Summary

  • Updates from Monday 30 April until Friday 4 May 2018

Live Reporting

  1. UK parliament won't debate Crown Dependencies' registers

    A call for the UK to force the Crown Dependencies to adopt public registers of beneficial ownership has not been lodged in the Commons.

    The amendment was due to be laid by four Labour MPs, but was not lodged as alternative proposals put forward by the Conservative government were not accepted for debate by the speaker.

    Under the motion the UK government would have required the islands to introduce a publicly accessible register of beneficial ownership of companies within their jurisdiction - something Guernsey politicians have described as "not constitutional".

    While the motion was not laid those who placed it called for an end to secret ownership arrangements.

    The case in principle for acting to improve transparency in the Crown Dependencies—the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man—is substantively the same: their secret ownership arrangements facilitate both money laundering and tax evasion."

    Helen Goodman, Labour MP for Bishop Auckland

  2. Overseas Territories to be forced to make registers public

    BBC Parliament
    Freeview channel 131

    Foreign Office Minister Sir Alan Duncan said the government will not oppose a move to force British Overseas Territories to have greater financial transparency.

    The move would require tax havens like the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands to introduce a register revealing the beneficial owners of assets held in those jurisdictions.

    The government had faced a potential defeat this afternoon on the issue - Sir Alan says the government had not wanted to damage the territories' autonomy.

    "We've listened to the strength of feeling in the House on this issue and accept that it is without a doubt the majority view of this House that the overseas territories should have public registers."

    He adds that the government would "respect the will of the House" and not vote against an amendment put forward by a cross-party group of MPs.

  3. MP makes international relations argument

    Chris Quevatre
    BBC News Online

    The expected argument that public beneficial ownership registers are an external affairs issue has been made by the Shadow Foreign Office Minister Helen Goodman MP.

    She said that the crimes that are financed by money laundering mean that the UK government can force legislation on Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.

    The UK government plans to vote on whether to force Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories to make their registers of beneficial ownership public.

    You can watch it here.

  4. Beneficial ownership: Parliament debate
    Breaking

    Chris Quevatre
    BBC News Online

    The original amendment of forced legislation on Crown Dependencies is now the only amendment being debated today.

    The Speaker of the House has not allowed the softer amendment - which was based around discussion rather than legislation - to be tabled.

  5. BBC Parliament: Beneficial ownership debate starts

    BBC Parliament
    Freeview channel 131

    Debate on the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Bill is under way.

    The UK government plans to vote on whether to force Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories to make their registers of beneficial ownership public.

    You can watch it here.

  6. Beneficial ownership 'supported if international standard'

    BBC Radio Jersey

    A UK parliament amendment calling for discussion over beneficial ownership has been welcomed by Jersey's chief minister.

    This amendment, if passed, would properly respect our constitutional relationship.

    I believe this reflects Jersey's leading position in having already established registers of beneficial ownership and effective procedures for information sharing that prevent the island from being used for money laundering and terrorist financing.

    If public registers were to become an international standard, we will consider implementing such a policy in the same way as we have other international standards in this area."

    Senator Ian Gorst, Jersey's Chief Minister

  7. Beneficial ownership: Force may be replaced by discussion

    Ben Chapple
    BBC News Online

    An alternative amendment calling for engagement between the Crown Dependencies over making beneficial ownership registers public, has been lodged in Westminister.

    Three MPs, including two of those behind the motion to potentially force the islands to adopt the legislation, put forward the motion.

    It includes:

    • Periodic reports on engagement with the Crown Dependencies and certain overseas territories
    • An independent report on the likely effects, including the effects on money laundering, if publicly accessible registers of beneficial ownership of companies were introduced in the Crown Dependencies and certain British overseas territories
    • Bringing forward to March 2019 a report about certain arrangements between the United Kingdom and the Crown Dependencies and British overseas territories for the sharing of beneficial ownership information relating to proceeds of crime

    The MPs behind the move are:

    • Sir Alan Duncan, Minister of State for Europe and the Americas at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
    • Helen Goodman, Labour MP for Bishop Auckland
    • Anneliese Dodds, Labour MP for Oxford East

  8. UK could pressure CDs via international relations

    Chris Quevatre
    BBC News Online

    The UK could use the argument it's responsible for the international relations of the Crown Dependencies to force legislation on public registers of beneficial ownership, according to a political analyst.

    Adrian Lee, who is an expert on politics in small jurisdictions, said the Crown Dependencies are 100% legislatively autonomous, and the UK government needs the permission of the islands to impose law - permission that would seem unlikely to be given at the moment.

    But he added the international relations argument could be the UK's route into a larger debate.

    That is where the real discussion point comes. In international law - and arguably these are matters of international law - the UK government is responsible for the external relations of the Crown Dependencies. That is the bottom line. And of course this legislation in the UK actually comes out of international discussions and agreements in the G7, the OECD and the EU on money laundering.

    Adrian Lee, Political Analyst

    Adrian Lee

  9. No date set for start of ban on burning household rubbish

    Ben Chapple
    BBC News Online

    The drafting of a law directly outlawing the burning of household rubbish in Guernsey has yet to start, a States spokesman has said.

    Under current laws islanders can be prosecuted for causing a nuisance with smoke from their property.

    However, extra measures were approved by the States in February 2017.

    The updates to the air pollution law include prohibiting dark smoke emissions, the uncontrolled burning of non-garden waste and controls on commercial boilers and furnaces.

    As to when it is due to come into effect the spokesman said: "Legislative drafting has not commenced and this ordinance is subject to the normal legislative drafting prioritisation process."

    More on this story:

  10. Guernsey's waste system has a new admirer

    Chris Quevatre
    BBC News Online

    A national committee would like to see Guernsey's new waste strategy implemented in the UK to increase recycling.

    The States of Guernsey voted to implement a £2.50 charge for every black bag of waste thrown out.

    The CEO of the Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee, Lee Marshall, said he'd like to see a similar system in the UK.

    Recycling

    It's a bit like your electricity and gas - once you start having to pay for it, you look at how to use it more efficiently. This will help people get more involved in recycling.

    Lee Marshall, CEO of the Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee

  11. May Day!

    Twitter

    It's 1 May, and the Morris Men are out in full force in Jersey...

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  12. MP calls for an end to 'dirty money' in Crown Dependencies

    Chris Quevatre
    BBC News Online

    One of the MPs behind the amendment to force Crown Dependencies to make their beneficial ownership registers public says "dirty money" is affecting our "economy and culture".

    Labour MP Dame Margaret Hodge is one four UK politicians behind the amendment to the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Bill.

    The others are:

    • Helen Goodman, Labour MP for Bishop Auckland
    • Anneliese Dodds, Labour MP for Oxford East
    • Catherine West, Labour MP for Hornsey and Wood Green

    We know that 85,000 properties here in the UK are owned by companies that are located in our tax havens. We don't know who owns them, but we do know - from a sample that has been analysed - that four out of 10 are Russian-owned. These are all ways in which dirty money finds its way into the legitimate system and it affects all our economy and our culture.

    Dame Margaret Hodge, Labour MP

    Dame Margaret Hodge

    Later, the UK government will vote on whether to force Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories to make their registers of beneficial ownership public.

  13. Failing to capitalise on film ‘would be a big own goal’

    Guernsey Press

    Failing to capitalise on the promotional opportunities offered by the release of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society film would be ‘an own goal of massive proportions’, said Deputy Chris Green.

  14. 'We believe in personal privacy'

    Chris Quevatre
    BBC News Online

    Guernsey's government will not make its registers of beneficial ownership public because it believes in "public privacy", according to Deputy Jonathan Le Tocq.

    Previous criticism from the UK over beneficial ownership registers have been met with Guernsey's deputies assurance that the island is meeting all international standards.

    The UK government is voting on whether to force the Crown Dependencies to make their registers public - although there are doubts over whether that would be constitutional.

    The registers and the information available in Guernsey - in fact since the year 2000 - has been made available and is available to the regulators, to law enforcement, to prosecutors - to all the people that need to know. We're not into secrecy, but we do believe in personal privacy.

    Deputy Jonathan Le Tocq, Policy & Resources Committee

  15. The honeymooners who fell head over heels – for Jersey

    Jersey Evening Post

    A couple who spent their honeymoon in Jersey have returned to mark their 50th wedding anniversary – in an island they describe as ‘heaven on earth’.

  16. CI political leaders tell MPs to respect islands’ autonomy

    Guernsey Press

    Channel Island political leaders were in London yesterday attempting to head off a potential constitutional crisis that would have serious implications for the finance industry.

  17. Nearly £1m spent fighting pensions dispute

    Chris Quevatre
    BBC News Online

    Almost £1m was spent by the States of Guernsey in the legal case against the public sector union Unite.

    The Policy and Resources Plan Update, which is published today, reveals a total of £882,000 was spent in relation to defending a legal challenge surrounding pension changes.

    The dispute related to changes from a final salary pension scheme, to a new system that worked by calculating the career average earnings scheme - affecting about 5,000 public workers.

    Hundreds of public sector employees marched in support of more negotiation rather than a legal solution to the dispute.

    People protesting pension changes

  18. UK beneficial ownership vote 'not constitutional'

    Chris Quevatre
    BBC News Online

    The UK government cannot force the Crown Dependencies to make their beneficial ownership registers public, according to a senior politician in Guernsey.

    Asked whether the UK government has a right to legislate in Guernsey, Deputy Jonathan Le Tocq gave a simple answer.

    Whatever vote they take we are going to resist, because we are autonomous, we have our own laws, and we will defend our rights and privileges going back centuries.

    Deputy Jonathan Le Tocq, Policy & Resources Committee

    Jonathan Le Tocq

  19. Policy and Resources publishes plan update

    Chris Quevatre
    BBC News Online

    Reprioritisation is not needed when it comes to the Policy and Resource Plan, according to a report by the committee behind the scheme.

    In an update to the plan the report does state there are concerns with how deliverable the plan is under its current objectives.

    The plan is focusing on many areas including:

    • Economic development
    • Air and sea links
    • Brexit policy
    • Digital connectivity
    • Seafront enhancement
    • Disability and inclusion
    • Long-term infrastructure investment

    Policy and Resources President Deputy Gavin St Pier said foundations have been laid which will mean greater visible momentum is possible for this States over the next 12 months.

    government promotional imageStates of Guernsey

    We'll be taking a look at the plan in detail throughout the day on BBC Local Live.

  20. Waste charges: 'Don't burn what can't be recycled'

    Ben Chapple
    BBC News Online

    When Guernsey's waste collections change in September - ahead of charges being introduced next year - islanders are being urged not to burn what can't be recycled.

    Tobin Cook, director of Environment Health and Pollution Regulation, said under the new system "a greater proportion of normal waste can be recycled" - glass and food.

    He said: "This should greatly reduce the volume of waste that will need to be placed in black bags and items that are left should not be considered suitable to burn."

    Paper being burntGetty Images

    Mr Cook said under the current laws anyone causing a nuisance with smoke from their property can be prosecuted.

    He said extra measures have already been agreed by the States to prohibit the burning of all waste other than green waste.

    We've asked the States when these measures will come into effect.

    More on this story: