The position of the UK as a major player in the global financial secrecy world, presumably through crown dependencies such as the British Virgin Islands and the Caymans, is disgusting. I have no problem with low-tax countries so long as they are transparent, and people who are using them can be taxed in their own countries. But the fact the UK allows its territories to openly flout international tax transparency principles is astonishing.

The industry I work in, private equity, is built around the use of legal tax planning to avoid the payment of taxes, and around the classification of executives’ performance-related compensation as capital gains [profit from an asset] rather than income. These things do not even amount to tax avoidance; they are simply the way the tax system works for private equity investment. Whether you agree or disagree, it’s the way UK tax law works and has been accepted for decades.