Panama papers: UK tax havens 'should face direct rule'

The government should consider imposing "direct rule" on British overseas territories and dependencies if they do not comply with UK tax law,

 Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has said.

A huge data leak from Panama-based Mossack Fonseca showed the law firm registered more than 100,000 secret firms to the British Virgin Islands.
Mr Corbyn said their governments must understand the "anger" of Britons.
Downing Street said the UK was "ahead of the pack" on tax transparency.

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Eleven million leaked documents showed how Mossack Fonseca clients were able to launder money, dodge sanctions and avoid tax - the law firm says it has operated beyond reproach for 40 years.
There are links to 12 current or former heads of state in the data, including dictators accused of looting their own countries.
Reaction around the world includes:

• Crowds gathering outside Iceland's parliament demanding Prime Minister Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson step down over allegations he concealed investments in an offshore company
• Close relatives of seven current or former Chinese leaders have been found to have links to offshore firms
• The Australian Tax Office (ATO) is investigating more than 800 individual taxpayers, all residents of Australia
• The US Department of Justice is reviewing the leaked documents to look for evidence of corruption that could be prosecuted in the US, the Wall Street Journal reports
• France and Spain are investigating money laundering exposed by the leaks among their resident taxpayers
• Panama President Juan Carlos Varela has said his government has "zero tolerance" for illicit financial activities and would co-operate vigorously with any judicial investigation in any country

Leaked files also mention UK Prime Minister David Cameron's late father, Ian, who used one of the most secretive tools of the offshore trade after he helped set up a fund for investors.
Downing Street sources told the BBC Mr Cameron did not have any shares in Blairmore Holdings, the Panama-based company his late father Ian helped set up in 1982.
The sources are not saying that other members of the Cameron family do not own shares in the offshore firm, however.

'Honey pots of corruption'

A number of British overseas territories and Crown dependencies are named in the files raising the question of what the UK can do about them.
These are self-governing territories which rely on the UK for international relations and defence, but their autonomy can be removed, as in the case of the Turks and Caicos Islands.
The UK government imposed direct rule on the Caribbean islands for three years after evidence was found of widespread corruption among the ruling elite.
It was only after the Turks and Caicos government implemented rules around sharing tax information that home rule was restored in 2012.