Britain’s public services are suffering unprecedented public expenditure cuts, at the same time as the Government has adopted a soft approach to collecting taxes. Last year, tax expert, Richard Murphy calculated that £82 billion was evaded and the difference between tax that should have been paid and the amount actually paid was a staggering £119bn. If collected, this would have been enough to pay for the whole of the NHS.

One reason for the lost taxes is that Government has continuously reduced staff at HMRC, which cannot compete with the resources of the banks, accountants and lawyers advising wealthy individuals and corporations.

But more profoundly, some ministers and Tory MPs condone tax avoidance. Conservative Treasurer Lord Fink has referred to his own ‘vanilla’ approach to reducing his tax liabilities via a Swiss account. According to Lord Fink: ‘everyone does it’. Except they don’t: the overwhelming majority of people do not operate Swiss bank accounts or, as in the case of others, have hidden assets in tax havens, or use companies to buy foreign properties to avoid capital gains tax.

Government action to date to deal with tax evasion and 'aggressive' tax avoidance has been weak and ineffective. If we are to make progress in the next Parliament, all Parties and all candidates must pledge to resource the HMRC properly and recover all tax due including taking firm action to defeat aggressive tax avoidance devices and prosecute proven tax evasion.

As the Labour candidate for Wimbledon constituency, I make that pledge.

Councillor Andrew Judge
Labour Parliamentary candidate