UK Parliament / Open data

Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill

Debate on bills on Monday, 7 March 2022, in the House of Commons, led by Priti Patel. The answering members were Yvette Cooper, Jonathan Reynolds and Paul Scully.
Allocation of time motion. Second reading. Agreed to on question. Bill committed to a Committee of the Whole House. Further proceedings postponed. Money resolution. Queen's consent signified. Agreed to on question.

About these Parliamentary proceedings

Reference

710 cc24-81 

Session

2021-22

Legislative stage

Second reading

Chamber / Committee

House of Commons chamber

Show all related items (6)
Economic crime. Treasury Committee eleventh report.
Wednesday, 26 January 2022
Parliamentary committees
House of Commons
Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill 2021-22
Tuesday, 1 March 2022
Bills
House of Commons

Proceeding contributions

Priti Patel | 710 c26 (Link to this contribution)

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

The United Kingdom is united in opp...

Joanna Cherry | 710 c26 (Link to this contribution)

As the Home Secretary is straying to points outwith the Bill, I want to address how the airwaves ...


Show all contributions (176)
Priti Patel | 710 c26 (Link to this contribution)

I am grateful to the hon. and learned Lady for her question, because it gives me the chance to cl...

Yvette Cooper | 710 c26 (Link to this contribution)

Will the Home Secretary clarify whether the Home Office has set up a visa application centre in C...

Priti Patel | 710 c27 (Link to this contribution)

Again, for clarification, as I set out in the House last week, we are surging capacity across our...

Jim Shannon | 710 c27 (Link to this contribution)

I thank the Secretary of State for what she is doing and the staff put in place to try to help mo...

Priti Patel | 710 c27 (Link to this contribution)

The hon. Member makes an important point. Having been to Poland myself and seen the processes—I a...

John Redwood | 710 c27 (Link to this contribution)

The Home Secretary has a lot of support on the Government Benches for the compassionate and sensi...

Priti Patel | 710 c27 (Link to this contribution)

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. I must emphasise that every single crisis requires a be...

Barry Sheerman | 710 c28 (Link to this contribution)

I do not wish to disturb the flow of the Secretary of State’s speech for very long, but I want to...

Robert Goodwill | 710 c28 (Link to this contribution)

I was contacted on Saturday by a former constituent who had escaped from Ukraine with his Ukraini...

Priti Patel | 710 c28 (Link to this contribution)

I thank my right hon. Friend for the example that he shared with the House. That is really import...

Roger Gale | 710 c28 (Link to this contribution)

I have been told that people arriving at Calais are being told that they have to go to Paris or B...

Priti Patel | 710 c28 (Link to this contribution)

I have already made it clear, in terms of the visa application centre that has now been set up en...

Munira Wilson | 710 c28 (Link to this contribution)

Will the Secretary of State give way?

Priti Patel | 710 c28 (Link to this contribution)

I will not; I need to make progress and I have been generous with interventions. In addition, on ...

Lindsay Hoyle | 710 c29 (Link to this contribution)

Order. There are just too many conversations going on. I am struggling to hear.

Priti Patel | 710 c29 (Link to this contribution)

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.

Putin is a gangster and his regime is underpinned by a mob...

Bob Seely | 710 c29 (Link to this contribution)

I am delighted that my right hon. Friend is bringing up not only the oligarchs, but the enablers ...

Priti Patel | 710 c29 (Link to this contribution)

My hon. Friend and I spent some time on the Select Committee on Foreign Affairs, which looked at ...

Aaron Bell | 710 c29 (Link to this contribution)

Further to the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Isle of Wight (Bob Seely), would the G...

Priti Patel | 710 c29 (Link to this contribution)

We will look at the issue, as we have said consistently. Part 1 of the Bill, which I will expand ...

Andy McDonald | 710 c29 (Link to this contribution)

Across the House, we all want to see these bandits nailed. Is the Home Secretary content that the...

Priti Patel | 710 c29 (Link to this contribution)

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to raise that point and to highlight the legal basis on wh...

Jonathan Djanogly | 710 c29 (Link to this contribution)

A lot of houses are owned by criminal gangs for money laundering purposes, often in rural areas, ...

Priti Patel | 710 c30 (Link to this contribution)

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. I said that unexplained wealth orders were one of several too...

David Davis | 710 c30 (Link to this contribution)

Will my right hon. Friend give way?

Priti Patel | 710 c30 (Link to this contribution)

I will give way shortly, but first I will make some progress, if I may.

This will be about ...

Lord Beamish | 710 c30 (Link to this contribution)

The right hon. Lady spoke about unexplained wealth orders. Does she have a commitment from the Tr...

Priti Patel | 710 c30 (Link to this contribution)

The right hon. Gentleman makes a very important point; I am pretty certain that he has raised sev...

John Baron | 710 c30 (Link to this contribution)

Following on from that point, the Bill is very welcome, but many of us believe it could go furthe...

Priti Patel | 710 c30 (Link to this contribution)

That is a really important point. This is about how we operationalise the Bill—how we use the too...

Iain Duncan Smith | 710 c31 (Link to this contribution)

I thank my right hon. Friend for and congratulate her on driving this Bill forward so quickly, co...

Priti Patel | 710 c31 (Link to this contribution)

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right, and he has also pointed out the vast drafting that has ...

David Davis | 710 c31 (Link to this contribution)

The Russia sanctions regime is across eight different sets of regulations, and even the Commons L...

Priti Patel | 710 c31 (Link to this contribution)

My right hon. Friend has hit the nail on the head, and I am going to come to some of that in my r...

Matt Hancock | 710 c31 (Link to this contribution)

In respect of the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018, many of the problems that we face...

Priti Patel | 710 cc31-2 (Link to this contribution)

I wholeheartedly agree with my right hon. Friend on that. We could do a rerun of exactly what hap...

Baroness Hodge of Barking | 710 c32 (Link to this contribution)

I welcome the indications that the Home Secretary has given of what will be in the Bill that will...

Priti Patel | 710 c32 (Link to this contribution)

I agree with the right hon. Lady, and I am also grateful to other Members who have not just highl...

Catherine West | 710 c32 (Link to this contribution)

The Home Secretary is very generous in allowing so many interventions.

During the 2017 Parl...

Priti Patel | 710 cc32-3 (Link to this contribution)

I thank the hon. Lady for highlighting the role of our anti-corruption tsar, my hon. Friend the M...

Kevin Hollinrake | 710 c33 (Link to this contribution)

I welcome the measures that my right hon. Friend is introducing, but many Members fear that peopl...

Priti Patel | 710 c33 (Link to this contribution)

I thank my hon. Friend for amendment 64. He was in touch with me about it over the weekend. He is...

Layla Moran | 710 c33 (Link to this contribution)

As the right hon. Lady knows, the Bill provides exemptions that Secretaries of State would be abl...

Priti Patel | 710 cc33-4 (Link to this contribution)

At this stage, I am outlining the measures in the Bill. We have a Committee stage coming up, and ...

Chris Bryant | 710 c34 (Link to this contribution)

I am grateful to the Home Secretary for giving way. This is naughty of me, as I have been in the ...

Priti Patel | 710 c34 (Link to this contribution)

The hon. Gentleman has clearly been occupied elsewhere, and we did cover this point earlier on.

Andrea Leadsom | 710 c34 (Link to this contribution)

I have been in the Chamber since my right hon. Friend started speaking. She might be aware that o...

Priti Patel | 710 c34 (Link to this contribution)

My right hon. Friend has made an incredibly important point and used a good example to show how t...

Andy Slaughter | 710 c34 (Link to this contribution)

There seems to be bit of a gap between the Home Secretary’s rhetoric and the reality. Last week, ...

Priti Patel | 710 cc34-5 (Link to this contribution)

I have been speaking for a while and I would have hoped that the hon. Gentleman was listening to ...

Tim Loughton | 710 c35 (Link to this contribution)

I support the measures in this Bill, but it all hinges on enforcement. Can my right hon. Friend e...

Priti Patel | 710 c35 (Link to this contribution)

We cannot compare London with certain other countries and economies, and there are well-known bar...

Oliver Heald | 710 c35 (Link to this contribution)

I understand that the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has put for...

Priti Patel | 710 c35 (Link to this contribution)

With this Bill, we are speaking very clearly about known individuals, known oligarchs. This legis...

Priti Patel | 710 cc35-6 (Link to this contribution)

I will make progress. I have taken plenty of interventions, and I am conscious of the protected t...

Stewart Hosie | 710 c36 (Link to this contribution)

Will the Secretary of State give way?

Priti Patel | 710 c36 (Link to this contribution)

Not just yet.

As I have said, further measures are coming shortly in other legislation and ...

Lord Mackinlay of Richborough | 710 c36 (Link to this contribution)

On the vexed issue of trusts, whether they be domestic or, more likely, foreign, if they are of a...

Priti Patel | 710 c37 (Link to this contribution)

My hon. Friend makes an important and significant point. That is exactly the work in which the tr...

Matt Western | 710 c37 (Link to this contribution)

Will the Secretary of State give way?

Priti Patel | 710 cc37-8 (Link to this contribution)

I am not going to give way, because there is protected time and the hon. Gentleman will get to sp...

Yvette Cooper | 710 cc38-9 (Link to this contribution)

I welcome the Bill before us today, at a time when rocket attacks are continuing, when homes, com...

Catherine West | 710 c39 (Link to this contribution)

Does my right hon. Friend agree that, had the Government got a move on with this years ago, we wo...

Yvette Cooper | 710 c39 (Link to this contribution)

I agree with my hon. Friend that action should have been taken much earlier to address that, whic...

Angela Eagle | 710 c39 (Link to this contribution)

Is my right hon. Friend as surprised and worried as I am that the Office of Financial Sanctions I...

Yvette Cooper | 710 c39 (Link to this contribution)

My hon. Friend makes an important point. Unless we have the ability to use the powers we have and...

Chris Bryant | 710 c39 (Link to this contribution)

The enforcement issue is really important. For instance, following the invasion and annexation of...

Yvette Cooper | 710 c39 (Link to this contribution)

I must say that the information my hon. Friend provides is deeply disturbing. There is a huge res...

Barry Sheerman | 710 c39 (Link to this contribution)

At the last election but one, a former intern of mine, now a very wealthy Hollywood lawyer, sent ...

Yvette Cooper | 710 c40 (Link to this contribution)

My hon. Friend makes an important point. For example, there is discussion as part of this Bill ab...

Yvette Cooper | 710 c40 (Link to this contribution)

I will give way to the Home Secretary to clarify.

Priti Patel | 710 c40 (Link to this contribution)

I think the right hon. Lady did not hear what I said earlier. I said that I can confirm that we a...

Yvette Cooper | 710 c41 (Link to this contribution)

That would be very helpful. But we also need to know when this visa application centre will be se...

Dan Carden | 710 c41 (Link to this contribution)

Are not the Government and the Home Secretary absolutely out of step with the British public on t...

Yvette Cooper | 710 c41 (Link to this contribution)

I think the public want to see us doing our bit, and that is not what is happening. What people a...

Priti Patel | 710 c41 (Link to this contribution)

I appreciate that this is now becoming a much wider debate, but on Friday we launched an extended...

Lindsay Hoyle | 710 c41 (Link to this contribution)

I think I need to come in here, just for a minute. At the end of this debate I expect the Ministe...

Yvette Cooper | 710 cc41-2 (Link to this contribution)

I am grateful, Mr Speaker, because there are some very serious questions.

The Home Secretar...

Stella Creasy | 710 c42 (Link to this contribution)

As of an hour ago, there was a poster up in Calais that says simply, “No visas delivered in Calai...

Yvette Cooper | 710 c42 (Link to this contribution)

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. If we in this House are so confused and cannot follow this ch...

Stephen Flynn | 710 c42 (Link to this contribution)

On the topic of confusion, is the right hon. Lady as concerned as I am about the fact that the Ho...

Yvette Cooper | 710 c42 (Link to this contribution)

Clearly we need updated figures, but my understanding is that 50 visas is the figure issued by th...

Kevin Hollinrake | 710 c42 (Link to this contribution)

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. We have been waiting for the economic crime Bill for many years....

Lindsay Hoyle | 710 c42 (Link to this contribution)

I make the decisions, and I think it is all right. What I would say, in fairness, is that the Hom...

Yvette Cooper | 710 cc42-3 (Link to this contribution)

Thank you. Mr Speaker. The concern for the House is that the Home Secretary has provided informat...

Matt Western | 710 c43 (Link to this contribution)

The question I was hoping to put to the Home Secretary was very simply whether she could illustra...

Yvette Cooper | 710 c44 (Link to this contribution)

My hon. Friend is right that we need clarity about how the legislation will work in practice and ...

Yvette Cooper | 710 c44 (Link to this contribution)

I will take one final intervention.

Rushanara Ali | 710 c44 (Link to this contribution)

Does my right hon. Friend agree that it is deeply concerning that the now Lord Lebedev, despite w...

Lindsay Hoyle | 710 c44 (Link to this contribution)

Order. We cannot name a Member of the other place, unless it is on a substantive motion, so that ...

Yvette Cooper | 710 c44 (Link to this contribution)

Given the seriousness of this matter and the seriousness of the allegations that security advice ...

Lindsay Hoyle | 710 c44 (Link to this contribution)

I start off by saying that I expect Members to take around five minutes.

4.38 pm

David Davis | 710 cc44-5 (Link to this contribution)

Given the nature of the debate, I will try to make my simple points in three minutes. [Interrupti...

Iain Duncan Smith | 710 c45 (Link to this contribution)

I want my right hon. Friend to extend his speech slightly. Does he agree—I hope my right hon. Fri...

David Davis | 710 cc45-6 (Link to this contribution)

I am pretty sure that they will hear that warning when they look back at this debate.

I do ...

Baroness Winterton of Doncaster | 710 c46 (Link to this contribution)

I call SNP spokesperson Alison Thewliss.

4.43 pm

Alison Thewliss | 710 c46 (Link to this contribution)

SNP Members are delighted to see this well-overdue Bill. We have called for action on these issue...

Stewart Hosie | 710 c46 (Link to this contribution)

My hon. Friend is absolutely right about where the money was stolen from, and many of the kleptoc...

Alison Thewliss | 710 cc46-7 (Link to this contribution)

My right hon. Friend is absolutely correct to point that out. This money has been around the worl...

Lord Beamish | 710 c47 (Link to this contribution)

Does the hon. Lady agree that full transparency at Companies House of who owns companies is in ev...

Alison Thewliss | 710 c48 (Link to this contribution)

That is a fair point, and I absolutely agree. I will speak in the sanctions part of my speech abo...

Liam Byrne | 710 c48 (Link to this contribution)

Does the hon. Lady share my concern that there are still 11,000 companies at Companies House that...

Alison Thewliss | 710 c48 (Link to this contribution)

I absolutely agree. I was going to speak about Scottish limited partnerships later but will jump ...

John Baron | 710 c49 (Link to this contribution)

I can tell the hon. Lady that there are concerns across the House on this issue, as she can see f...

Alison Thewliss | 710 cc49-50 (Link to this contribution)

I very much agree with the hon. Member and acknowledge the strength of cross-party support in the...

Baroness Winterton of Doncaster | 710 c50 (Link to this contribution)

Order. I am going to introduce a five-minute time limit. However, I am sure that right hon. and h...

Robert Neill | 710 cc50-1 (Link to this contribution)

Thank you very much, Madam Deputy Speaker. This is an important Bill, and it is an exceptional Bi...

Baroness Hodge of Barking | 710 cc51-2 (Link to this contribution)

I will try to keep my remarks short. Like others in the House, I welcome the Bill, but it should ...

John Baron | 710 c52 (Link to this contribution)

Is the right hon. Lady as concerned as I am that some estimates put the cost to this country of e...

Baroness Hodge of Barking | 710 cc52-3 (Link to this contribution)

No, of course not; I completely concur. The latest figure I have seen for the cost of economic cr...

Nigel Mills | 710 c53 (Link to this contribution)

It is a pleasure to speak in this debate and to follow the right hon. Member for Barking (Dame Ma...

Robert Neill | 710 c53 (Link to this contribution)

My hon. Friend makes a good point: this is not just for this crisis. He will have seen the excell...

Nigel Mills | 710 cc53-4 (Link to this contribution)

I agree with my hon. Friend, but that matter is beyond my expertise or interest; my interest is i...

Layla Moran | 710 c54 (Link to this contribution)

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Amber Valley (Nigel Mills), and I associate myself...

Kim Johnson | 710 c54 (Link to this contribution)

The hon. Lady is making an excellent speech. Does she agree that actions speak louder than words?...

Layla Moran | 710 cc54-5 (Link to this contribution)

I thank the hon. Lady for her intervention, and she is right. I do not say this in any other spir...

John Penrose | 710 cc55-6 (Link to this contribution)

At bleeding last! It is here. We have been waiting for years. Alleluia! It has finally arrived.

Bob Stewart | 710 c56 (Link to this contribution)

I thank my very good friend for allowing me to intervene. I hope and presume that this Bill will ...

John Penrose | 710 c56 (Link to this contribution)

That is a question that I think the Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial ...

Kevin Hollinrake | 710 c57 (Link to this contribution)

New clauses 14 and 27 both deal with the establishment of a commission for the protection of whis...

John Penrose | 710 c57 (Link to this contribution)

I acknowledge that point. I am not sure whether the Government will be able to accept those propo...

Baroness Winterton of Doncaster | 710 c57 (Link to this contribution)

Order. I have no problem with interventions, but it would be helpful to other colleagues, especia...

Peter Dowd | 710 cc57-9 (Link to this contribution)

The Bill is a first step, but the proof of the pudding will be in the eating. It should not have ...

Saqib Bhatti | 710 cc59-60 (Link to this contribution)

I refer to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests as a practising chartered acc...

Andy Slaughter | 710 cc60-1 (Link to this contribution)

I am sure we all agree that the Bill is urgent and that it is good as far as it goes, but it is i...

Bim Afolami | 710 cc61-3 (Link to this contribution)

Many of my colleagues— interestingly, more on the Conservative Benches—are fond of quoting Lenin ...

Lord Beamish | 710 cc63-4 (Link to this contribution)

I too welcome the Bill, but it angers and saddens me that it has taken the invasion of a European...

Peter Gibson | 710 cc64-5 (Link to this contribution)

I welcome the Economic Crime Bill and am pleased that the Government have brought it forward. It ...

Alyn Smith | 710 cc65-6 (Link to this contribution)

We support the Bill and its aims, for which we have long since been calling, but we are highly fr...

John Baron | 710 cc66-7 (Link to this contribution)

It is an inconvenient truth that no matter how good the legislation, no matter how robust the rul...

Stephen Flynn | 710 cc67-8 (Link to this contribution)

I have been listening closely to a lot of the contributions made by Members across the House. It ...

Matt Hancock | 710 cc68-9 (Link to this contribution)

I rise to support the Bill, and I am delighted to hear the full-throated support across the House...

Jim Shannon | 710 cc69-71 (Link to this contribution)

I am pleased to be called to speak in this debate. As others have said, and as I recognise, none ...

Nickie Aiken | 710 c71 (Link to this contribution)

I am sadly fully aware that my constituency holds potentially the largest matryoshka doll of Russ...

Siobhan Baillie | 710 c71 (Link to this contribution)

I welcome the Bill and I share the desire to look carefully at the enforcement issues that have d...

Nickie Aiken | 710 cc71-2 (Link to this contribution)

I completely agree with my hon. Friend. We must remember that many Russians are living in this co...

Jonathan Reynolds | 710 cc72-3 (Link to this contribution)

We all know that a week can be a long time in politics but, amazingly, it is just 40 days since t...

Sammy Wilson | 710 c73 (Link to this contribution)

Does the hon. Member accept that it is one thing to have a register and insist that people fill i...

Jonathan Reynolds | 710 c73 (Link to this contribution)

I understand the right hon. Member’s scepticism, and he is of course right to acknowledge, as we ...

David Davis | 710 c73 (Link to this contribution)

The issue of the register is obviously important, but I do not think it answers all the questions...

Jonathan Reynolds | 710 c73 (Link to this contribution)

The right hon. Member pre-empts my comments about the timescale for implementation and the worrie...

Lord Beamish | 710 c73 (Link to this contribution)

On transparency, and I raised this with the Home Secretary when she was here, there is the issue ...

Jonathan Reynolds | 710 cc74-5 (Link to this contribution)

My right hon. Friend’s point about donations is absolutely well made. His earlier point was about...

John Baron | 710 c75 (Link to this contribution)

Very briefly, we are going to see a second economic crime Bill come through, and I think it would...

Jonathan Reynolds | 710 c75 (Link to this contribution)

I am always happy to be of service to the hon. Gentleman, and we will be looking to do that. He w...

David Davis | 710 c75 (Link to this contribution)

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Jonathan Reynolds | 710 cc75-6 (Link to this contribution)

I feel I must proceed so we can go into Committee, given how important this is.

To conclude...

Paul Scully | 710 c76 (Link to this contribution)

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Stalybridge and Hyde (Jonathan Reynolds) and I tha...

John Baron | 710 c76 (Link to this contribution)

The Minister is absolutely right and this Bill is of course welcome, although many of us believe ...

Paul Scully | 710 cc76-7 (Link to this contribution)

I will come to those figures because I totally agree with my hon. Friend that the rules and new l...

Angela Eagle | 710 c77 (Link to this contribution)

We on the Treasury Committee have just published a report on economic crime and some of the evide...

Paul Scully | 710 c77 (Link to this contribution)

I am thinking of the word bailiwick rather than bivouac, but I hope the hon. Lady will agree that...

Peter Dowd | 710 c77 (Link to this contribution)

On Second Reading of the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018, the Prime Minister, who wa...

Paul Scully | 710 c77 (Link to this contribution)

I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising that because the now shadow Chancellor boasted afterwards ...

Matt Hancock | 710 c77 (Link to this contribution)

Will the Minister welcome the conversion of the Labour party to supporting strengthening the sanc...

Paul Scully | 710 c78 (Link to this contribution)

I agree that it is, but let us come back to a sense of unity. We have had some ding-dongs through...

Kevin Hollinrake | 710 c78 (Link to this contribution)

The transition period—the debate on the timescale of 18 months, six months or 28 days—is key. Doe...

Paul Scully | 710 c78 (Link to this contribution)

He will, and I thank my hon. Friend for his work and for raising that. I will come back to his po...

Paul Scully | 710 c78 (Link to this contribution)

Before giving way further, I want to acknowledge that I am very aware of the strength of feeling ...

Baroness Hodge of Barking | 710 c79 (Link to this contribution)

I am interested in where the Minister has got his information from, because I have not seen that ...

Paul Scully | 710 c79 (Link to this contribution)

No, indeed. If the right hon. Lady looks at the Panama papers, I think she will see that they cit...

Layla Moran | 710 c79 (Link to this contribution)

The Minister will be aware of amendment 4—we will discuss it in Committee—which asks why there is...

Paul Scully | 710 cc79-80 (Link to this contribution)

I will happily talk about that amendment in Committee. However, I take the hon. Member’s point an...

Paul Scully | 710 c80 (Link to this contribution)

I will give way one last time.

Gavin Robinson | 710 c80 (Link to this contribution)

I am grateful to the Minister. He will know—I raised this with him earlier—that there was confusi...

Paul Scully | 710 c80 (Link to this contribution)

Yes, the Bill does contain provisions relating to the register of overseas entities and unexplain...

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