Oral Answers to Questions

John Penrose Excerpts

Wednesday 24th January 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Another week with absolutely no ideas for the country and absolutely no plan. The right hon. and learned Gentleman talks about the cost of living and the economy, but he never actually brings it up, and we all know why: because things are improving and we are making progress. Wages are now rising, debt is on track to be reduced and inflation has more than halved from 11% to 4%. He knows that our plan is working and that his £28 billion tax grab will take Britain back to square one. That is the choice: it is back to square one and higher taxes with him, or a plan that is delivering a brighter future with the Conservatives.

[John Penrose (Weston-super-Mare) (Con)]

Q4. Changing gear, Mr Speaker. Too many oligarchs and kleptocrats are living off ill-gotten gains that are beyond the reach of domestic courts here or in countries such as America. Ever since the 2016 London anti-corruption summit, moves to create an international anti-corruption court have been gathering momentum to plug the gap. It already has support from countries such as Canada, Holland and Nigeria, and it would fund itself from the fines it charged. Will the Government take the lead in getting it under way, ending impunity for those crooks once and for all?

[The Prime Minister]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for his work on this issue. As I am sure he will appreciate, establishing a new bespoke institution is a significant endeavour, but I know that he has discussed it with the Foreign Secretary, who will look at the proposals in more detail. In the meantime, as he knows, our Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 has a raft of new measures to crack down on dirty money, and we will shortly publish our second anti-corruption strategy. We will set out ambitious plans for combating corruption both here at home and internationally.