THE Isle of Man’s Chief Minister Allan Bell has accused Labour Party leader Ed Milliband of an “ill-informed attack” on the Island by claiming British offshore finance centres are hiding the identity of tax evaders.
In a series of articles published at the weekend in the national press including The Observer, Guardian and Independent, Mr Milliband launched a scathing attack on the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, claiming the UK government was losing billions in tax revenue.
The Labour leader’s weekend statement called for an end to UK “tax havens”, starting with the Channel Islands and Isle of Man. He said the government should "start with diplomacy" to try to encourage tax havens to reform. But if that fails, the opposition said ministers should threaten to put them on an international blacklist.
The policy, which would be included in Labour's 2015 manifesto, is designed to show Mr Milliband is acting on reducing the UK's deficit amid ongoing questions about his leadership and the party's economic credibility.
However, speaking on Manx Radio’s ‘Sunday Opinion’, where he was by coincidence the programme’s guest, Mr Bell said the Labour leader did not have his facts straight when talking about the Isle of Man’s role in exchange of information agreements.
“It’s quite an astonishing statement to make, but you must look at Ed Milliband’s own position at the moment. He has been under severe attack for lack of leadership, lack of impact on the national political scene and he is striving hard at the moment to be seen as a tough hard fighting leader, especially in attacking the excesses of what he sees as ‘disfunctional capitalism’’.
“He is clearly re-launching the “Milliband Brand”, but he needs to assess what the true position is.
“The Isle of Man was placed on the OECD White List at the G20 meeting in 2009. In Cannes last year the Isle of Man was placed in top echelons and amongst the top ten countries on the “White List” of working very co-operatively and effectively with the OECD.
The Isle of Man was the first small jurisdiction to voluntarily sign up for automatically exchanging information with the UK and the whole of European Union. The Isle of Man has been very much at the forefront of co-operation with OECD nations . . we are very aware of the international agenda and we follow this very closely.
“This latest attack, I believe is an ill-informed attack by a Labour leader trying to re-establish himself who is himself under attack and he is looking for scapegoats and the Isle of Man and the Crown dependencies have found themselves the target on this occasion.”
According to the Observer, Mr Milliband wants the UK government to force the authorities in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man to reveal the names of tax evaders.
The Independent on Sunday said that UK tax experts estimate that as much as £2.4bn could be raised by calling time on UK tax havens.
Richard Murphy, director of Tax Research UK, said, "Breaking tax haven secrecy is essential to collecting the tax that's the alternative to cuts."
A party source said, "We would start with diplomacy, as that is what has worked in the past. And if they won't comply voluntarily the government should repeat the tough stance the last Labour government took with them - threatening to put them on the OECD blacklist if they remain uncooperative, which would discourage investors into these tax havens."
An official response to Mr Milliband’s comments is expected from the Chief Minister’s Office later today (MOnday).
