Overseas Territories: Tax Transparency

Tom Hayes Excerpts

Wednesday 5th February 2025 Westminster Hall

[Tom Hayes (Bournemouth East) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Turner. I commend my hon. Friend the Member for Kensington and Bayswater (Joe Powell) for bringing forward this excellent debate.

Extreme inequality is out of control around our world. Oxfam says that the global wealth of almost 5 billion people—the poorest 60%—has fallen; meanwhile, the world’s richest men have more than doubled their fortunes since 2022. It says that global poverty will not be eradicated for another 230 years; meanwhile, the world could have its first trillionaire within a decade. Here in our country, just like overseas, millions are suffering daily hardship. This is personal for me. I grew up in poverty, with parents who I cared for unable to get a foot in the door of public services starved of resources. That is why I stood to be a Labour MP who campaigns against tax secrecy.

A contributor to the widening inequality crisis is a rigged, secretive global tax system. Let us be clear: tax abuse and corruption go hand in hand. Leaked confidential documents dating back over a decade reveal a global spider’s web of secretive offshore tax havens. The super-rich and multinational corporations evade scrutiny and avoid paying their fair share of tax. In the words of the previous World Bank president, corporate tax dodging is

“a form of corruption that hurts the poor”.

Poor countries and poor people in our society need us to raise our voices to end the era of tax havens. This Government can do something about it. Ministers have set out our transparency expectations to the overseas territories. In his reply to the written question I tabled in October about our recent steps to ensure that OTs establish public registers, the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, my hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff South and Penarth (Stephen Doughty), noted that he had written to OT Governments to

“set out UK transparency expectations”,

and say that

“full public accessibility remains our expectation.”

He also said:

“Access filtered to those with ‘legitimate interest’ should be delivered to a clear timetable, as an interim step”

and he outlined to the OTs

“a set of minimum requirements that UK Government would expect to see in any ‘legitimate interest’ regime.”

The Government are resetting our relationship with the overseas territories and seeking a partnership based on transparency and accountability—but, as we heard, it takes two to dance. Regrettably, OTs such as the British Virgin Islands are doing all they can to fall short and continuing to facilitate illicit finance and kleptocracy, as we heard from the right hon. Member for Sutton Coldfield (Mr Mitchell). It is a scandal. The public want solutions, and that is why we MPs are calling for action.

While the rich get richer and the rest fall back, public services collapse and public spaces rot. Populists do not create grievances, but they do not half exploit them. There are plenty of grievances to exploit in our country because of the toxic cocktail of inequality and austerity, which has been worsened by tax secrecy and tax avoidance. Our determination as a Government to be on the side of working people will require decisive action towards tax secrecy and tax avoidance. We can secure tax justice, and when we do, we will help the hungry to be fed and help families to know that politics is once again on their side.

I commend the fact that the Foreign Secretary will hold a global summit, but I would call it an anti-corruption summit, to follow the one that happened 10 years ago. I believe that is what we need.