Mark Garnier

It is a great pleasure to serve under your leadership, Mr Turner, as it is to respond to the debate called for by the hon. Member for Kensington and Bayswater (Joe Powell). This will be one of those debates where there is ferocious agreement in all parts of the House. Before I get into the substance of my speech, it is worth mentioning that there is a legitimate role for tax havens. The City of London will certainly have investment funds located in tax havens in order to have tax neutrality for investors into those funds. Those investors have to pay their domestic tax, but they do not want to pay tax on the funds as they go forward. It is also worth mentioning that, in some cases, small islands will look to see if they can grow their economies by providing financial services. Again, if they are doing that in a legitimate way, and one that fits with the wishes of the world, there is nothing wrong with that. But that is the important point: it is incredibly important that what they are doing is seen to be legitimate, right and fair for everybody else. Turning to the substance of the debate, as hon. Members have rightly pointed out, there is still much work to be done on tax transparency. As part of the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018, overseas territories were required to introduce public registers of beneficial ownership. In 2020, the previous Government set out in a written ministerial statement the expectation that the territories would implement registers by the end of 2023. Intense discussions took place with overseas territories over the implications of the ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union that publicly accessible registers were contrary to the EU charter of fundamental rights. Despite some overseas territories’ raising concerns over the ruling, which does not apply to the UK, the previous Government were satisfied with the lawfulness of the public register. I am sure the Minister will confirm that today. However, the impact of the EU ruling has led to delays in the overseas territories implementing the public register. The previous Government made it clear that they expected progress in 2024, yet, as we would all agree, progress remains far too slow. Too many jurisdictions under our responsibility continue to allow opaque corporate structures that enable illicit finance to flow unchecked. That is particularly concerning in the light of recent geopolitical developments, including the increase in money from sanctioned countries—Russia —being laundered through offshore entities. I am looking forward to the Exchequer Secretary updating us on what progress has followed the November joint ministerial council for overseas territories. The Opposition welcome the communiqué, which reaffirmed the Government’s expectation that overseas territories should provide public access to beneficial ownership registers. It is right to commend Gibraltar and Montserrat, which have implemented public registers, and the Falkland Islands and St Helena, which have pledged to do so by April 2025. It is worth adding that, while not directly legislated for by the UK, the Crown dependencies—Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man—have made commitments to greater transparency, too.