Cameron unveils plan to name all UK company owners

Ellie Pullen
31 October 2013

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UK prime minister David Cameron is due to announce plans to release a list of all UK business owners in an effort to crack down on tax evasion at the Open Government Partnership summit today.

Cameron is expected to call the current state of business ownership status in the UK a "cloak of secrecy", which he believes has led to "questionable practice and downright illegality", according to the BBC.

The prime minister will also say that a small number of companies have been hiding their business dealings in a "complicated web of shell companies" for too long.

"We need to shine a spotlight on who owns what and where money is really flowing," Cameron will say, according to the Telegraph.

Cameron first laid out his plans to make the UK business ownership register public at the G8 Summit earlier this year. Publishing of the register will go ahead, Cameron is expected to announce today, in a bid to improve transparency of beneficial owners of UK businesses. However, other international leaders have yet to agree to carrying out the same action.

Cameron will also state that publishing the register will benefit other UK businesses as they will know exactly who they are trading with, the Telegraph stated, citing the draft of Cameron's speech for the Open Government Partnership summit.