Cameron digs in over French Tobin tax plan

To some, it is the solution to many of the world's financial woes, raising billions from the financiers seen as responsible for the crises.

But to David Cameron, a share transactions levy – the so-called Tobin tax – is a dagger aimed at the City of London that he will resist at seemingly all costs.

The Prime Minister said in an interview with the BBC yesterday that he would block a Europe-wide Tobin tax, setting the scene for another clash with the French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Mr Sarkozy wants the Tobin tax to be on the agenda of a European summit in Brussels on 30 January.

"If the French themselves want to go ahead with a transactions tax in their own country, then they should be free to do so," Mr Cameron said. "I don't think [it] is sensible."