Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill

I am not sure what point the hon. Gentleman is making. Important strides are being taken forward ...

rose—

If I can just make some progress, I will come back to the hon. Gentleman.

Having acted imme...

I thank the Home Secretary for giving way. One issue I have raised with Foreign, Commonwealth and...

The hon. Gentleman raises a really important and valid point. The Bill will go some way to dealin...

Just last year, as everyone in the House will remember very well, the Police Service of Northern ...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising that point. I am very happy to build further and closer en...

On the agencies, does the Home Secretary accept that it has taken an awfully long for the Governm...

I am very pleased that we are taking this action now. I take on board the point that this has bee...

One of the areas this place will struggle to scrutinise is golden visas. It has now been four yea...

When it comes to golden visas, I was very proud of the action the Government took in relation to ...

The sale? You were selling them?

The issuance—excuse me—of golden visas to particular individuals from Russia. I agree that there ...

I think the Home Secretary said the sale of tier 1 visas, as if the Government or the Conservativ...

I think the hon. Gentleman will find that this has actually been a long-standing issue for Admini...

Look, some of us have been battling on this for a very long time. Some of us said in 2014 that if...

No, I disagree. I will not repeat the points that I have made, but I am very proud of our record....

Late last year, NatWest was fined £265 million for facilitating money laundering through its UK b...

I agree with my hon. Friend, who has a huge amount of expertise and has achieved a huge amount in...

If the Home Secretary does agree with what was said by the hon. Member for Thirsk and Malton (Kev...

I accept what the right hon. Lady says, but the Government have already taken steps to establish ...

I thank the Secretary of State for generously giving way again. I understand that 929 companies r...

We want to ensure that there are more restrictions on who can register with Companies House so th...

It is very good news that we are moving from a register to a regulator. On the capacity of Compan...

Resourcing the agencies and organisations, such as Companies House, to better fight the threat of...

The Home Secretary is being generous in giving way. The point about institutions being able to ca...

Last year’s spending review settlement set out that the economic crime levy would provide funding...

Will the Home Secretary give way?

I will make some progress. As hon. Members have said, I have been very generous, but I am struggl...

Will the Home Secretary give way on that point?

I am sorry, but I will not.

The powers of the registrar of companies will be broadened, mak...

The Witanhurst property, a 500-room mansion in Highgate, is the second largest property in the UK...

Without knowing the details of that case, what is clear is that the reforms to Companies House wi...

The Home Secretary is being generous in giving way; I am very grateful. I warmly welcome all thes...

The transformation of Companies House has been under consideration for some time, and the Treasur...

How much?

The transformation is already under way, with £20 million invested in 2021-22 and a further £63 m...

Will the Home Secretary give way?

I am going to continue.

The Bill will tackle the misuse of limited partnerships, including ...

I am grateful to the Home Secretary for giving way; I know that she is about to finish her speech...

The hon. Gentleman raises two issues concerning the regulators. We need to ensure that they strik...

I call the shadow Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper.

12.41 pm

Let me first join in the tributes paid earlier by Members on both sides of the House to Sir David...

rose—

If the Home Secretary wants to respond to any of those points, I shall welcome her doing so.

I am not sure whether it has dawned on the right hon. Lady that we are here to talk about the Eco...

There are plenty of aspects of the Bill that we can discuss, but I note that the Home Secretary c...

My right hon. Friend is making an excellent speech. Does she agree that it is also necessary for ...

My hon. Friend has made an important point which I hope can be explored further in Committee. The...

In fact, we tabled some of the measures in the Bill as amendments in 2018, and all that lot voted...

My hon. Friend makes an important point, and I pay tribute to the work he has done over very many...

One issue that is quite difficult for UK agencies concerns moneys that come from British companie...

My hon. Friend is right. Our law enforcement needs a level of agility to keep up with the scale a...

My right hon. Friend is making a powerful speech. I want to return to the question of resources f...

My hon. Friend makes an important point, because enforcement in these areas saves money—for the e...

Does the shadow Home Secretary agree that strengthening our enforcement and plugging the enforcem...

The hon. Member makes a very important point. There are issues around both whistleblowing and saf...

I support this important Bill, which seeks to tackle this most international of criminal problems...

rose—

On that point, I give way to my hon. Friend.

I am very supportive of that, as my right hon. Friend knows, but I rise to make another point. He...

I do think we need to look at this more closely, although it is even more complex than my hon. Fr...

I am glad to follow the right hon. Member for East Hampshire (Damian Hinds), whom I believe was t...

There is, of course, only one Alison Thewliss. She mentioned Graham Barrow as one of a number of ...

I absolutely agree and share my hon. Friend’s concerns. Graham Barrow does great work on Twitter ...

It is a pleasure to be called to speak on Second Reading of this important Bill.

To maintai...

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Cheadle (Mary Robinson), who has been a passionate...

The right hon. Lady is making a fantastic speech, and it is always a pleasure to listen to her an...

Hear, hear! I completely concur with the hon. Gentleman, and it is a real pleasure to work with h...

It is a pleasure to speak in this debate and a particular pleasure to speak after the right hon. ...

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that there is a grave injustice when those who have done the right ...

The hon. Gentleman makes a very interesting point. We need to clamp down on enablers of all kinds...

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Thirsk and Malton (Kevin Hollinrake), and I will p...

I guess the simplest way to greet this Bill is with a massive cheer of hooray. Many of us in this...

My hon. Friend is making a fantastic speech. On that point, I talked about my constituent, Ian Fo...

That is absolutely right and a very good example. Again, it is relatively simple to fix. It would...

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Weston-super-Mare (John Penrose), who has champion...

What does it say about the Government’s priorities if they have taken six years and not brought i...

I agree with the hon. Member. It needs to be done for the cost to the economy alone, but also for...

To listen to the Home Secretary opening the debate, one would think the Government had a good rec...

Being a Scot, and in deference to the sensitivities of supporters of Celtic, Rangers and the Scot...

It is a pleasure to speak in this debate, which has faced in two extreme directions at once. On t...

I shall be brief. I welcome the Minister to his place and I welcome the Bill. I am glad to see Mi...

It is indeed a pleasure to speak on Second Reading of this important Bill. But before I begin my ...

I call, to make his debut at the Dispatch Box, Minister Dean Russell.

3.42 pm

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. May I begin by sending my condolences to the family and friends ...

I thank the Minister for his explanation. To be clear, is the verification scheme through the exi...

I thank the hon. Member for her question. I will gladly respond to her in writing so that she has...

I understand the Minister’s point, but it seems incongruous that while Government Departments mak...

I thank the hon. Member for her comments. The flexibility will be there, and that is something to...

Is the Minister able—I am afraid his answer largely parallels a letter he already wrote to me, wh...

I thank my hon. Friend for his comments. I appreciate that he would love me to give a date. I can...

The Minister does actually have one hour and one minute left to speak. That is easy for me to say...

In that case, shall I start my new speech, Madam Deputy Speaker? I will not, because I am conscio...

I recognise that the Minister has made a huge set of comments on the issues that were raised, but...

I note the hon. Member’s comments. I will look into that further and follow up with more detail i...

Congratulations on your first outing, Minister.