The red flags are familiar: a politically exposed buyer, offshore structures, opaque finance, and an inflated price. We need enhanced beneficial ownership transparency, tougher checks on high-risk purchases, and real consequences the for enablers who facilitate them.

Huge thanks to the SFO for hosting us. With the UK’s new Anti-Corruption Strategy and economic crime reforms strengthening the enforcement toolkit, we’ll continue working with them on a range of issues as their remit and workload ramps up.

❌ 6/ We will also be recommending a cap on the amount that individuals, companies and organisations are allowed to donate to politicians and parties.

For too long, our politics has been dependent on fewer and fewer, richer and richer donors.

💪 5/ Phil added: "The Elections watchdog has to be let off the leash and given the teeth it needs to hold those who threaten the integrity of our democracy to account. The Elections Bill must include measures to restore the independence of the Electoral Commission that was stripped away in 2022."

🗣️ 4/ Phil Brickell: "By its very nature, cryptocurrency has no place in our politics. It is hard to trace and a great way to break up larger donations so they fly under the radar. The Government must implement a total ban, before the horse has bolted."

🏛️ 3/ The review comes as the UK Government prepares to put its much-anticipated Elections Bill before Parliament.

Our APPG is pushing for some key policies to be included in that Bill, including a ban on crypto donations to political parties.

⚖️ 2/ As a reminder, Gill - former leader of Reform UK in Wales - was recently sentenced to 10.5 years, becoming the first politician to be jailed under the Bribery Act.

💰 He's thought to have received up to £40,000 for making pro-Russian statements and speeches.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

So before the Global Illicit Finance Summit next June, we need to close these loopholes to show real global leadership – and practice what we demand of others: close secrecy gaps, enforce the rules, and ensure transparency across every part of the UK family.

The UK's claim to global leadership risks being critically undermined by such flows of dirty money through some of its own Overseas Territories. This also hampers development, weakens institutions, and enables organised crime and kleptocracy worldwide.

Before the launch, Phil and Lloyd Hatton MP led a Dirty Money Walking Tour starting outside the Royal Courts of Justice, showing how dirty money is laundered here in practice – through legal tactics that intimidate scrutiny, and opaque company structures linked to UK jurisdictions.

9/ So the new Anti-Corruption Strategy sets the right ambition - but now we need action to match it.

We look forward to engaging the Government over the coming months and years to work on the next steps and truly make the UK the anti-corruption capital of the world.

Follow for more updates.

8/ This lacks the urgency that the problem demands, considering the Prime Minister himself has described the current situation as ‘intolerable’.

www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...

7/ There are other commitments in the Strategy which are welcome, but in need of improvement.

For example, the Strategy says the Government will “consider the future approach for comprehensively tackling all SLAPPs” (commitment 1.2.5) by 2029.

6/ We welcome the Strategy’s commitment to explore strengthening economic crime enforcement funding.

We campaign for a ringfenced, multi-year Economic Crime Fighting Fund, to use reinvested criminal cash to bolster enforcement agencies like the National Crime Agency and Serious Fraud Office.

5/ The Strategy aims to “work with Britain’s Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories to enhance corporate transparency”, but we’ve been here before.

Many, many times.

www.taxwatchuk.org/the-transpar...

4/ So this will be a key opportunity for the UK to lead a coalition of the willing on anti-corruption.

But Britain’s credibility in hosting a Countering Illicit Finance Summit will be undermined if some of its own Overseas Territories continue enabling illicit financial flows on a global scale.

3/ The Government announced over the weekend that the UK will hold a Countering Illicit Finance Summit in June 2026.

The APPG has long called for UK global leadership on illicit finance, given the UK’s position as a major financial centre.

2/ The Strategy promises a review of asset ownership in the UK, overseen by the Anti-Corruption Champion.

We have policy recs for greater transparency over who owns what in Britain, including for information about who sits behind secretive trusts.

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