Revelations in the Panama Papers are extremely serious and frankly repulsive - McDonnell
John McDonnell MP, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, commenting on the “Panama Papers” revelations, said:
“The revelations in the Panama Papers are extremely serious and frankly repulsive. HMRC should treat this with the utmost priority and urgently launch an investigation.
“But HMRC cannot operate with their hands tied behind their backs due to George Osborne’s cuts to staffing numbers. The OBR reported in the Budget only last month that HMRC are saying that they lack the resources to tackle offshore tax disclosures.
"David Cameron has promised on numerous occasions to end tax secrecy and crack down on “morally wrong” offshore schemes but has failed to do so. And on top of this failure on six occasions last year Tory MEPs were instructed by George Osborne to vote down proposals to clamp down on multinationals engaged in tax avoidance.
"We are at a crossroads now and the Tories can’t continue to say one thing in public, but do another in private on tax avoidance when they think no one will notice."
(via labourpress)
