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Commons urgent question about Global Laundromat revelations - Politics live
Commons urgent question about Global Laundromat revelations - Politics live
(35 minutes later)
1.08pm GMT
13:08
Labour’s Rushanara Ali says Philip Hammond, the chancellor, should have been here. She says Kirby’s answers have been “appalling”.
Kirby says he is sorry that Ali thinks that.
And that’s it. The UQ is over. I will post a summary shortly.
1.06pm GMT
13:06
Labour’s Kerry McCarthy says the Russian authorities are refusing to cooperate with the National Crime Agency. What is the Foreign Office doing about this?
Kirby says he thinks the FCA are in contact with the Foreign Office about this. He says if there is new information, the FCA and the NCA will act on it.
1.04pm GMT
13:04
Here is Labour’s Angela Eagle, who asked Kirby a question earlier (see 12.51pm), responding to his performance.
Appalling complacent blinkered response from the Economic Secretary to today's money laundering allegations in @guardian #Justnotgoodenough
1.03pm GMT
13:03
Labour’s Ian Austin says the home affairs committee has estimated that £100bn is laundered through the UK. But only 0.17% of it gets detected. What is necessary to make the authorities do their jobs?
Kirby says the FCA and the NCA are independent. They do investigate, he says.
Updated
at 1.04pm GMT
1.01pm GMT
13:01
The Lib Dem’s Greg Mulholland asks what will happen if the government secures its aim of turning the UK into a tax haven.
Kirby says that is not the chancellor’s policy.
1.00pm GMT
13:00
Labour’s Catherine McKinnell asks if Kirby accepts that the law on money-laundering needs to be tightened.
Kirby says the Ministry of Justice will have heard what McKinnell said.
12.58pm GMT
12:58
Labour’s Ben Bradshaw asks if any laundered money was donated to the leave campaign or to the Trump campaign.
Kirby says he is not aware of any donations of that kind.
12.58pm GMT
12:58
Philip Hollobone, a Conservative, asks how many money launderers have been sent to prison in the past five years.
Kirby says he does not know, but will write to Hollobone with an answer.
Updated
at 1.01pm GMT
12.56pm GMT
12:56
Jonathan Djanogly, a Conservative, says Russians are allowed into the UK on the assumption they will do nothing wrong.
Kirby says the authorities will address any action that needs to be taken to tackle this problem.
Updated
at 12.58pm GMT
12.54pm GMT
12:54
Labour’s Helen Goodman asks if Kirby has discussed this with George Osborne, who intervened with the US authorities to stop HSBC being prosecuted in 2012.
Kirby says he has not had that conversation.
12.53pm GMT
12:53
Labour’s John Mann asks Kirby to counter the impression that he has been promoted beyond his competence by telling MPs which British banks have been accused of money laundering, and what he has learned from reading those reports.
John Bercow, the Speaker, says the question was discourteous, but not disorderly.
Kirby says a number of firms have been investigated.
Updated
at 12.56pm GMT
12.51pm GMT
12:51
Angela Eagle, the former shadow business secretary, says Kirby has shown “real complacency” about this scandal. His answers are not good enough.
Kirby rejects this, he says. We have world-leading regulation and world-leading financial services.
Updated
at 12.56pm GMT
12.49pm GMT
12:49
The SNP’s Roger Mullin says at the heart of this scandal is the use of limited partnerships.
He says on Friday the business department closed its review of limited partnerships. Will that now be reopened so that Mullin and others can submit fresh evidence, based on the latest revelations?
He says it is hard to believe the UK is a world leader.
And he says the government should do more to encourage whistleblowing.
Kirby says, in this case, he does not think limited partnerships were involved. But he says any MP is free to write to the secretary of state.
We are world leaders in this, he says.
Updated
at 12.57pm GMT
12.47pm GMT
12:47
Kirby is responding to McDonnell.
He rejects the charge of complacency.
And he suggests that it would not be appropriate for the government to tell the FCA and the NCA what they must investigate.
12.46pm GMT
12:46
McDonnell accuses government of “complacency and inaction” over money-laundering
John McDonnell is responding.
He says he does not think Kirby realises the seriousness of these allegations. He accuses him of being complacent.
He says HSBC has previously faced money-laundering allegations.
Money laundering threatens the stability of our economy, he says.
Can Kirby give MPs more details about what steps are being taken to address this?
Could there be criminal proceedings? This is in effect a criminal network, says McDonnell.
He says the main risk comes from inactivity. The government should ensure British banks are clean and fit for purpose.
The Financial Conduct Authority stresses the need for banks to self-police. It is obvious this is not happening, he says.
He asks the government to commit to an inquiry into this.
And, when the government owns banks, especially RBS, can it ensure taxpayers its banks are not involved in criminal activity.
McDonnell accuses the government of “complacency and inaction” over money laundering.
Updated
at 12.51pm GMT
12.42pm GMT
12:42
John McDonnell asks for a statement.
Simon Kirby, the City minister, is responding.
He says he wants the UK to take a lead in the drive against money laundering. This is to keep Britons safe.
He says the authorities take any such allegations seriously. The allegations in the Guardian will be investigated, he says.
He says the government is doing more than any other to tackle the threat posed by money laundering. He lists measures taken by the government and says reforms being introduced are the most serious for a decade.
He says the UK is working closely with international partners to address this problem.
We are determined to make the UK the most difficult place in the world for international crime networks to channel their money, he says.
Updated
at 12.48pm GMT
12.37pm GMT
12.37pm GMT
12:37
12:37
Here is our latest story on this topic.
Here is our latest story on this topic.
National Crime Agency says investigations into Russian money laundering not going anywhere because Moscow won't help https://t.co/zOs1WxIoFG
National Crime Agency says investigations into Russian money laundering not going anywhere because Moscow won't help https://t.co/zOs1WxIoFG
12.36pm GMT
12.36pm GMT
12:36
12:36
John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, is asking the urgent question.
John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, is asking the urgent question.
12.24pm GMT
12.24pm GMT
12:24
12:24
Here is the Guardian’s main story yesterday about the Global Laundromat scheme.
Here is the Guardian’s main story yesterday about the Global Laundromat scheme.
12.23pm GMT
12:23
Commons urgent question on Russian money-laundering and British banks
Luke Harding
We are about to get a Commons urgent question on the Guardian’s revelations about the Global Laundromat. We revealed that Russian criminals with links to the Kremlin laundered $20bn … and that much of this cash ended up in Britain.
The UK’s high street banks handled $740m in dirty money from Moscow. Even worse, most of the shell companies used in the fraud were UK ones, registered at Companies House in London.
David Cameron’s much-vaunted anti-corruption summit last summer was meant to tackle offshore secrecy, and the fact that anonymous companies were used to own assets in the UK, especially real estate. Since then, not much appears to have changed. The Laundromat features about 70,000 banking transactions, with billions simply vanishing into opaque UK companies.
The questions for the government are:
1) What does the Treasury intend to do to stop the UK being used as the world’s pre-eminent money-laundering destination?
2) Will the National Crime Agency and other financial regulators investigate?
3) when will the government begin prosecuting the UK intermediaries – lawyers, accountants, company formation agents – who facilitate money-laundering and other financial crimes?
Updated
at 12.33pm GMT
12.19pm GMT
12:19
And, while we’re on the subject of Tom Watson, the Unite general secretary Len McCluskey has hit back at him for what he said about McCluskey yesterday with an article for Huffington Post. It’s strong stuff. Here’s an excerpt:
There is another world in our movement, alas. A world of skulduggery, smears and secret plots.
That is where you will find Tom Watson. When Labour has needed loyalty he has been sharpening his knife looking for a back to stab. When unity is required, he manufactures division.
It is small surprise that he has then worked to split the party again this week. He has form as long as his arm. And now his sights are set on abusing the internal democracy of Unite.
Updated
at 12.33pm GMT
12.14pm GMT
12:14
Tom Watson condemns MPs attacking BBC's Brexit coverage
As the Guardian reports, 76 MPs - mostly, but not exclusively, Tory pro-leave campaigners - have signed a letter to the BBC complaining about its Brexit coverage. They are particularly angry about what they dub “despite Brexit” coverage, by which they seem to mean reporting that pre-supposes Brexit will damage the economy.
(Growth and employment figures have been positive since last June, and claims that a leave vote would trigger an immediate downturn turned out to be wrong, but it remains the case that most economists think that when the UK does leave the EU there will be a hit to growth in the short and medium term.)
Here is an extract from the letter containing the MPs’ key arguments.
We know many leave-voting constituents have felt their view have been unfairly represented. This phenomenon is weakening the BBC’s bond with the 52% who voted leave and all who wish to make a success of the decision made.
In particular, the corporation’s focus on ‘regretful’ leave voters, despite there being no polling shift towards remain since the referendum, has led some to believe it is putting its preconceptions before the facts. Meanwhile the posturing and private opinions of EU figures are too often presented as facts, without the vital context that they are talking tough ahead of the exit negotiations.
It particularly pains us to see how much of the economic good news we’ve had since June has been skewed by BBC coverage which seems unable to break out of pre-referendum pessimism and accept new facts. Some of the signatories of this letter shared many of the concerns about theeconomic impact of Brexit, but all are delighted to find forecasts of immediate economic harm were at best misplaced. So-called ‘despite Brexit’ reporting may be expected of a partisan press, but licence fee-payers have the right to expect better ...
BBC coverage also shapes international perceptions of the UK: we fear that, by misrepresenting our country either as xenophobic or regretful of the leave vote, the BBC will undermine our efforts to carve out a new, global role for this country.
Here is the Guardian’s story about it. You can read the full text of the letter here, on the website of Julian Knight, the Conservative MP and former BBC and Independent journalist who coordinated it. He voted remain.
In response Tom Watson, Labour’s deputy leader and the shadow culture secretary, has urged the government to stand up for the BBC. In a statement he said:
The BBC is one of the world’s finest news broadcasters and we should all value its impartiality, integrity and balanced coverage. It is the BBC’s job to report the facts, not to be a cheerleader for any cause or party.
All politicians sometimes dislike the way some stories are covered, but we should never seek to interfere with the independence of the BBC by publicly accusing it of bias and making implicit threats about its future.
Theresa May and Karen Bradley must make clear their commitment to the independence of the BBC and distance themselves from attacks on it by politicians who have an agenda the BBC does not and should not share.
Nick Robinson, the Today presenter and former BBC political editor, has also leapt to the corporation’s defence.
Do not adjust your set. Normal service from the BBC means you will hear people you disagree with say things you don't like. (That's our job) pic.twitter.com/UyOzeEp3eV
12.10pm GMT
12:10
De Volkskrant, a respected Dutch newspaper, has published a long article about the negotiating strategy the EU will adopt during Brexit. It appears under the headline:
Dit is de geheime EU-strategie voor scheiding van de Britten
or, as Google Translate puts it,
This is the secret EU Strategy for separation from the British
And that article says it is based on information provided by insiders about what it says is the draft negotiating strategy that has been drawn up. It says these will come out when Theresa May presses the “Brexitknop” (Brexit button). Based on feeding it through Google Translate, here are the key points.
The EU will insist access to the internal market depends upon accepting the four freedoms, including freedom of movement, de Volkskrant claims.
The EU will propose a deal guaranteeing the reciprocal rights of EU nationals in the UK and Britons in EU countries, de Volkskrant claims.
The EU will demand an exit “bill”, de Volkskrant claims. Interestingly, it says that David Cameron is partly responsible for the possible demand being so high. Cameron demanded cuts to the EU budget for 2014-20. But, in return for spending going down in the early years, planned spending in the future rose sharply. There is an argument now that the UK is obliged to contribute to those future spending commitments.
The EU will demand that the UK loses some of its existing trade advantages, de Volkskrant claims.
The EU has yet to decide whether to allow talks on the withdrawal deal and talks on the future trade deal to take place in parallel, as the UK wants, or sequentially, de Volkskrant says.
If the UK tries to leave without a deal, the EU could take it to court at the Hague to try to recover the money it thinks is owed, de Volkskrant says.
Only six people, including Donald Tusk, the European council president, and Jean-Claude Juncker, the European commission president, have seen the 10-page draft negotiating guidelines, de Volkskrant claims.
Updated
at 12.35pm GMT
11.29am GMT
11:29
Tusk says he wants to make Brexit process 'the least painful for the EU'
This is what Donald Tusk, president of the European council, said at his press conference about the special EU summit.
In view of what was announced in London yesterday I would like to inform you that I will call a European council on Saturday 29 April to adopt the guidelines for the Brexit talks.
I personally wish the UK hadn’t chosen to leave the EU. But the majority of British voters decided otherwise.
Therefore we must to do everything we can to make the process of divorce the least painful for the EU.
Our main priority for the negotiations must be to create as much certainty and clarity as possible for all citizens, companies and member states that will be negatively affected by Brexi, as well as our important partners and friends around the world.
And here are the key points.
Tusk calls special summit for Saturday 29 April where the EU 27 (the countries not leaving) will decide their Brexit negotiating strategy.
He says he wants to make the process “the least painful for the EU”.
He says his priority will be to create “as much certainty and clarity” for people, organisations and countries negatively affected by Brexit.
Tusk clearly did not get the memo from Theresa May about why she thinks Brexit is not a divorce.
And he clearly did not get the memo either from the 76 MPs, mostly pro-leave Tories, who have written to the BBC complaining about “despite Brexit” reporting - ie, reporting that presupposes Brexit will have negative consequences.
11.09am GMT
11:09
Tusk calls summit for Saturday 29 April so EU leaders can decide their approach to Brexit
Donald Tusk, the president of the European council, has just announced at a press conference in Brussels that he will call a summit of the 27 other EU countries on Saturday 29 April where they can consider their response to Theresa May’s triggering of article 50.
I will post his quotes shortly.
10.41am GMT
10:41
Here is Donald Tusk, the president of the European council, on Martin McGuinness.
Sad to learn of sudden passing of Martin McGuinness. His contribution to peace in Northern Ireland will endure. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.
Updated
at 10.48am GMT
10.37am GMT
10:37
John Bruton, who was taoiseach from 1994 to 1997, has said he is sorry Martin McGuinness did not live to see complete reconciliation in Northern Ireland. He said:
Notwithstanding our profound political differences, I always found him to be a very friendly person and easy to talk to.
The good and warm personal relationship he developed with Ian Paisley set a very good example. But it has yet to be followed by a genuine political reconciliation between the two communities they represented.
It is sad that Martin will not be around to complete the important task he undertook.
10.33am GMT
10:33
Later this morning Donald Tusk, president of the European council, is due to give the date when the other members of the EU will agree and announce their response to Theresa May triggering article 50. I’ll cover that as soon as it happens.
10.05am GMT
10:05
Alex Salmond, the former Scottish first minister, has issued a tribute recalling his visit to the Northern Ireland assembly in 2007 to express support for Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness’s power-sharing administration. Here’s an extract:
I gladly did so and found a remarkable partnership, which was the anchor of the institutions consolidating the peace process .
The friendship which developed between them was real, enduring and profound, private as well as public and allowed Northern Ireland to move away from violence. They were both solid and continuing friends of Scotland.
