**Chancellor Alistair Darling has warned against more European Union regulation of the UK financial services industry.**Writing in the Times ahead of a meeting of finance ministers in Brussels, he said giving the EU extra powers in the City would be a “recipe for confusion”.
He said national regulators such as the UK’s Financial Services Authority must retain their supervisory roles.
A debate on the extent of EU regulation comes as France’s Michel Barnier starts as Single Market Commissioner.
In a speech on Tuesday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy suggested Mr Barnier’s appointment heralds the victory of the European model.
“The reality is the real competition to Europe’s financial centres comes from outside our borders”
Alistair Darling
Mr Darling is expected to warn other EU finance ministers he will not accept new powers for European authorities to take decisions on future bail-outs for which British taxpayers might have to pick up the bill.
In the Times he writes: “Regulatory reform throughout the world is imperative, and Europe, home to the world’s largest single market in financial services, has a particular responsibility.”
He said: "We must resist measures, however superficially alluring, that could undermine the effective functioning of our cherished single market.
“National supervisors, such as the FSA, must remain responsible for supervising individual companies. Making companies directly accountable to more than one authority is a recipe for confusion.”
Mr Darling said London should not be seen in the same way as other European financial centres.
"The reality is the real competition to Europe’s financial centres comes from outside our borders. And that London, whether others like it or not, is New York’s only rival as a truly global financial centre. No other centre in Europe offers the same range of services…
“It is in all of Europe’s interests that they prosper alongside their close European partners.”