Labour wants to keep up the pressure on the the Tories over the HSBC scandal today. Ed Miliband will inevitably have a go on the issue at Prime Minister’s Questions (though the odds on him mentioning the word ‘chaterama’ are 28/1), followed by an Opposition Day debate on tax avoidance in which the party will call for a full statement from Lord Green and the Prime Minister about the former’s role at HSBC and his appointment as a minister. The party will also set out its own plans for tackling tax avoidance. The motion, which you can read in full below, is worded in such a way as to make it impossible for the Tories to vote in its favour, thus allowing Labour to say that the Tories have voted against cracking down on tax avoidance:
‘That this House notes with concern that following the revelations of malpractice at HSBC bank, which were first given to the government in May 2010, just one out of 1100 people who have avoided or evaded tax have been prosecuted; calls upon Lord Green and the Prime Minister to make a full statement about his role at HSBC and his appointment as a minister; regrets the failure of the Government’s deal on tax disclosure with Switzerland which has raised less than a third of the amount promised by Ministers ; welcomes the proposals of charities and campaigning organisations for a Anti-Tax Dodging Bill; and further calls on the Government to clamp down on tax avoidance by introducing a penalty regime for the General Anti-Abuse Rule, which is currently too weak to be effective, closing the Quoted Eurobonds exemption loophole, ensuring that hedge funds trading shares pay the same amount of tax as other investors, introducing deeming criteria to restrict false self-employment in the construction industry, and scrapping the shares for rights scheme which the Office for Budget Responsibility has warned could cost £1bn in avoidance.’
Polling for the Times today finds that 55 per cent of voters think ‘if government made a proper effort it could vastly reduce tax avoidance and bring in far more money from big tax-dodging companies’, with 65 per cent saying the government is doing badly on tackling tax avoidance, with 26 per cent saying Labour would do a better job on the issue. Last night Matt Hancock insisted ministers should not know the details of banks’ tax affairs, but Labour hopes that it can at least suggest ministers should have done more to vet Lord Green before letting him in to government.
What the exchanges today may do is confirm suspicions already held about both parties: Cameron will want to attack Miliband on his ‘anti-business’ stance (though as I explained yesterday, it is quite unfair to use just the BCC conference as evidence of that), while Miliband may segue from tax avoidance to the Black and White Ball and auctions of ministers. None of these attacks from one side will change people’s minds about the other, but what the parties hope is that in lieu of offering anything exciting themselves, the aspersions they can cast about their opponents will be enough to get them over the line.
Comments