Downing Street continues to avoid questions about whether David Cameron or his family have investments in offshore schemes that do not pay UK tax.
Under increasing pressure from the media and opposition MPs, Downing Street said that there were “no offshore trusts or funds” that the prime minister or his immediate family would benefit from “in future”.
Number 10 gave no clarification as to whether David Cameron had previously invested in an offshore scheme, and Labour have called for him to publish his tax returns.
Questions about the prime minister’s tax affairs arose after his father, Ian Cameron, was named in the leak of documents from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca as the founder and director of Blairmore Holdings Inc, an offshore fund that paid no UK tax.
A 2006 prospectus for Blairmore Holdings said the fund was “managed and conducted so that it does not become resident in the United Kingdom for UK taxation purposes.”
There is no suggestion of illegality by anyone in the Cameron family in the leaks, but the possibility of the prime minister or his family paying no UK tax on some of their investments while his Tory-led government imposes austerity because of a lack of government funds has caused anger amongst the British public.
