‘Careless’ Zahawi exposes UK’s status as a tax haven

Nadhim Zahawi has admitted to being “careless” – a word that can be defined as “not giving sufficient attention or thought to avoid harm or errors”. It is not an error to utilise tax havens and related devices in order to avoid tax. It is certainly harmful to the public purse, but in the UK it is perfectly legal and a matter of choice. Zahawi’s error appears to have involved pushing already overgenerous boundaries.

Our membership in the EU threatened the retention of that choice. For a very small and extremely wealthy minority, the UK is an important tax haven. A major driver of Brexit was to ensure the continuation of that tax-free paradise. They are the “we” who have taken back control, or more correctly retained control, by facilitating the removal of the UK from the EU.

Brexit has no discernable benefits for the vast majority because there are none. For a select minority, Brexit has no cost and a massive financial benefit. With the government in Tory hands their global income was sheltered from tax and, at least for the time being, continues to be so. Brexit is a “mistake” that will require significant reappraisal.

David Nelmes Newport

PPE ‘mistakes’ must be accounted for

Is anyone keeping track of the millions, or is it billions, of taxpayers’ money that has been wasted over the past 12 through

the mismanagement of personal protective equipment, the Ministry of Defence, etc? It’s hard to remember all the repeated stories now.

Perhaps one of our fine economics experts could give us a report on that. If the money can be recovered from those who made “mistakes” surely it could help with our current funding crises. If someone of considerable wealth and business skills, who can call on the most expensive and expert legal advice, and also happens to be a former chancellor of the Exchequer, can make “mistakes” and be forced to repay the debt, why shouldn’t the same principle be applied to those mishandled government contracts?

David Buckton Cambridge

NHS crisis

Another Tory MP is looking to hit the poorest in our society with yet another charge that they won’t be able to afford. Has the governing party got no moral compass whatsoever? Large swathes of the population have got terrible dental health because of a chronic lack of NHS dentists. People are forced to pay for glasses and hearing aids should they want to see and hear effectively. Now, Sajid Javid wants us to pay for GP appointments and A&E visits just to ensure that the nation’s health takes yet another nose dive.

The NHS has never been perfect but at least we could obtain free health care for most conditions. Yet over the past 12 years, this Tory government has gradually eroded it by stealth. Nurses and ancillary staff pay has stagnated, NHS trusts have been forced to pay huge sums for agency staff due to a lack of trained medics, and patients who can afford it have felt compelled to pay for private medicine rather than suffer acute pain and suffering whilst waiting on the end of massive waiting lists.

All this has occurred while the richest 10 per cent have seen their wealth vastly increase. It’s time we require the most affluent individuals and companies to pay their fair share of tax

and fund the health service adequately so that staff can be properly rewarded and waiting lists can be drastically reduced.

David Felton Cheshire

As the government struggles to resolve the dispute with the NHS, surely the time has come to admit that it has become an inadequate body, unable to fulfill the purpose for which it was created and that radical reform is needed.

When it was first formed, it seemed to satisfy the needs of the day, and even instilled pride in many, but now, after numerous abortive reorganisations, its failings are abundantly clear to all who care to look. As a body, it can no longer be relied upon to serve the public when the lives and wellbeing of so many are dependent upon it. We must face facts: the Conservative Party is no longer fit to govern.

Julian Self Milton Keynes

Indefensible

The Americans have long aspired for a more self-sufficient Europe in defence terms – and they are right. A logical trade-off could take place between London and Berlin. Europe needs more defences – and the United Kingdom is aspiring for more user-friendly Brexit terms complete with a Northern Ireland protocol that fully recognizes the integrity of the United Kingdom.

Ergo the United Kingdom could, and should, increase defence spending to cover much greater deployments of the British Armed Forces to continental Europe. In return, there’s no reason the EU couldn’t grant the UK its desired Brexit terms on day-to-day trade. Dare I say the outcome would be a match made in heaven and be a winner for the UK’s influence in Berlin, Washington – and globally.

John Barstow Sussex

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