Many people, including notably the International Consortium of Investigate Journalists, who exposed the "Panama papers", have welcomed the government's U-turn on an amendment to the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Bill, requiring overseas territories to publish registers of who owns shell companies registered there. However, it was not a complete 180 degree shift, as Private Eye #1469 points out:
The cross-party move, promoted by Labour's Margaret Hodge and Tory Andrew Mitchell, conspicuously excludes Britain's tax havens closer to home - the crown dependencies of Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man.
The Eye suggests that Andrew Mitchell has a conflict of interest in that he is retained by EY*, which promotes VAT avoidance schemes using the IoM.
* The financial services company which grew out of the merger of accountancy firms Ernst & Whinney and Arthur Young & Co.
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