The United Reformed Church has supported the Prime Minister’s proposal for a financial transaction levy of half a basis point, (0.05 per cent), to be imposed globally on currency transactions, as a means of creating “a better economic and social contract between financial institutions and the public, based on trust and a just distribution of risks and rewards.”

The Church’s Mission Council expressed concern that the impact of the economic recession was being felt particularly by those least responsible – the poor and vulnerable – and about the cuts to public services and social benefits being advocated in some quarters. It called upon other leaders of the G20 economies to “grasp the opportunity to redress the inequity in the current financial system” by supporting Gordon Brown’s proposal.

An emergency resolution also agreed to consider, with the United Reformed Church’s ecumenical partners, appropriate ways of ensuring that the voice of faith communities is heard on what is a critical moral imperative.

Frank Kantor, Secretary for Church and Society, said: “Underlying the financial crisis is a moral crisis. And as such it requires a moral response. A levy of this kind, imposed globally, could raise £480 billion a year, to offset some of the costs incurred by the poorest in society”.