My Lords, my name is added to the amendment and I am delighted that it is. However, I did not think that when I got up to speak I would need to make a vigorous defence of public registers, yet I find that I must because the objections that we have heard from so many around this House have been to public registers per se.
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I think many in this House would join me in saying that it is the disinfectant of transparency and light that is the best protection against the corruption that sits underneath and benefits from secrecy. This is a view held across many of these Benches, and it is one fed by experience. We have relied so much on whistleblowers—for the Paradise papers, the Panama papers and on other occasions—to expose significant criminality, but I am not going to repeat the examples that the noble Baroness, Lady Stern, presented.
Of course it is exceedingly helpful if countries have a central register and make it accessible to law enforcement, but I live in the real world. Law enforcement is relatively small and weak, and for it to be able to identify who to pursue and how to do so is exceedingly difficult. The benefit of a public register is that thousands of eyes are cast upon the information. I say this to the noble Lord, Lord Hodgson: if, by mischance, he has put incorrect information into Companies House, where the register is public, there will be many organisations and individuals in this country out to catch that error and make people aware of it, particularly if there is around it some significance of size or identity. Many eyes can be applied to public registers, and that is the point. It is a recognition that an environment in which information is withheld from the public, and where it is accessible to enforcement authorities only once they are on the trail and alerted, will be very weak.
We all understand how attractive the secret world is to those who make their money through nefarious purposes. I will not repeat the list given by the noble Baroness, Lady Stern, and the noble Lord, Lord Kirkhope, but these organisations can thrive only because there are portals through which they can take their money earned in the black and convert it to the white. If we are ever to clamp down on these activities which so disturb us, it is absolutely critical that we make sure that the money cannot be transferred into the white economy. That is why we have gone for a public register in the UK. However, having heard so many voices, I am now really concerned that that public register is under threat. If we add verification to the process, it is additional strengthening, and I am perfectly content with that—it is probably a good direction in which to go. However, we should be strengthening constantly the ability to identify where wrongdoing is being carried out in our financial services.
Both the noble Earl, Lord Kinnoull, and the noble Lord, Lord Leigh, talked about the importance of unfairness and injustice. Frankly, there is no greater injustice than the damages done by those who make their money in the black economy. Their victims—whether of sex trafficking, the arms trade, terrorism or kleptocratic politicians—are real victims in an incredible sense, and we know that there are more victims and more exploitation year on year.
Today, we are being asked to take a principle that we have established in the UK—the one that we have to abide by to minimise the opportunities for the exploitation of financial services in the UK—and extend it to our overseas territories, which are part of our British financial family whether we like it or not. I do not believe that this is ultra vires, because it touches on issues that are, frankly, utterly fundamental to the human rights of millions of people across the globe.
I hope very much that this House will today support this measure, which gives the Government the opportunity to work closely with the overseas territories. I accept part of what the noble Lord, Lord Naseby, said: that those who have something to hide will flee the various territories if they know that there is going to be a public register. That may well be damaging to their economies and we should step in to consider the issues that surround that. But long-term sustainability of our overseas territories and their economies requires that they work fully within the white economy, not the white, grey and black economies. That is crucial to their long-term prosperity and opportunities. I hope very much that this House will take the opportunity today to support this crucial measure.