MP demands action as ‘Paradise Papers’ revealed
● The Queen’s Duchy Of Lancaster estate had millions invested offshore ● EAST Runcorn MP Mike Amesbury has demanded action from the Government over ‘scandalous’ tax avoidance practices brought to light by the so-called ‘Paradise Papers’.
As revealed by the International Consortium Of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), some of the world’s biggest businesses, heads of state and global figures in politics, entertainment and sport who have sheltered their wealth in secretive tax havens following an investigation into Britain’s offshore stashed fortunes.
Individuals who caught the eyes of headline writers included major Tory donor Lord Ashcroft, whose office told BBC Panorama he is ‘domiciled in Belize’, and The Queen whose Duchy Of ● Lancaster estate had millions of pounds invested offshore with a small sum in rent-to-buy retailer Brighthouse.
The details were released in a leak of 13.4m files that expose the global environments in which tax avoidance thrive, and the complex ways that ultra-rich corporations can legally protect their wealth.
The material, which has come from two offshore service providers and the company registries of 19 tax havens, was obtained by the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung and shared by the ICIJ with partners including The Guardian, the BBC and the New York Times.
The project has been branded the Paradise Papers but many commentators on social media ● have remarked they should have been called the ‘Parasite Papers’.
Mr Amesbury, Labour, said his party is proposing a tax transparency and enforcement programme to root out tax evasion and clamp down on tax havens.
Mike said: “Not a day goes by my office isn’t contacted by a constituent who’s been harmed by the Tories’ attacks on the most vulnerable, from disabled people being forced to look for work even though their doctor says they’re not fit, to someone facing intolerable delays in waiting for Universal Credit and being forced into hardship.”
Mr Amesbury was elected in June as MP for Weaver Vale, which straddles east Runcorn, Daresbury, Frodsham and Northwich.