Joe Powell
MP for Kensington and Bayswater · Labour · United Kingdom
“T7. I warmly welcome the Government’s swift introduction of the National Security (State Threats) Act 2026, which received Royal Assent last week. The activities of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have caused huge concern across the country and in particular to my Iranian and Jewish communities.”
“My constituent Billy Hood, a son and father, has spent more than five years in a prison in the United Arab Emirates after being convicted of possessing trace amounts of cannabidiol vape oil.”
“T2. This week it was revealed that Thames Water had slowed its reporting of pollution incidents by 70% since 2022, which is yet another example of institutional failure that has hurt residents across the region.”
“I note the recent data showing that support for renewables in this country is now at 81% of the public. Certainly, in every visit that I make to meet young people, including students at Imperial College London, climate change is one of the first issues they raise; they are concerned about the future that they are going to inherit.”
“People want politicians to serve their interests, not those of billionaires or millionaires based overseas, whether they are in the US, Russia, Thailand or, indeed, Montenegro. The revelations of the last few days have shown how important it is to update our rules.”
“I welcome the focus on supporting low and middle-income households. The Minister will know that after the July 2021 floods in central London, denial of flood insurance or punitive excesses for people living in blocks of four or more flats has been a serious problem. That is a big chunk of my constituents.”
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“I would therefore welcome any clarification from the Minister on the total investment in the CSR needed to meet our housing targets, in particular on the affordable and social component. Advancing the Bill alongside new investment in the CSR could be transformative. We owe it to the constituents I mentioned earlier—to Sansha, Lacey and the thousands of children trapped in unsuitable and unsafe housing—to get this right. It will be a landmark legacy of this Labour Government to finally get Britain building again.”
“The Bill sits alongside other crucial housing measures that the Government are taking, including the biggest investment in social and affordable housing in a generation, leasehold reform, stronger protection for renters, a new decent homes standard and the implementation of Awaab’s law. If we are serious about tackling the housing crisis, this ambition must also be reflected in the comprehensive spending review—this is not just day-to-day spending, but long-term public investment. That is exactly why the Chancellor took the bold decisions in the Budget to increase the capital available for investment and reverse more than a decade of under-investment and short-termism.”
“I could not agree more. That is why the devolution of fee setting is so important. It should enable an improvement in the capacity of planning departments and the training for councillors on planning committees to make those decisions effectively. I also thank all the resident associations in my constituency who put time and effort into engaging in the planning system and who are passionate about making it work for our community. Their role will continue in the local plan and in applications that rise to the planning committee, contrary to some of the scaremongering we have heard in the debate.”
“I thank my hon. Friend for the powerful way in which he is introducing the Bill. Will he recognise the work of pioneering teams such as the one at Charing Cross hospital, under Imperial College healthcare NHS trust, where Professor Michael Seckl is leading the way in groundbreaking treatment for and research on gestational trophoblastic disease and germ cell tumours? Does he agree that those centres need support to expand and share their research findings with the rest of the NHS?”
“During the holy month of Ramadan, will my right hon. Friend join me in paying tribute to the Almanaar Muslim cultural centre in north Kensington, which played such a pivotal role after Grenfell and throughout the pandemic, and which is now inspiring as a place of worship, a community kitchen, a nursery and so much more? Will she join me in wishing all Muslims in Britain Ramadan Mubarak?”
“Next thing you know, two hours have passed, and you’ve done nothing productive.” She asks whether this is truly the future we want for our children, or whether we will look back and regret it. Her message is that young people want control over their screens, not the other way around, and they need our help to make that happen now.”
“When he saw what had happened post-covid, with that toxic combination of isolation and smartphone addiction, he extended the school day, making it a voluntary 12-hour school day, with breakfast at 7 am and supervised study classes, cooking and extracurricular activities in the evening. He has managed to break that cycle—he is a pioneering head. I want that for every child in the country, not just those students. The final word goes to Zayneb, who attends school in my constituency, and who has been watching from the Gallery all day. She said to me: “You say you’re just going to check a message, but suddenly you’ve fallen into the black hole of posts, YouTube videos, and endless scrolling.”
“It is the issue we are debating today that most worries paediatricians. Although there will always be calls for more evidence of causality, it is time, as others have said, to flip that narrative. We should challenge those who want to go slow on this issue to come up with any plausible alternative cause of the recent mental health trends. Next week, the House will discuss the huge rise in incapacity benefit, including for people with mental health challenges. If we want to tackle that issue, we must tackle the root causes such as the one we are discussing today, which will fail not only our children, but our future prosperity. In the last 30 seconds of my speech, I want to give one story of hope from Andrew O’Neill, headmaster at All Saints Catholic college in north Kensington, who was recently awarded headteacher of the year.”
“In the brief time available to me, I want to reinforce my tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Whitehaven and Workington (Josh MacAlister) for his excellent work in leading the Bill, which I have been proud to sponsor. In the hearings over the past few months, it has been eye-opening to see parents and campaigners face to face with tech executives, regulators and others, who have been either unwilling or unable to act to tackle this problem head-on. I will pass on three messages to the Minister in the two minutes that I have. On health, at a recent event with local campaigners in Kensington and Bayswater, a doctor shocked the room when she said that the impact of excessive phone and social media use on children is now the main concern among her paediatrician peers—not pollution, not smoking, not diet.”
“We need an urgent review of the requirement for the commission to submit a strategy and policy statement to the Government. I believe that was part of an entirely confected agenda on voter fraud in the Elections Act 2022. I hope we will repeal that as soon as possible. Finally, I believe it is now time to consider caps on political donations. The previous Government’s massive increase in spending limits and the increasing reliance on major donors has convinced me that a well-enforced cap would be healthy for our democracy. This is an issue that should unite us as a House. It is about the health of our democracy. There is a lot more we need to do: votes at 16, automatic voter registration, improving citizenship education, and ensuring citizens have a voice between elections and not just at them.”
“They are easy to set up, we do not know who are behind them and there are no transparency requirements in law for donations to candidates, as opposed to political parties or campaigners. I hope that in a future elections Bill, the Government will introduce reforms to clamp down on those loopholes, including provisions on identifying people responsible for unincorporated associations, permissibility checks for political donations and lower reporting thresholds. We have already heard that company donations are a big issue. I fully endorse the proposals made on the issue by my hon. Friend the Member for South Dorset. Thirdly, we need robust independent oversight and to restore the independence of the Electoral Commission.”
“Other Members have covered the threat to the UK, and I would like to pay tribute to Transparency International UK, Spotlight on Corruption and all the other great organisations helping to shine a light on the issue. I will move on swiftly to some areas on which I hope the Minister will consider reforms: transparency, company donations, the Electoral Commission and a cap. On transparency, unincorporated associations, as we have heard, are particularly vulnerable to abuse. Since 2010, over £40 million has come through unincorporated associations and we have no idea where 95% of that money came from. As it stands, they are not required to check that those who donate to them are permissible, so they could be foreign donors.”
“I lived in Washington DC for almost 10 years and saw at first hand the impact of that system, including the world’s richest man spending a quarter of a billion dollars to bankroll the last election. When billionaires and corporate interests drown out the voices of everyone else, we should not be surprised that people lose faith in democracy working for them. It continues to amaze me that representatives of Reform, who unsurprisingly have not turned up for this debate, seem eager to take that approach to politics. They preach populism on the one hand, while courting foreign billionaires and their policy agendas on the other. That is not in keeping with British values. But this is also about places such as Moldova and other countries where we have seen Russian operatives shipping money in to buy elections. We should not be complacent.”
“I thank my hon. Friend the Member for South Dorset (Lloyd Hatton), who plays an instrumental role in the all-party parliamentary group on anti-corruption and responsible tax, for securing this important debate. I was really proud to stand on a manifesto commitment to strengthen the rules on donations to political parties, and I welcome the Government’s commitment to bring forward an elections Bill in due course. I hope today’s debate will help inform what is in that future Bill, because as others have said, restoring trust in our political system and ensuring that everyone has a voice in the decisions that affect their lives is absolutely crucial to British democracy. We know from international evidence the risk of allowing ever increasing amounts of money to dominate politics.”
“At the recent lunar new year celebrations, I met democracy activists who have had bounties placed on them. The fear in the room was palpable. People chose not to attend the event so that they would not be photographed with people who have a bounty on their head. I fear that that chilling effect is already very real. I thank the Minister for confirming that transnational repression is being looked at by the defending democracy taskforce, but could he give us a bit more detail on the practical measures that can be put in place now to better protect those in the UK with a bounty on their head, and their family members still in Hong Kong, for whom they are deeply concerned, given the possible knock-on effects for them?”
“I thank the Minister for his reference to money laundering. He will know full well the extent to which Iran uses illicit financial networks to evade sanctions and to fund hostile activities. Will the Minister update us on what the Government are doing to follow the money and disrupt those money laundering networks, particularly those used by proxies and enablers in the UK?”
“10. What discussions he has had with the Electoral Commission on the arrangements for the publication of the first strategy and policy statement.”
“The Elections Act 2022 passed by the previous Government imposed a strategy and policy statement on the Electoral Commission, undermining its independence for some confected agenda about voter fraud, and eroding trust and confidence in the commission. Does the right hon. and learned Gentleman agree that the best course of action would be not to publish a further strategy and policy statement until such a time as the legislation can be reviewed?”
“The council’s culture desperately needs to change and there needs to be an improvement in the quality of services in our community today.”
“I know the Government have looked seriously at the inquiry recommendations, and I welcome the commitment to meaningful change across all of them, but too often recommendations from public inquiries fail to be implemented. Indeed, if the lessons from previous fires had been learned, including at Lakanal House in 2009, then lives would have been saved—this was avoidable. Will the Deputy Prime Minister assure me that the Government will consider a strong oversight mechanism to ensure accountability for implementing what has been set out today, so that it lasts beyond any one Government and leads to real change? Will she also provide further detail on how she plans to ensure accountability for the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, given their culpability before, during and after the fire?”
“I thank the Deputy Prime Minister for her statement today and the Prime Minister for his statement on 4 September, which made it clear that the lessons from Grenfell are central to this Government’s missions. Today is another painful step towards truth, justice and change for the bereaved families of the 72 people who lost their lives at Grenfell, the survivors and the community in my constituency of Kensington and Bayswater, many of whom have joined us today. I pay tribute again to their strength and resilience. The fight for justice, now nearly eight years long, will continue after today, and every day, until we have criminal prosecutions and true accountability for those responsible, including those companies referenced in the inquiry report.”
“T7. I warmly welcome the massive sanctions package announced yesterday by the Government, but does the Foreign Secretary agree that China should be taking a significantly more proactive role in preventing its companies from supplying Russia’s military?”
“I warmly welcome the Prime Minister’s statement. In particular, I know that the Ukrainian forces on the frontlines will be reassured today. Clearly, the aid spending decision will not have been taken lightly, but following reductions at the US Agency for International Development, it does mean tens of billions out of the global aid system, which could be exploited by Russia and China. Will the Prime Minister consider a deadline for ending the accounting of asylum costs to the aid budget, which is currently 28%, or £4.2 billion of money that should be used on aid spending overseas?”
“I thank my hon. Friend for his private Member’s Bill, which I wholeheartedly support. On the subject of evidence, pilots are increasingly being undertaken, such as the one in the “Swiped” documentary that was referenced earlier. I met 70 parents at All Saints Catholic college in my constituency two weeks ago to discuss this topic, and they have seen, from the school’s own evidence base, the impact of a much stricter smartphone policy. We are starting to see both the evidence of the harms, as my hon. Friend talked about, and interesting pilots that show the improvements that could be achieved by measures such as the internet age of consent and a stronger policy in schools.”
“T9. In recent years, the UK has slid down the international league table on tackling corruption. Given the threat of corruption to our democracy, economy and national security, will the Minister say whether the Government intend to publish a new comprehensive anti-corruption strategy?”
“It was, in fact, a Conservative Secretary of State who forced fare rises on Transport for London in exchange for covid emergency funding. What steps will my right hon. Friend take to put TfL on a better footing in the future, including backing great projects such as the one in my constituency to upgrade and provide step-free access at one of the busiest stations in the country at South Kensington?”
“The devastation in Gaza needs a strong international coalition focused on reconstruction, humanitarian aid and a pathway to a negotiated two-state solution with a viable Palestinian state, not speculation about handing over territory and forced displacement. On humanitarian aid, two pieces of legislation have now come into effect that will ban UNRWA operations in areas under Israeli occupation. What actions are the Government taking to prevent the largest humanitarian aid operation in Gaza from collapsing, with the devastating consequences that would have on Palestinians?”
“That allows the UK property market to continue as a laundromat for illicit finance. I ask the Government to look at closing this loophole and adding trusts to the property register as soon as possible.”
“The BVI has a population of less than a quarter of my constituency, so it would be highly surprising if BVI residents were the beneficial owners of the properties. Thanks to investigative journalists and a series of high-profile leaks from the Panama and Paradise papers to “Cyprus Confidential”, we know who the actual owners are. That is why the previous Government—with thanks to the right hon. Member for Sutton Coldfield (Mr Mitchell)—took action in the previous Parliament with cross-party support to implement a register of overseas entities. That gives us good and helpful information, but a glaring loophole remains. Trust-owned property does not need to be declared—and in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea that accounts for 40% of the foreign-owned property.”
“Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, I have led the local Kensington Against Dirty Money campaign in my constituency of Kensington and Bayswater, where more than 6,000 properties are owned overseas. Our most popular activity is a local kleptocracy tour of often empty mansions owned by autocrats and their supporters from around the world. Transparency International found that £5.9 billion in suspicious funds had been used to purchase UK properties through shell companies registered in the overseas territories, with £1.1 billion of that in my constituency. The ownership vehicle of choice is an anonymous trust, with the most popular location being the British Virgin Islands.”
“The Foreign Secretary’s ambition to transform Britian from the dirty-money capital to the anti-corruption capital of the world is absolutely the right objective. It matters for our international reputation and our standing in the world. To be taken seriously as a leader on democracy and anti-corruption, our own house has to be in order. The uncomfortable truth is that while some of the most notorious and brazen enablers of illicit finance and money laundering are operating as part of the UK family, we will not be able to claim that leadership role. Despite years of warm words and communiqués about fighting economic crime, the overseas territories are still one of the premier global destinations for moving dirty money, and it is time for that to change.”
“I hope this debate will show directly why it matters to our Treasury and our tax take; to the housing crisis; to the fight against organised crime; to the enforcement of our sanctions against Putin; to fighting poverty around the world; and to restoring trust, transparency and accountability to our democracy. This Government have made a strong start on combating illicit finance and kleptocracy. I particularly welcome the Foreign Secretary’s personal campaign on this issue, which has seen an expansion of our sanctions, the appointment of Baroness Hodge as the UK’s anti-corruption champion, and a cross-departmental team of Ministers charged with developing a new anti-corruption strategy, to which I know my hon. Friend the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury has a strong commitment.”
“I beg to move, That this House has considered tax transparency in the Overseas Territories. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Turner. Having worked on anti-corruption, open government and transparency issues for more than a decade, I am often asked why such issues matter when there are so many pressing challenges facing our country. It can often seem an intractable problem—billions and trillions flowing through the international financial system that will end up elsewhere. What difference does it make to our constituents?”
“To galvanise our international partners, the Foreign Secretary’s proposal for a summit of financial centres here in London would create a focal point for aligning rules and policies. I hope this debate will galvanise support across the House for the vital mission of tackling corruption and economic crime.”
“It is clear from all the evidence—I expect we will hear much more today—that we need to do far more collectively to support the overseas territories to make progress on economic crime. The path forward is challenging, but I know the Government are seized of its importance. The overseas territories must meet the June deadline to make progress towards public registers. There must be no further delays. Trust-owned property should be included in the register of overseas entities. AML supervision should be strengthened to halt the enablers of dirty money. HMRC, the National Crime Agency and other enforcement agencies must proactively make cases and have the skills and resources they need.”
“It introduced a public register that is similar to the one that the UK has had for several years. If Gibraltar can do it and we can do it, so can the BVI, the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and all the overseas territories. We must not let our Crown dependencies off the hook, either. Many overseas territories have cited the privacy concerns outlined in the European Court of Justice rulings, but I encourage them all to review the sixth anti-money laundering directive, which would ensure that journalists, civil society, law enforcement and businesses with anti-money laundering duties all have access to the register anonymously and in full. I continue to believe that public registers are the best solution for the overseas territories and Crown dependencies, but minimum progress would be to meet that European regulatory standard.”
“I absolutely support the Government in this mission, which is why it was so deeply disappointing to see the BVI’s proposals around company registries, which were published last month. Access would be severely restricted. One provision would even allow company owners to be notified not only that someone is attempting to uncover their identity, but of who is making the request and why, putting investigative journalists and anti-corruption activists at risk of legal or physical intimidation. Worse still, that warning system could tip off criminals and give them a head start, allowing them to move illicit assets before enforcement agencies can act. Such measures do not protect business or privacy; they protect kleptocrats and criminals. We know it can be done: Gibraltar has shown us what can be achieved.”
“This is urgent, because Abramovich’s is not an isolated case. For years, the BVI has been the global destination of choice for those seeking maximum secrecy for their money. It featured prominently in the Panama papers, in which half of the exposed entities were linked to the BVI. That is why Parliament has clearly stated its will that public registries of beneficial ownership should be implemented across the overseas territories and Crown dependencies. At the first Joint Ministerial Council of this new Government, in November last year, the BVI, alongside other overseas territories, promised reforms to ensure maximum transparency, and the Government reiterated their commitment to full public access in due course.”
“They set up approximately 200 hedge funds and maintained that the operations were happening in the BVI, but it has now been uncovered that the real activity was continuing in London—indeed, in Stamford Bridge itself. This is potentially the biggest tax case since Bernie Ecclestone, and it is vital that His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs has the resources it needs to investigate. Enforcement of the rules and regulations is critical to recovering as much money as possible for the Exchequer and supporting the Minister’s efforts to improve the public finances. It is also time to upgrade our anti-money laundering supervision regime for professional bodies such as accountancy and legal firms, so that dirty money does not flow through the City. The previous Government opened a consultation, but it has not been responded to.”
“Indeed, some of my constituents were evicted using a spurious section 21 notice by an anonymous landlord who was based overseas in a tax haven. My local walking tour, as part of the Kensington Against Dirty Money campaign, ends outside Roman Abramovich’s frozen mansion, which he purchased for £120 million, on Kensington Palace Gardens. In the past week or so, Abramovich has again been in the news, this time for allegations that he owes approximately £1 billion in UK taxes. At the heart of this story are, again, the UK overseas territories. Abramovich and his advisers used a complex web of corporate structures, via Cyprus and the BVI, to use money from the sale of Sibneft back to the Russian Government at huge profit in 2005.”
“I completely agree. Without transparency, we cannot follow the money. We have some prominent examples of properties owned by sanctioned oligarchs that came into the sanctions regime only after investigations uncovered those assets. Keeping the anonymous trust option available, without the requirement to declare the true owners, allows for exactly the sort of behaviour that my hon. Friend outlines. The main opposition is from some highly self-interested trust lawyers, so I urge the Government to take on those claims and bring trust-owned property into the register, which would help us not only to fight economic crime but to revitalise our high streets, where buildings often sit empty because enforcement action cannot be taken when the true owners cannot be tracked down.”
“It is about constituents who are being chased by HMRC who feel the double standards; it is about our housing crisis and empty properties; it is about our sanctions, their enforcement, and support for autocrats such as Putin, and it is about our public finances. We have a strong case for why we need to act, and I reiterate my thanks to the Minister for his outlining of the next steps. The June deadline to see progress from the overseas territories is imminent, but as the right hon. Member for Sutton Coldfield said, this area is littered with missed deadlines. We need a proper deterrent from the British Government to say what will happen if the territories pass those deadlines and no action has been taken.”
“Members for Lewes (James MacCleary) and for Wyre Forest (Mark Garnier), respectively, for their constructive contributions. I agree that there may be some legitimate uses of offshore tax centres, in particular for companies in multiple jurisdictions, but the heart of the problem is that the BVI, the Caymans, Bermuda and others are still far too susceptible to very serious illicit crime. If there is one message that I would like all hon. Members to take home it is that this is not an abstract problem. It is not something just to do with billions and trillions in the financial system.”
“Member for Sutton Coldfield (Mr Mitchell), which took us through the history over the past decade of missed deadlines and opportunities for the action we are talking about to be taken. I hesitate to say that this will be the last debate in this place on this topic—I suspect it will not be—but I welcome the Exchequer Secretary’s commitment. I think he was being quite polite when he said that the Government wished to see an improvement to the BVI’s proposal. The BVI needs to go back to the drawing board and bring back a proposal fully in line with the principles that Parliament concluded were the best action for this problem, which is full public registries of beneficial ownership. In final closing, I thank the spokespersons for the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives, the hon.”
“I thank the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury for his response, and I thank all hon. Members who have spoken for their contributions. This has been a productive and constructive debate. There has been a lot of agreement on the problem. We heard the tax case very strongly, particularly from the hon. Members for Strangford (Jim Shannon) and Carshalton and Wallington (Bobby Dean). We heard the housing and communities case, particularly from my hon. Friend the Member for Cities of London and Westminster (Rachel Blake). We heard the economic growth case from my hon. Friend the Member for Bolton West (Phil Brickell), the poverty and inequality case from my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Tom Hayes) and the constitutional case from the right hon.”
“I implore the Government to keep the pressure on so that we do not have to come back too many more times to debates such as this to re-analyse the same problem that we all agree is there, when we know the policy solution is within our grasp. Question put and agreed to. Resolved, That this House has considered tax transparency in the Overseas Territories.”
“I thank my co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on anti-corruption and responsible tax, where we talk about this a lot. Exhibit A is the UK public register of company ownership—when introduced, we were told that there would be all sorts of capital flight and that people would not come here to buy properties and invest, but that has simply not been the case. The register has now been in existence for several years. In fact, many of the countries that were the source of corruption and dirty money are now implementing public registries: Nigeria, Indonesia and Kenya, to name but a few. We know action is possible—Gibraltar and others among the overseas territories have already done it—and it is now incumbent on the others to follow suit.”
“Yesterday, it was reported that a former constituent of Kensington and Bayswater, Roman Abramovich, owes up to £1 billion in UK tax—potentially a bigger case than even Bernie Ecclestone. Does my right hon. Friend share the country’s anger at people such as Roman Abramovich using complex corporate structures and British overseas territories to dodge tax while others pay their fair share, and will she ensure that time is made to scrutinise whether His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs has all the resources it needs to pursue the case and recover as much money as possible for the Treasury?”
“That drove a lot of people to opt out of the election, resulting in the poor turnout figures to which Members have referred—the lowest for 20 years. I do not think that is because of apathy; alienation from our political system is a fundamental threat to our democracy. I agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Exeter (Steve Race) that we should not for one minute think that electoral reform alone will solve this issue. The central task of this Government is to deliver rising living standards, rising wages and improved public services. That will help restore the electorate’s faith in politics, and faith that the Government will deliver on things that people care about.”
“I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds Central and Headingley (Alex Sobel), and the hon. Members for Hazel Grove (Lisa Smart) and for North Herefordshire (Ellie Chowns), for securing this debate. As Members have mentioned, we met thousands of voters face to face in the general election campaign, and by far the most depressing conversations I had were with the many people who had lost trust in our Government institutions, our politicians and our democratic process. I absolutely do not think the voters are to blame for that loss of trust, which is partly due to the last decade, in which a chaotic Government lurched from crisis to crisis; to corruption scandals; and to the decline of local services.”