Prime Minister David Cameron will announce new laws in the House of Commons on Monday with the aim of tackling tax evasion, but is expected to face a firestorm over his own financial affairs in the wake of the Panama Papers leak.
Following a torrid week, during which Cameron found himself and his family under siege after revelations over his father’s offshore trust and his wife’s £53,000 (US$75,000) taxpayer-funded stylist, the embattled PM published some of his financial records on Sunday.
The release of tax details came grudgingly after four carefully-worded statements from his advisers on his tax history over the course of the week.
He has since admitted that he mishandled the disclosure and that he did profit from the sale of his portion of his late father’s fund.
His records also showed he received a £200,000 ‘gift’ from his mother which some commentators are claiming was given as a means of avoiding inheritance tax.
The laws he is expected to announce will make firms criminally liable if their employees aid in tax evasion.
Speaking ahead of what is likely to be a fraught appearance in the Commons on Monday, Cameron said: “This government has done more than any other to take action against corruption in all its forms, but we will go further.
“That is why we will legislate this year to hold companies who fail to stop their employees facilitating tax evasion criminally liable,” he added.
Saturday saw thousands of people attend a rally outside Cameron’s official residence at 10 Downing Street to call for the PM’s resignation. It is possible that opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn will go for the political jugular in the House of Commons on Monday.
On Sunday the Labour leader told the BBC that the Panama revelations proved there is “one rule for the rich, one for the rest” and called on MPs of all parties to publish their tax records in order for there to be trust.
“Day by day, a little bit more comes out about the prime minister’s tax arrangements,” he said, calling the Panama leaks as a whole just “the tip of a very large iceberg.”