SIR – European Union proposals pose a grave threat to Britain's financial services industry, which employs nearly two million people, accounts for 10 per cent of GDP, and generates over £50 billion in tax receipts annually.

Although there have undoubtedly been regulatory failures in recent years, future policy should primarily be decided by Britain, not the EU.

There are nearly 50 proposals under consideration by the EU. The most troubling include a unilateral, EU–wide financial transactions tax, which would inflict enormous damage on Britain's economic interests, a ban on some shortselling and a European Central Bank proposal that transactions on eurodenominated financial products are only cleared in the eurozone.

From 2014, Britain will have only 12 per cent of the votes in the Council of Ministers and 10 per cent in the European Parliament, yet it accounts for 36 per cent of the EU's wholesale finance industry and enjoys a 61 per cent share of the EU's net exports of international transactions in financial services.

It is imperative that the Government fights our corner by arguing either for a new EU protocol or a Britain–specific legal safeguard. Without strong action, the present drift seriously threatens both British jobs and Exchequer revenues.

Andrea Leadsom MP, Chris Heaton–Harris MP, George Eustice MP, Desmond Swayne MP, Sajid Javid MP, Nicholas Soames MP, Ben Gummer MP, Margot James MP, Nadhim Zahawi MP, Harriett Baldwin MP, Karen Bradley MP, James Gray MP, Amber Rudd MP, Anne–Marie Morris MP, Bernard Jenkin MP, Dominic Raab MP, Lord Trimble, Steve Brine MP, Lord Risby, Mike Weatherley, MP Geoffrey Clifton–Brown MP, Mark Garnier MP, Esther McVey MP, Caroline Dinenage MP, Andrew Bridgen MP, Michael Fallon MP, Matthew Hancock MP, David Ruffley MP, Lord Flight, Viscount Trenchard.  London SW1