There are a few different names for this – a financial transactions tax (FTT), a Tobin tax or more commonly in the last couple of years a Robin Hood tax.

The Robin Hood of old stole from the rich to give to the poor, and his name has been appropriated for a tax that would take from the banks and give to the people, a reversal of the fiscal policy of austerity where the people have given to the banks, and continue to pay for the crisis they caused.

An FTT would put a small amount of tax on risky financial transactions. A tax of 0.05% would raise £20bn each year in the UK, and around £125bn globally – and it would want to be implemented globally (or at least in all the major financial centres of the world), since these are electronic transactions, it would be relatively simple to…