there was “widespread support” for the principles behind the financial transaction tax – dubbed the Robin Hood tax – but said that Britain would only back it if it was adopted worldwide.

He added: “We must be careful that we don’t allow other countries, including some European countries, to use a campaign for this tax – which they know is unlikely to be adopted in the short-term – as an excuse for getting off their aid commitments.”

Speaking to the BBC yesterday, Dr Williams said: “Where you have a scheme like this that is backed by a lot of very serious economists, by people who can’t just be written off as knee-jerk anti-capitalists...there has to be something to be said for it.”