Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Dan Jarvis and Harpreet Uppal

Monday 9th February 2026 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for Security (Dan Jarvis)]

My hon. Friend is a great champion for Huddersfield’s high street, and I am pleased to be able to tell her that tackling money laundering is key to delivering on this Government’s mission to make our streets safer and to deliver economic growth. The new high streets illegality taskforce will bring together Departments and agencies to systemically disrupt money laundering and related crime on the high street, while new funding will boost trading standards capabilities and fund an increase in law enforcement officers.

[Harpreet Uppal]

Police operations last year saw hundreds arrested and thousands of high street shops raided across the country, including in West Yorkshire. What further steps are being taken to tackle money laundering, including by connecting information across agencies and flagging suspicious entities, so that such operations can be closed down quickly?

[Dan Jarvis]

We are taking more steps. The new high streets taskforce will look at whether the current data sharing between agencies in supporting enforcement teams is appropriate in order to maximise our response to be as effective as possible. The Government will also publish a new anti-money laundering and asset recovery strategy this summer, which will set out further ambitious measures to strengthen our fight against money laundering, including through better sharing and exploitation of financial information across the system.