Draft Accounting Standards (Prescribed Bodies) (United States of America and Japan) (Amendment) Regulations 2024

Rushanara Ali Excerpts

Wednesday 24th April 2024 General Committees

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

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Hollobone. I welcome the regulations, which correct an error. A mistake was made, as the Minister has described. Of course, we support this correction and support regulations that aim to enhance the attractiveness of the UK as a domicile for businesses. We must ensure that the UK remains an inviting destination for businesses. We must continue to work towards making our country an important destination for businesses to do business and somewhere they feel welcomed, and our legal arrangements must be such that that is the case.

The 2015 regulations provide to US and Japanese-listed parent companies an extended transition period of up to four financial years, after incorporation in the UK, to convert to UK accounting principles. We support the objective of the regulation to encourage US and Japanese-listed companies to re-domicile in the UK. As the Minister set out, regulation 4 of the 2023 regulations was laid incorrectly, under the negative resolution procedure, and today’s legislation corrects that error. Parent companies are therefore not subject to any enforceable obligation to note their group accounts under the existing, incorrectly laid regulation. I am glad that the new instrument corrects the mistake.

Driving growth in the UK must be one of our top priorities. To enable that, we need to ensure that we attract inward investment. I therefore welcome the correction to the regulations, which ensures that the aim of the process of overseas companies integrating into the UK is fulfilled.