The last few weeks have been a busy time for Tax Justice UK’s (TJ-UK) campaigning on tax havens and the implementation of public registers of beneficial ownership in the British Overseas Territories.
These are issues that TJ-UK have been campaigning on for many years, backed up by our strong supporter base of concerned people across the UK. Just this year, nearly 10,000 people sent emails to MPs asking them to take action on the issue. You can still send a message to your MP to keep the issue on their radar.
Momentum around the campaign has been building. In the last few weeks, the Joint Ministerial Council with the British Overseas Territories took place in London between the 19th and 21st of November. This was an opportunity to dial up our efforts to make progress on the implementation of public registers, a key transparency tool vital to tackle illicit finance and tax dodging.
Taking action
TJ-UK was proud to join Tax Justice Network Africa in writing a letter to the Chancellor Rachel Reeves, and Foreign Secretary David Lammy. Together we were able to highlight leadership from the African continent on tackling illicit finance, and that tax abuse and illicit finance “represent a continuation of the oppressive extractive model set up by imperial powers”.
The letter further pointed out the way in which tax abuse disproportionately harms lower income countries. It reinforced a call for the UK government to take action and set a new ambitious deadline for British Overseas Territories to implement public registers.
Our allies at Tax Justice Network released their annual ‘State of Tax Justice’ report that showed that a third of global tax dodging is enabled by the UK and the British Overseas Territories. You can read our blog on it here. We were able to share the report with our extensive networks in the UK to amplify the research and put pressure on the UK government to act.
Pressure in Westminster
We were delighted to see parliamentarians from the all party parliamentary group (APPG) on Anti-Corruption and Responsible Tax writing a letter, signed by over 40 MPs, to David Lammy. The letter was a great demonstration from within parliament that this is an issue MPs from parties across Westminster want action on. The letter was covered in a story in the Financial Times.
It was great to see our friends at the JustMoney Movement add their voice to the growing calls for progress. They organised a ‘Tax Haven Olympics’ outside of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office on the last day of the Joint Ministerial Council of the Overseas Territories. At the stunt they highlighted the role of British Overseas Territories, enabled by the UK, in global tax abuse. You can watch a video of Sarah Edwards from JustMoney Movement calling for the implementation of transparent registers of beneficial ownership here.
Disappointing outcome and some good news
The official statement – known as a “communique” – that came at the end of the Joint Ministerial Council of the Overseas Territories was in many ways disappointing. It agrees to some British Overseas Territories (incidentally the biggest tax havens like British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands) to establish ‘legitimate interest access’ registers of beneficial owners. Instead of being fully transparent, this type of register requires an organisation, journalist, or interested party to prove why they need access to the information. This is a weakening of the UK’s previous position.
There are serious concerns regarding “legitimate interest access” only registers. There is a risk that these could be used to maintain secrecy and allow vested interests to dictate the terms by which people can access registers.
While this is disappointing, there was also some good news in the official statement. It mentions that some of the Overseas Territories will establish public registers. Most importantly it includes that the UK government’s ambition is that Publicly Accessible Registers of Beneficial Ownership (PARBOs) become a global norm and its expectation being that Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies implement them in full.
Keeping up the pressure
In order to make progress in the campaign to tackle tax havens, we need to keep up the pressure on the UK government to set a new deadline for British Overseas Territories to implement public registers.
TJ-UK will be continuing our campaigning with partners both outside and inside of Parliament. We will look to work with the tens of thousands of people across the UK who support our work, to make sure MPs and the government hear their concerns. And we will work with partners across the globe so that together we can make the unbeatable case for creating a fairer, more equal global tax system that works in the interests of everyone.
We will provide updates on our work in this area in the months to come.