Illicit finance is a cancer spreading through our country, we have to get serious about tackling it and fast

Illicit finance is a major drain on our economy and a driver of criminality across society. It touches each and every one of us on a daily basis, making our lives a little bit worse.

An estimated staggering three quarters of a trillion pounds in illicit finance flows through the UK, its Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies annually due to financial crime, money laundering, corruption, illegal trade and tax abuse.

People are fed up with dying high streets littered with an endless stream of neon-clad vape shops. They are furious about dodgy donors ploughing money into political parties and are tired of politicians telling them that there is no money to keep our basic services functioning while criminals, billionaires and dictators are seeing their dirty money flowing and growing. They live a life of luxury while we cobble together any penny that the Treasury can find to keep our public services afloat.

The phrase “illicit finance” might not come up much on the doorstep when I am talking to residents, but “fairness” does. When it comes to people and organisations paying taxes, it does not get much more unfair than a system that makes it trivially easy for wealth to be hidden offshore but, bafflingly, still within His Majesty’s jurisdiction.

That’s why I was outraged when the Government recently announced that they had moved The Illicit Finance Summit from June to December. This is a crucial opportunity to tackle dirty money out in the open and yet, they snuck the news out on a quiet Friday after the House had risen.

Leading a debate on the summit in Parliament gave me the opportunity to ask the Minister directly that he commits to greater engagement and candour with Members relating to the summit from now on. So far, we have heard very little from the Government on specific aims and priorities and I was very clear with the Minister that if the Government are to delay it, they had better make sure that it is effective and delivers real change. I have asked the Government to set out an ambitious, far-reaching and impactful programme of work leading up to this summit, which will culminate in international agreement.

Firstly, they need to work with international partners to bring an end to anonymous property ownership. If an Englishman’s home truly is his castle, it cannot be a castle registered through multiple trusts, bouncing the legal rights halfway around the world and back again. If someone owns a property, they need to declare who they are and face the music, not hide behind shell companies and legalese.

It is also important that we get our own house in order on this. We have laws around beneficial ownership and property transparency, brought in under the last Government, but rule-breaking is rife, and little is being done to crack down on those flouting their obligations.

We know that, in corruption and tax abuse, sunlight is the best disinfectant. For those malign actors who want to use existing secrecy to hide their ill-gotten gains, we have to smash that ability by ensuring that this information is freely available, just as is expected of anyone setting up or holding significant control in a company in this country.

By postponing the Summit, the message from Government is that those benefiting from dirty money can have another six months of fun. Illicit finance is a poison and cancer spreading through our country, infecting everything it touches. While this delay will benefit those benefiting from corruption, crime, money laundering, tax abuse and dodgy dealing, the Government must step up to make sure the summit drives action rather than being a talking shop.

We have to get serious on this, and fast.