Joe Powell MP: speeches

Speeches

• 1 Jul 2025 · Tax Evasion: High Street Businesses · Hansard source

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  14. What steps her Department is taking to help tackle tax evasion by high street businesses.

• 1 Jul 2025 · Tax Evasion: High Street Businesses · Hansard source

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  As the Minister is no doubt aware, an increasingly common issue on our high streets is phoenixing. That is where a shop unit continues to trade while cycling through multiple limited companies every few months, none of which pays corporation tax, VAT or business rates. Can the Minister encourage officials at His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs to walk along Whitehall, just a few hundred metres from this Chamber, and take a look at whether the series of Harry Potter-themed gift shops across London—which have been accused by “London Centric” of doing exactly that—are playing by the rules? Will they ensure that tax enforcement supports legitimate small businesses on our high streets?

• 24 Jun 2025 · Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government · Hansard source

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  I am sorry; I do not have much time left. That means including housing costs when analysing deprivation, ensuring that the daytime population is included, and ensuring that the huge pressure on temporary accommodation is factored in. We all want to reduce the need for temporary accommodation, but in the short term, we must not balance the temporary accommodation budget on the back of the everyday services on which our constituents rely; that would be another false choice. The package is a huge step forward, and I congratulate all Ministers on securing it; now is the time to deliver.

• 18 Jun 2025 · Crime and Policing Bill · Hansard source

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  I rise to speak to new clause 155, which stands in the name of my hon. Friend the Member for Bolton West (Phil Brickell) and is supported by the all-party parliamentary group on anti-corruption and responsible tax. I welcome the Bill for its clear and ambitious strategy to tackle antisocial behaviour and crime, but if we want truly safer streets, we must also step up our efforts to tackle financial and economic crime. That is the aim of our amendment, which is supported by at least 30 Members from across the House.

• 12 Jun 2025 · Support for Small Businesses · Hansard source

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  Small businesses on our high streets across my constituency, from Earl’s Court Road to Queensway, Notting Hill Gate and Portobello Road, are fed up of being blighted by candy shops, low-grade souvenir shops, Harry Potter shops and even barbershops, with accusations of VAT and business rates evasion and even links to money laundering and serious organised crime. Can the Minister outline what steps the Department is taking, in conjunction with the Minister responsible for high streets, His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and the National Crime Agency, to crack down on these operations and create a legitimate level playing field for our small businesses?

• 12 Jun 2025 · Gibraltar · Hansard source

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  I strongly welcome this political agreement and congratulate the Foreign Secretary and the ministerial team on achieving it. I recently met Chief Minister Picardo, alongside my hon. Friend the Member for Bolton West (Phil Brickell), the right hon. Member for Sutton Coldfield (Sir Andrew Mitchell) and other members of the all-party parliamentary group on anti-corruption and responsible tax, to welcome the progress that Gibraltar has made on anti-money laundering, including through publicly accessible registers of beneficial ownership. Will the Foreign Secretary confirm that it is the intent in the future EU-UK agreement that there will be a section on anti-money laundering? Does he agree that it sends a message to other overseas territories that tackling economic crime can be a strength in terms of business confidence and investment, and not something to be feared?

• 3 Jun 2025 · Serious Fraud Office · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir John. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Hendon (David Pinto-Duschinsky) on securing this debate on the important work of the SFO in tackling economic crime. The all-party parliamentary group on anti-corruption and responsible tax recently met with the Serious Fraud Office team and its director. I have the pleasure of chairing that APPG, a role I inherited from our current anti-corruption champion Baroness Hodge. I thank the SFO’s staff and leadership for taking on incredibly complex cases in the national interest. It was clear that the SFO has an ambitious agenda to tackle serious economic crime, but it was equally clear that without sustained political and financial backing from Government, and cross-Government work to prevent economic crime and fraud, the agency will not be able to fulfil its potential. I am therefore pleased that this Government have committed to a new cross-Government anti-corruption strategy, led by the joint anti-corruption unit at the Home Office. I hope that that strategy will include some of the policies that will help deter and prevent economic crime and fraud in the first place, and I will mention a couple of them before moving on to some recommendations for the SFO. The first, which has long been debated in this Chamber, is the role of UK overseas territories and Crown dependencies as facilitators of economic crime and fraud. We asked the SFO for an estimate on the volume of fraud and economic crime that has a connection to the UK overseas territories, and we are waiting for an answer. However, needless to say, it is common practice to use shell companies in the overseas territories and Crown dependencies to launder the proceeds of crime to facilitate tax evasion and avoidance. I commend the Government of Gibraltar, who have taken an important step towards publishing a transparent register of company ownership. A few weeks ago, the right hon. Member for Sutton Coldfield (Sir Andrew Mitchell) and I met the Gibraltar premier. Our request is this: if Gibraltar can do it, why can the British Virgin Islands, Turks and Caicos, Cayman Islands and others not meet their obligations to Parliament on transparency over beneficial ownership? That will help us to follow the money, and it will help investigators in the SFO to bring successful cases. The last deadline for the overseas territories was 30 April. That deadline was only set in the autumn, when we had the last joint council meeting, chaired by the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, my hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff South and Penarth (Stephen Doughty). Only two overseas territories met that deadline for enabling legislation on publishing information on beneficial owners. What consequences will there be for those that have not met the deadline, and what support can be provided to get those registries up and running so that our investigators can follow the money? The second area in which I think the public expect more co-ordination is the proliferation of economic crime and fraud on our high streets. In Kensington and Bayswater, a number of constituents have contacted me about our latest Harry Potter shop, souvenir shop, candy shop, barber shop, vape shop, nail bar and so on. Obviously legitimate businesses conduct those trades, but we know from the National Crime Agency’s recent Operation Machinize on barber shops across the country that there is a significant link between economic crime and fraud and serious organised crime. There are serious organised crime links on our high streets, but also VAT avoidance and business rate avoidance from companies that phoenix. We need co-ordination across the enforcement agencies, with His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, the NCA and the SFO working together to enforce the law on our high streets. I think that a lot of our constituents would thank the Government for an additional push on that front. I want to mention three areas where I think that the SFO could do with our support under its strong new leadership: first, on whistleblowing reform; secondly, on sustainable funding for disclosure; and thirdly, on enforcement on foreign bribery, which comes under the SFO. First, I strongly welcome the SFO’s commitment to progressing a new incentivisation scheme on whistleblowing. In the United States, such schemes have unlocked more than $50 billion in recoveries, and significant numbers of UK whistleblowers have contributed tips to US authorities because the scheme incentivises them more than if they did so here. It is beyond time that the UK had a comparable mechanism, and I hope that the Government will look at ways to develop a properly resourced whistleblower reward scheme, subject to the outcome of the independent review by Jonathan Fisher KC on what exactly that would look like. Secondly, despite recent progress, disclosure continues to consume a staggering portion of the SFO’s capacity at approximately 25% of its budget and 40% of its staff time. We know that the SFO can be one of the most effective agencies in tackling financial crime, but that means we must properly fund and support it, including, as my hon. Friend the Member for Hendon mentioned, with modern technology. Independent reviews have already shown that disclosure remains an Achilles heel for the justice system, particularly in the prosecution of complex economic crime. Support in this area would go a long way. Thirdly, there is a lack of enforcement on foreign bribery, in particular by UK small and medium-sized enterprises in developing countries. According to recent analysis, there have been zero successful prosecutions of UK SMEs for such offences since 2016, when the NCA’s international corruption unit took over responsibility for pursuing that kind of bribery. That enforcement gap undermines the UK’s credibility and efforts to promote clean business globally, and we want to support our SMEs to go out and make those deals in a fair and transparent way. The SFO must therefore be properly resourced and supported to take the lead in this area. The Government should ensure that there is sufficient funding for the SFO to take a lead role in prosecuting all UK firms who commit bribery overseas, including SMEs. To conclude, the SFO must be supported to improve outcomes, with additional resources for trained staff, modern technology and digital disclosure tools. The responsibility now lies with us—with this Labour Government, who have rightly put tackling economic crime at the heart of their agenda. The Foreign Secretary has said that we want to “be the anti-corruption capital of the world”, and I support that entirely. Our APPG strongly supports the creation of an economic crime-fighting fund, which would allow enforcement proceeds to be reinvested into frontline agencies such as the SFO, which returned £3 to the taxpayer for every £1 invested. That is a sound investment for taxpayers and would help to ensure that the SFO is equipped to tackle some of the disclosure challenges that I mentioned, and to close the enforcement gaps on foreign bribery. I believe that the SFO is setting the right direction through its business plan and its newish leadership, and it is now for us to provide the funding and political backing to allow it to contribute to the UK’s leadership on economic crime.

• 20 May 2025 · Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories · Hansard source

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  As others have said, 14,000 babies are at immediate risk of starvation—this could not be a more serious moment. I welcome the suspension of trade negotiations and the expansion of sanctions. However, with other sanctions designations—on human rights and corruption; on Russia, Georgia, Belarus and others—we have taken them to the political level. Will the Foreign Secretary consider extending the sanctions regime to the political decision makers advocating for ethnic cleansing and the takeover of Gaza?

• 13 May 2025 · Official Development Assistance Budget · Hansard source

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  The reduction to 0.3% will require painful decisions, but there are innovative financing mechanisms on which Britain could lead—for example, increasing special drawing rights, using the exchange equalisation account, guarantees and debt relief. Can the Minister commit to working with the Treasury to look at all these non-ODA instruments in which Britain could show leadership and fund our development programmes?

• 12 May 2025 · Education, Employment and Training: Kensington and Bayswater · Hansard source

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  I recently visited the North Kensington jobcentre to learn about its support for young people and discuss the potential for working more closely with our brilliant local college, the North Kensington Centre for Skills, so that people can access opportunities in industries such as trades and housing. Will the Minister outline what more the Department is doing to bring together colleges and jobcentres for young people?

• 12 May 2025 · Education, Employment and Training: Kensington and Bayswater · Hansard source

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  7. What steps she is taking to support young people into employment, education or training in Kensington and Bayswater constituency.

• 24 Apr 2025 · EU Trading Relationship · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Jeremy. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Welwyn Hatfield (Andrew Lewin) for securing this debate, and all the Ministers who are working flat out on the European reset. As others have said, the instability and conflict on European soil has changed the context in our continent, but the context has also changed globally, with long-held assumptions about globalisation, trade and economic certainty breaking down rapidly. The case for strong partnerships with like-minded countries based on free and frictionless trade, shared values and political trust has never been clearer, as the Chancellor set out in Washington this week. I was elected last July to be the MP for Kensington and Bayswater, the most international constituency in the country, and I stood on a clear promise to those residents that I would be a pro-European voice in Parliament and advocate for a closer, more pragmatic UK-EU relationship, after years of chaos under the Conservatives. The global businesses, the world-class institutions such as Imperial, the international trade hubs and, most importantly, the blended families from all over the world all say the same thing to me: uncertainty and red tape from the current shambolic deal have hurt investment, jobs, growth and family relationships, and have hit our economy to the tune of £100 billion. My constituents voted not for more trade barriers and bureaucracy, but for co-operation, opportunity and a shared future with Europe. First, we need to go further on security, deepening defence co-operation between the UK and the EU, to stand firm against Putin’s aggression. Whenever I meet my Ukrainian community at our social club, the embassy or our school, I am reminded of exactly what is at stake in the EU-UK defence pact. Going further on procurement, on intelligence sharing—as we have done with Germany—and on stopping people smuggling shows what we can achieve together. Secondly, we must open doors for our young people, not keep them closed. I have met so many young people who dream of studying, working and living in Europe. We should negotiate a bespoke youth mobility scheme for UK and EU citizens under 30, as we have with other countries, including Australia and Canada, not to return to free moment, but to create time-limited opportunities that benefit the next generation. We should embrace that as a positive step, not something to be feared or talked down. Thirdly, we need to embrace the practical steps on trade that others have talked about, which would make a real difference for British businesses. This is a critical few weeks for our trading relationship with Europe, from von der Leyen’s visit today to the summit on 19 May. It is time for maximum ambition, and the Government have my full support.

• 26 Mar 2025 · Local Government Finances: London · Hansard source

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  On the specific challenges for central London, does my hon. Friend agree that Westminster council is making the right decision to make use of the new council tax powers to implement a premium for second home owners? Will she join me in encouraging Kensington and Chelsea council to look at doing the same? That could raise £11 million a year, but is not currently the council’s position.

• 25 Mar 2025 · Asylum Hotels and Illegal Channel Crossings · Hansard source

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  Under the Conservative party, the asylum budget ballooned to over £4 billion, taking 28% of our overseas development assistance for in-country refugee costs—mainly hotels—against an OECD average of 13.8%, making us a big outlier internationally. I welcome the commitments to speed up processing and reduce hotel use, but with the aid budget being reduced to 0.3% from 2027, can the Minister reassure me that an ever-increasing chunk of a smaller aid budget will not be spent in-country, instead of on supporting vital poverty alleviation work internationally?

• 24 Mar 2025 · Planning and Infrastructure Bill · Hansard source

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  I could not agree more. That is why the devolution of fee setting is so important. It should enable an improvement in the capacity of planning departments and the training for councillors on planning committees to make those decisions effectively. I also thank all the resident associations in my constituency who put time and effort into engaging in the planning system and who are passionate about making it work for our community. Their role will continue in the local plan and in applications that rise to the planning committee, contrary to some of the scaremongering we have heard in the debate. The Bill sits alongside other crucial housing measures that the Government are taking, including the biggest investment in social and affordable housing in a generation, leasehold reform, stronger protection for renters, a new decent homes standard and the implementation of Awaab’s law. If we are serious about tackling the housing crisis, this ambition must also be reflected in the comprehensive spending review—this is not just day-to-day spending, but long-term public investment. That is exactly why the Chancellor took the bold decisions in the Budget to increase the capital available for investment and reverse more than a decade of under-investment and short-termism. I would therefore welcome any clarification from the Minister on the total investment in the CSR needed to meet our housing targets, in particular on the affordable and social component. Advancing the Bill alongside new investment in the CSR could be transformative. We owe it to the constituents I mentioned earlier—to Sansha, Lacey and the thousands of children trapped in unsuitable and unsafe housing—to get this right. It will be a landmark legacy of this Labour Government to finally get Britain building again.

• 13 Mar 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  During the holy month of Ramadan, will my right hon. Friend join me in paying tribute to the Almanaar Muslim cultural centre in north Kensington, which played such a pivotal role after Grenfell and throughout the pandemic, and which is now inspiring as a place of worship, a community kitchen, a nursery and so much more? Will she join me in wishing all Muslims in Britain Ramadan Mubarak?

• 6 Mar 2025 · Political Finance Rules · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend the Member for South Dorset (Lloyd Hatton), who plays an instrumental role in the all-party parliamentary group on anti-corruption and responsible tax, for securing this important debate. I was really proud to stand on a manifesto commitment to strengthen the rules on donations to political parties, and I welcome the Government’s commitment to bring forward an elections Bill in due course. I hope today’s debate will help inform what is in that future Bill, because as others have said, restoring trust in our political system and ensuring that everyone has a voice in the decisions that affect their lives is absolutely crucial to British democracy. We know from international evidence the risk of allowing ever increasing amounts of money to dominate politics. I lived in Washington DC for almost 10 years and saw at first hand the impact of that system, including the world’s richest man spending a quarter of a billion dollars to bankroll the last election. When billionaires and corporate interests drown out the voices of everyone else, we should not be surprised that people lose faith in democracy working for them. It continues to amaze me that representatives of Reform, who unsurprisingly have not turned up for this debate, seem eager to take that approach to politics. They preach populism on the one hand, while courting foreign billionaires and their policy agendas on the other. That is not in keeping with British values. But this is also about places such as Moldova and other countries where we have seen Russian operatives shipping money in to buy elections. We should not be complacent. Other Members have covered the threat to the UK, and I would like to pay tribute to Transparency International UK, Spotlight on Corruption and all the other great organisations helping to shine a light on the issue. I will move on swiftly to some areas on which I hope the Minister will consider reforms: transparency, company donations, the Electoral Commission and a cap. On transparency, unincorporated associations, as we have heard, are particularly vulnerable to abuse. Since 2010, over £40 million has come through unincorporated associations and we have no idea where 95% of that money came from. As it stands, they are not required to check that those who donate to them are permissible, so they could be foreign donors. They are easy to set up, we do not know who are behind them and there are no transparency requirements in law for donations to candidates, as opposed to political parties or campaigners. I hope that in a future elections Bill, the Government will introduce reforms to clamp down on those loopholes, including provisions on identifying people responsible for unincorporated associations, permissibility checks for political donations and lower reporting thresholds. We have already heard that company donations are a big issue. I fully endorse the proposals made on the issue by my hon. Friend the Member for South Dorset. Thirdly, we need robust independent oversight and to restore the independence of the Electoral Commission. We need an urgent review of the requirement for the commission to submit a strategy and policy statement to the Government. I believe that was part of an entirely confected agenda on voter fraud in the Elections Act 2022. I hope we will repeal that as soon as possible. Finally, I believe it is now time to consider caps on political donations. The previous Government’s massive increase in spending limits and the increasing reliance on major donors has convinced me that a well-enforced cap would be healthy for our democracy. This is an issue that should unite us as a House. It is about the health of our democracy. There is a lot more we need to do: votes at 16, automatic voter registration, improving citizenship education, and ensuring citizens have a voice between elections and not just at them. But on this particular issue, with trust so low, it is vital that we act urgently.

• 25 Feb 2025 · Defence and Security · Hansard source

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  I warmly welcome the Prime Minister’s statement. In particular, I know that the Ukrainian forces on the frontlines will be reassured today. Clearly, the aid spending decision will not have been taken lightly, but following reductions at the US Agency for International Development, it does mean tens of billions out of the global aid system, which could be exploited by Russia and China. Will the Prime Minister consider a deadline for ending the accounting of asylum costs to the aid budget, which is currently 28%, or £4.2 billion of money that should be used on aid spending overseas?

• 24 Feb 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T9. In recent years, the UK has slid down the international league table on tackling corruption. Given the threat of corruption to our democracy, economy and national security, will the Minister say whether the Government intend to publish a new comprehensive anti-corruption strategy?

• 5 Feb 2025 · Overseas Territories: Tax Transparency · Hansard source

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  I thank my co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on anti-corruption and responsible tax, where we talk about this a lot. Exhibit A is the UK public register of company ownership—when introduced, we were told that there would be all sorts of capital flight and that people would not come here to buy properties and invest, but that has simply not been the case. The register has now been in existence for several years. In fact, many of the countries that were the source of corruption and dirty money are now implementing public registries: Nigeria, Indonesia and Kenya, to name but a few. We know action is possible—Gibraltar and others among the overseas territories have already done it—and it is now incumbent on the others to follow suit. I implore the Government to keep the pressure on so that we do not have to come back too many more times to debates such as this to re-analyse the same problem that we all agree is there, when we know the policy solution is within our grasp. Question put and agreed to. Resolved, That this House has considered tax transparency in the Overseas Territories.

• 5 Feb 2025 · Overseas Territories: Tax Transparency · Hansard source

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  I completely agree. Without transparency, we cannot follow the money. We have some prominent examples of properties owned by sanctioned oligarchs that came into the sanctions regime only after investigations uncovered those assets. Keeping the anonymous trust option available, without the requirement to declare the true owners, allows for exactly the sort of behaviour that my hon. Friend outlines. The main opposition is from some highly self-interested trust lawyers, so I urge the Government to take on those claims and bring trust-owned property into the register, which would help us not only to fight economic crime but to revitalise our high streets, where buildings often sit empty because enforcement action cannot be taken when the true owners cannot be tracked down. Indeed, some of my constituents were evicted using a spurious section 21 notice by an anonymous landlord who was based overseas in a tax haven. My local walking tour, as part of the Kensington Against Dirty Money campaign, ends outside Roman Abramovich’s frozen mansion, which he purchased for £120 million, on Kensington Palace Gardens. In the past week or so, Abramovich has again been in the news, this time for allegations that he owes approximately £1 billion in UK taxes. At the heart of this story are, again, the UK overseas territories. Abramovich and his advisers used a complex web of corporate structures, via Cyprus and the BVI, to use money from the sale of Sibneft back to the Russian Government at huge profit in 2005. They set up approximately 200 hedge funds and maintained that the operations were happening in the BVI, but it has now been uncovered that the real activity was continuing in London—indeed, in Stamford Bridge itself. This is potentially the biggest tax case since Bernie Ecclestone, and it is vital that His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs has the resources it needs to investigate. Enforcement of the rules and regulations is critical to recovering as much money as possible for the Exchequer and supporting the Minister’s efforts to improve the public finances. It is also time to upgrade our anti-money laundering supervision regime for professional bodies such as accountancy and legal firms, so that dirty money does not flow through the City. The previous Government opened a consultation, but it has not been responded to. This is urgent, because Abramovich’s is not an isolated case. For years, the BVI has been the global destination of choice for those seeking maximum secrecy for their money. It featured prominently in the Panama papers, in which half of the exposed entities were linked to the BVI. That is why Parliament has clearly stated its will that public registries of beneficial ownership should be implemented across the overseas territories and Crown dependencies. At the first Joint Ministerial Council of this new Government, in November last year, the BVI, alongside other overseas territories, promised reforms to ensure maximum transparency, and the Government reiterated their commitment to full public access in due course. I absolutely support the Government in this mission, which is why it was so deeply disappointing to see the BVI’s proposals around company registries, which were published last month. Access would be severely restricted. One provision would even allow company owners to be notified not only that someone is attempting to uncover their identity, but of who is making the request and why, putting investigative journalists and anti-corruption activists at risk of legal or physical intimidation. Worse still, that warning system could tip off criminals and give them a head start, allowing them to move illicit assets before enforcement agencies can act. Such measures do not protect business or privacy; they protect kleptocrats and criminals. We know it can be done: Gibraltar has shown us what can be achieved. It introduced a public register that is similar to the one that the UK has had for several years. If Gibraltar can do it and we can do it, so can the BVI, the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and all the overseas territories. We must not let our Crown dependencies off the hook, either. Many overseas territories have cited the privacy concerns outlined in the European Court of Justice rulings, but I encourage them all to review the sixth anti-money laundering directive, which would ensure that journalists, civil society, law enforcement and businesses with anti-money laundering duties all have access to the register anonymously and in full. I continue to believe that public registers are the best solution for the overseas territories and Crown dependencies, but minimum progress would be to meet that European regulatory standard. It is clear from all the evidence—I expect we will hear much more today—that we need to do far more collectively to support the overseas territories to make progress on economic crime. The path forward is challenging, but I know the Government are seized of its importance. The overseas territories must meet the June deadline to make progress towards public registers. There must be no further delays. Trust-owned property should be included in the register of overseas entities. AML supervision should be strengthened to halt the enablers of dirty money. HMRC, the National Crime Agency and other enforcement agencies must proactively make cases and have the skills and resources they need. To galvanise our international partners, the Foreign Secretary’s proposal for a summit of financial centres here in London would create a focal point for aligning rules and policies. I hope this debate will galvanise support across the House for the vital mission of tackling corruption and economic crime.

• 5 Feb 2025 · Overseas Territories: Tax Transparency · Hansard source

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  If I am allowed to.

• 5 Feb 2025 · Overseas Territories: Tax Transparency · Hansard source

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  I thank the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury for his response, and I thank all hon. Members who have spoken for their contributions. This has been a productive and constructive debate. There has been a lot of agreement on the problem. We heard the tax case very strongly, particularly from the hon. Members for Strangford (Jim Shannon) and Carshalton and Wallington (Bobby Dean). We heard the housing and communities case, particularly from my hon. Friend the Member for Cities of London and Westminster (Rachel Blake). We heard the economic growth case from my hon. Friend the Member for Bolton West (Phil Brickell), the poverty and inequality case from my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Tom Hayes) and the constitutional case from the right hon. Member for Sutton Coldfield (Mr Mitchell), which took us through the history over the past decade of missed deadlines and opportunities for the action we are talking about to be taken. I hesitate to say that this will be the last debate in this place on this topic—I suspect it will not be—but I welcome the Exchequer Secretary’s commitment. I think he was being quite polite when he said that the Government wished to see an improvement to the BVI’s proposal. The BVI needs to go back to the drawing board and bring back a proposal fully in line with the principles that Parliament concluded were the best action for this problem, which is full public registries of beneficial ownership. In final closing, I thank the spokespersons for the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives, the hon. Members for Lewes (James MacCleary) and for Wyre Forest (Mark Garnier), respectively, for their constructive contributions. I agree that there may be some legitimate uses of offshore tax centres, in particular for companies in multiple jurisdictions, but the heart of the problem is that the BVI, the Caymans, Bermuda and others are still far too susceptible to very serious illicit crime. If there is one message that I would like all hon. Members to take home it is that this is not an abstract problem. It is not something just to do with billions and trillions in the financial system. It is about constituents who are being chased by HMRC who feel the double standards; it is about our housing crisis and empty properties; it is about our sanctions, their enforcement, and support for autocrats such as Putin, and it is about our public finances. We have a strong case for why we need to act, and I reiterate my thanks to the Minister for his outlining of the next steps. The June deadline to see progress from the overseas territories is imminent, but as the right hon. Member for Sutton Coldfield said, this area is littered with missed deadlines. We need a proper deterrent from the British Government to say what will happen if the territories pass those deadlines and no action has been taken.

• 5 Feb 2025 · Overseas Territories: Tax Transparency · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That this House has considered tax transparency in the Overseas Territories. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Turner. Having worked on anti-corruption, open government and transparency issues for more than a decade, I am often asked why such issues matter when there are so many pressing challenges facing our country. It can often seem an intractable problem—billions and trillions flowing through the international financial system that will end up elsewhere. What difference does it make to our constituents? I hope this debate will show directly why it matters to our Treasury and our tax take; to the housing crisis; to the fight against organised crime; to the enforcement of our sanctions against Putin; to fighting poverty around the world; and to restoring trust, transparency and accountability to our democracy. This Government have made a strong start on combating illicit finance and kleptocracy. I particularly welcome the Foreign Secretary’s personal campaign on this issue, which has seen an expansion of our sanctions, the appointment of Baroness Hodge as the UK’s anti-corruption champion, and a cross-departmental team of Ministers charged with developing a new anti-corruption strategy, to which I know my hon. Friend the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury has a strong commitment. The Foreign Secretary’s ambition to transform Britian from the dirty-money capital to the anti-corruption capital of the world is absolutely the right objective. It matters for our international reputation and our standing in the world. To be taken seriously as a leader on democracy and anti-corruption, our own house has to be in order. The uncomfortable truth is that while some of the most notorious and brazen enablers of illicit finance and money laundering are operating as part of the UK family, we will not be able to claim that leadership role. Despite years of warm words and communiqués about fighting economic crime, the overseas territories are still one of the premier global destinations for moving dirty money, and it is time for that to change. Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, I have led the local Kensington Against Dirty Money campaign in my constituency of Kensington and Bayswater, where more than 6,000 properties are owned overseas. Our most popular activity is a local kleptocracy tour of often empty mansions owned by autocrats and their supporters from around the world. Transparency International found that £5.9 billion in suspicious funds had been used to purchase UK properties through shell companies registered in the overseas territories, with £1.1 billion of that in my constituency. The ownership vehicle of choice is an anonymous trust, with the most popular location being the British Virgin Islands. The BVI has a population of less than a quarter of my constituency, so it would be highly surprising if BVI residents were the beneficial owners of the properties. Thanks to investigative journalists and a series of high-profile leaks from the Panama and Paradise papers to “Cyprus Confidential”, we know who the actual owners are. That is why the previous Government—with thanks to the right hon. Member for Sutton Coldfield (Mr Mitchell)—took action in the previous Parliament with cross-party support to implement a register of overseas entities. That gives us good and helpful information, but a glaring loophole remains. Trust-owned property does not need to be declared—and in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea that accounts for 40% of the foreign-owned property. That allows the UK property market to continue as a laundromat for illicit finance. I ask the Government to look at closing this loophole and adding trusts to the property register as soon as possible.

• 30 Jan 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Yesterday, it was reported that a former constituent of Kensington and Bayswater, Roman Abramovich, owes up to £1 billion in UK tax—potentially a bigger case than even Bernie Ecclestone. Does my right hon. Friend share the country’s anger at people such as Roman Abramovich using complex corporate structures and British overseas territories to dodge tax while others pay their fair share, and will she ensure that time is made to scrutinise whether His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs has all the resources it needs to pursue the case and recover as much money as possible for the Treasury?