The British government pushed to water down key parts of an EU crackdown on corporate tax havens at a European Council meeting this week, days after the Paradise Papers leak revealed more evidence of tax dodging in UK overseas territories.

Ahead of Tuesday’s ECOFIN meeting of European finance ministers, EU commissioner Pierre Moscovici had called for countries to “rapidly adopt a European tax haven list” in light of the revelations, as well as arguing that such a list should be enforced with “credible and meaningful” sanctions.

The UK, however, is reported by Politico to have teamed up Luxembourg and Malta to push back against the inclusion of such sanctions, which would likely include British territories such as Bermuda and the Cayman Islands, which were implicated in the Paradise Papers.

“This time we have to point the finger at Britain,” said Sven Giegold, the European Parliament Green group’s finance spokesperson, reacting to the latest leak.

“With its overseas territories, Great Britain dominates the map of tax havens. Britain is one of the world’s largest tax havens. Within the EU, the British government has for years been slowing down the EU’s fight against tax avoidance and money laundering.

“The British are particularly sceptical about the EU’s black list of tax havens, for self-protection. It takes a lot of British humour to understand that Caribbean islands with a corporate tax rate of zero per cent should not be tax havens, according to the EU definition. We must make best use of the Brexit negotiations to close the UK’s tax havens.”

British Green MEP Molly Scott Cato said: “Once again, the UK and its offshore territories are at the heart of things. This makes it all the more outrageous that the UK is among the countries blocking progress on the future EU blacklist.

“If the UK is to have a positive future trading relationship with the EU, it is going to have to clean up its act when it comes to tax.”

Valdis Dombrovskis, vice-president for financial services, told reporters in Brussels after the meeting that he hoped more progress could be made on the issue at the next finance ministers’ meeting in December.

“Today we also discussed the EU blacklist for non-cooperative tax jurisdictions. The work on the list is ongoing as planned,” he said.

“We call for an agreement on the list at the 5 December ECOFIN, but we also call for an agreement on countermeasures against those jurisdictions that will end up on the list. Only then this exercise will be credible and meaningful.”

The British Government has previously said it does not believe it is fair to refer to its overseas territories as tax havens, despite a number playing a central role in the Panama Papers and Paradise Papers, and having zero per cent rates of corporation tax.

It says it is supporting the creation of the blacklist, but debate remains in the EU about whether it should come with enforceable sanctions.

The Financial Times reported that around 53 territories have been warned via letter to make changes to their tax code, unless they want to appear on the list when it is expected to be finalised in December.

10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Show all 10 1 /10 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Luxembourg There are an estimated £2.5 trillion shares of mutual funds registered in the Grand Duchy, £1 trillion of which cannot be traced to an owner 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands contain 6% of the world's total banking assets, but just 0.000008% of its population 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Isle of Man David Cameron has said the Isle of Man, where there is no corporation, capital gains or inheritance tax, should not be considered a tax haven 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Jersey There are over £3.5 billion assets per square mile on the self-governing Channel Island 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Ireland Ireland made headlines last year when it emerged Apple was registered in the country in order to dodge over £40bn in taxes 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Mauritius The Mauritian government notionally charges corporation tax, but companies can easily make this back through generous tax credits for foreign businesses 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Bermuda Google holds more than £30bn in offshore cash reserves, primarily via Bermuda 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Monaco A popular domicile for super-rich private individuals, Monaco has the most expensive property in the world. £1 million will buy just 225 square feet 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Switzerland Switzerland has such secretive banking laws that it took until the 1990s to secure the release of Nazi cash reserves 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Bahamas David Cameron's father ran an offshore fund which hired Bahamas residents to complete paperwork, thus dodging British tax bills

A previous EU tax haven blacklist released in 2015 was withdrawn after criticisms that it was arbitrary and omitted a number of EU states with secretive tax practices.

The new list being drawn up is to based on a set series of criteria, whereby countries are not allowed to offer preferential tax measures or profit shifting.