Companies: Overseas Territories Registration

Debate between Lord Davies of Oldham and Baroness Anelay of St Johns

Wednesday 20th April 2016 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Anelay of St Johns]

The right reverend Prelate is right: it is a moral matter. A very wide debate should be held on whether or not there is transparency only in cases where there is a revelation that might assist with prosecutions, either in the civil courts or criminal courts, on matters such as evasion or aggressive tax avoidance. That is a wider issue, but the right reverend Prelate is right to say that it is one that we ought to be pursuing.

[Lord Davies of Oldham (Lab)]

We certainly congratulate the Government on the progress made thus far, but does the Minister accept that unless company ownership is made public and accessible there is no way in which our Government will be able to monitor compliance? It is quite clear that our overseas territories are the primary base for a very great deal of corruption and money laundering, and it is quite clear that we need to act.

[Baroness Anelay of St Johns]

My Lords, I have to take the noble Lord a little to task here. It is the case that where there is a central register of beneficial ownership, the National Crime Agency and the tax authorities—which are of course operations of this Government—are able to gain access to the very information that the noble Lord specified. I gently remind him that in taking a lead on these matters since 2010, in the coalition Government and now, we have done more than the Labour Government even attempted to do in 13 years.