British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Sunday he would block an EU-wide financial transactions tax proposed by France unless the tax was put in place globally.
"If the French themselves want to go ahead with a transactions tax in their own country then they should be free to do so," Cameron said in an interview with the BBC.

The prime minister feared the tax on financial transactions, including share sales and currency deals, would "damage" the status of the City of London as a global financial center.

"We actually have stamp duty on share transactions in Britain and yet we have one of the most competitive and successful financial services markets anywhere," Cameron said.

"But the idea of a new European tax when you are not going to have that tax put in place in other places, I don't think is sensible, and so I will block it unless the rest of the world all agreed at the same time that we were all going to have some sort of tax," the prime minister said.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Friday France was determined to implement the controversial tax and "will not wait for everyone else to agree."

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet