It is a great pleasure to follow my right hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill (Liam Byrne). I applaud his commitment and thoroughness in the work that he has done.
I rise to support new clauses 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 21. Economic crime is usually committed in the shadows, yet its impact is as clear as day: there are the American candy stores down Oxford Street, there are thousands of empty flats in London and—closer to my home—in Liverpool and Manchester, and we know how dirty money laundered here has financed the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The crimes that the Bill aims to prevent are so often shrouded in secrecy. The Bill is necessary, as we can all agree, but the Government need to do it right. They need to accommodate sensible amendments—notably those investigated and researched by groups such as the all-party parliamentary group on anti-corruption and responsible tax, which my right hon. Friend the Member for Barking (Dame Margaret Hodge) has led tirelessly. Indeed, the Minister—the hon. Member for Thirsk and Malton (Kevin Hollinrake)—co-signed the manifesto on which many of today’s amendments are based, so I would expect him to support them. I urge him to do so.
New clauses 1 and 2 are crucial to getting a grip on the London laundromat. Journalists are the fourth estate in our society. They investigate and shed light on the secrecy that surrounds economic crime, yet only this week it was reported that journalist Eliot Higgins was hounded by a British law firm that was given permission by the Government to work on behalf of the murderous and barbaric Wagner Group. My right hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill has clearly outlined what has come out today and what he has been researching.
Wealthy oligarchs cannot be allowed to use English courts to threaten journalists with huge legal costs. If these wealthy individuals are able to abuse their wealth and power, no light will be shed on the secret world of economic crime.
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New clauses 4 to 6 aim to introduce a corporate offence of failing to prevent economic crime. They are critical to removing the veil of secrecy. Fraud, false accounting, money laundering, bribery and tax evasion are witnessed by finance directors, accountants and chief executives.
Whether they are willing participants, trying to keep quiet or, crucially, failing to take action, it must be a crime. Ignorance or neglect cannot be a defence, but it is not only senior management who should be held responsible. If senior management were involved, or knew and did nothing, the corporation must be liable. After all, a business is the people who work for it. Corporations are not faceless bodies. Putting the responsibility on the individual and the corporation will help to create a culture of transparency, which is one of the core purposes of the Bill—to bring economic crime out of the shadows.
New clause 7 covers whistleblowers, possibly the most important issue of all. As I have said, the best way to prevent economic crime is by removing the veil of secrecy. Whistleblowers provide the sunlight to do just that. Economic crime is not committed by faceless organisations, it is committed by people. If the Government introduce the protections for whistleblowers outlined in new clause 7, they will help law enforcement to do its job. Having laws in place to prosecute economic crime will do little unless whistleblowers can alert law enforcement agencies, but it is important to remember that whistleblowers are people and they have families and livelihoods to protect. Far too many lives have been shattered by a failure to protect whistleblowers. If the Government want to remove the veil of secrecy surrounding economic crime, protecting whistleblowers simply must be part of the strategy.
The past year has put a spotlight on the work that my right hon. Friends the Members for Barking and for Birmingham, Hodge Hill, my hon. Friend the Member for Rhondda (Sir Chris Bryant) and many others have done to put a spotlight on economic crime. Russia’s actions towards Ukraine have brought about the political will and urgency to get this Bill passed. The oligarchs, dictators and their supporters have had their money here for decades. The Bill needs to make sure that Britain is not a safe haven for economic crime. The veil of secrecy must be lifted and it must never return. It is not who we are. Britain should be playing no part in propping up their regimes.
I urge the Government to use the good will they have on this Bill and to support the new clauses I have mentioned. They should not waste this opportunity. The new clauses are bipartisan and based on evidence and politics. It is sickening and heartrending to see what is going on in Great Britain, America, China and Russia. Around the world, people are asking, “What is going on? What are politicians doing?” Many of us are ashamed and cannot hold our heads high. I urge the Government to give the public something worth having. The Bill gives us huge opportunities. I know the people on the Government Front Bench, I know where their hearts are, and I ask them to be brave, to use this opportunity to the maximum for today and tomorrow—it can be finalised in the future.