Oral Answers to Questions

Neil Gray Excerpts

Tuesday 19th April 2016 Commons Chamber

[Rushanara Ali (Bethnal Green and Bow) (Lab)]

4. What steps he has taken to reduce the number of tax havens worldwide.

[Neil Gray (Airdrie and Shotts) (SNP)]

5. What his policy is on requiring multinational companies to disclose to the public the profits they hold in tax havens (a) in British overseas territories and Crown dependencies and (b) elsewhere.

[Jonathan Reynolds (Stalybridge and Hyde) (Lab/Co-op)]

7. What steps he has taken to reduce the number of tax havens worldwide.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Osborne]

At a European level, we are now getting agreement to ensure that multinationals should disclose where they pay tax around the world, including in ultra-low tax jurisdictions. We have just agreed with our leading European allies, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, that we will exchange information on beneficial ownership. In terms of public registries, we are literally one of the very few countries in the world—one of only two or three countries in the entire world—to have committed to a public register, but we want all jurisdictions, not just our overseas territories but all the other advanced economies of the world, to follow our lead.

[Neil Gray]

Last month, I tabled a series of written questions about the tax gap resulting from individuals and businesses using overseas territories and Crown dependencies. All seven questions were grouped into one answer from the Financial Secretary, which basically said, “We have no idea.” Now that the Government have been shamed by the Panama papers into hasty action, will they finally rectify the extraordinary situation whereby the Government have no idea how much is lost to the Treasury in this way each year? Would a public register of beneficial ownership not help in this regard?

[Mr Osborne]

We have published more detail on the tax gap than the previous Government and we have shown that it is at one of its lowest levels in our history. This Government have collected £26 billion more than was being collected by a Labour Government in extra compliance.