United Kingdom

    Shamefaced David Cameron faces a public grilling over his personal tax affairs amid questions about a second secret stash of shares worth £72,000. The under-fire Prime Minister will make a humiliating statement to Parliament after his tax returns showed he secretly sold off another huge tranche of shares in 2010 alongside the £31,000 stake in his dad’s offshore fund. Downing Street is refusing to say which other investment funds or private firms the PM held a stake in - and if any more of them were based in dodgy tax havens. “There are big questions that have to be put to him by Parliament,” Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said. After a week of pressure Mr Cameron finally published details of his last six annual tax returns on Saturday night, revealing a huge second income as ...

    The SNP has said David Cameron's Cabinet should follow in his steps and publish any links they have with tax havens. Angus Robertson, Westminster leader of the Scottish National Party, told Sky's Murnaghan programme: "We have heard absolutely nothing about other members of the Cabinet. "Where is the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne? Has he made a declaration that he has never ever benefited from offshore trusts? "What about other Treasury ministers? Have they ever benefited from offshore trusts? "I think the publishing of the tax returns by the Prime Minister is welcome, but it doesn't answer these wider questions and it is something that this week they are not going to get away from. "If the Prime Minister doesn't make a statement to Parliament tomorrow the SNP ...

    Geordie lasses top a shameful league table of Britain’s most drunk women. They have been punished with more £80 on-the-spot fines for nuisance public boozing than females in any other region, police figures uncovered by the Sunday People reveal. An alarming total of 4,629 were dished out by Northumbria Police, which patrols Newcastle, in six years. Second worst-hit was Lancashire, which includes the hen party mecca Blackpool, with 3,596 of the fines. In third place with 3,410 of the cash penalties was Merseyside, where Liverpool city centre’s array of bars and clubs lures thousands of party girls every weekend. All top three regions were well ahead of fourth-placed London, despite having far smaller populations than the capital. The rise in anti-social drunkenness by young...

    David Cameron stands to avoid up to £80,000 in inheritance tax after his mother gave him £200,000 following the death of his father, it emerged on Saturday, as the Prime Minister took the unprecedented step of publishing details of his tax returns. Under current tax rules, Mr Cameron would be able to legitimately avoid paying inheritance tax, which could be as much as 40 per cent, if his 82-year-old mother Mary lives for another two years. The approach is commonly used by tens of thousands of families a year to help reduce their tax liabilities by using a “lifetime gift”. However, a Downing Street source was unable to say whether the money from Mrs Cameron came from his father’s offshore investments. A Downing Street source last night said that Mrs Cameron's decision to gi...

    The governments of two notorious tax havens have repeatedly ignored UK ministers’ requests to meet about cracking down on corporate tax avoidance of the kind detailed on the so-called Panama Papers, The Independent can reveal. Official letters obtained using freedom of information rules show humiliated ministers “disappointed” at being stood-up after “numerous attempts” to meet with the premiers of the British Virgin Island and Cayman Islands. Campaigners reacted to the letters by berating the Government’s “meek” and “softly-softly” approach towards the havens, while Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has accused the Government of “pussyfooting” around the issue. The revelation comes after a massive data leak from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca which shows it registered mo...

    David Cameron will try and rally the Conservative troops later ahead of next month's local elections, amid division in the party over Europe and the continued fallout from the Panama Papers row about his father's business affairs. The Prime Minister will aim to shift the focus onto his party's record in office after a torrid few weeks, which has also included the resignation of Cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith. Mr Cameron has also been accused of "misleading the public" after admitting he made money from shares in an investment fund operated by his late father Ian. Downing Street had initially said Mr Cameron's financial affairs were a "private matter", before backtracking. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has called on the PM to make a statement in Parliament setting out his...

    A brave young woman had to be brought back from the dead three times after her heart stopped when she caught a life threatening infection during cancer treatment. Jessica Morgan Price was 19 when she was diagnosed with leukaemia and needed immediate treatment including chemotherapy and a line put directly into her chest to give her blood. But the tube, known as a Hickman line, left her with a life-threatening condition and she had to be put on life support after suffering multiple organ failure, collapsed lungs and several other complications, Wales Online reports. Doctors put Jessica, from Porthcawl, South Wales, in an induced coma and her family was prepared to say their goodbyes. The now 21-year-old said: “I ended up in intensive care and I was put into an induced coma....

    David Cameron is facing mounting pressure to be fully transparent about his previous finances after finally admitting he benefited from a Panama-based offshore company set up by his late father. After three days of stalling and four partial statements issued by Downing Street, on Thursday night the prime minister confessed that he owned shares in a tax haven fund, which he sold for £31,500 just before he became prime minister in 2010. Labour said the admission had failed to draw a line under the matter and demanded full disclosure on what other financial arrangements Cameron benefited from as an MP and leader of the opposition. Owen Smith, the shadow work and pensions secretary, said Cameron still had questions to answer. Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Smith sa...

    To celebrate the Queen's 90th Birthday on 21 April, the Royal Mint has produced a special commemorative £5 coin, and some people will be getting it for free. The coin, designed by artist Christopher Hobbs, was inspired by the heraldic rose, and the Queen's passion for flowers. It will cost £13, but there's one group of people who will be able to get their hands on a coin for free. They are being given out to anyone who shares their 90th birthday with the Queen. The coin issue follows a royal tradition. There were coins made for the Queen's 70th and 80th birthday, and a £5 coin released to mark the fact that the Queen became the longest reigning monarch last year. There are also numerous coins minted to celebrate a whole host of Royal events from jubilees to weddings and to...

    David Cameron personally intervened to prevent EU transparency rules affecting offshore tax trusts despite warnings it could create a loophole for tax dodgers, it has emerged. The Prime Minister sent a letter that successfully argued for trusts to be treated differently to companies in anti-money laundering rules. Mr Cameron wrote to the then-European Council president Herman van Rompuy, claiming that it was "clearly important we recognise the important differences between companies and trusts". "This means that the solution for addressing the potential misuse of companies, such as central public registries, may well not be appropriate generally," the letter said, according to the Financial Times. Judith Sargentini, the Dutch MEP who led the European Parliament's work on t...