Labour is seeking clarity about the Conservative Party’s
Hartlepool candidate’s links to tax havens.
Deputy Leader and Chair of the Labour Party has written to her counterpart to ask a series of questions following reports Jill
Mortimer spent time living in the Cayman Islands and elsewhere.
The letter states:
“I am sure I do not need to remind you that businesses that set
up in places like the Cayman Islands tend to have a very specific
motivation for doing so: namely, to avoid paying their fair share
of taxes that contribute to running the public services we all
rely on in this country. This kind of thinking is a million miles
away from how most people live their lives.”
It adds:
“That you are seeking to impose this candidate on the people of
Hartlepool speaks volumes about the overwhelming sense that the
Conservative Party believes that private interests should trump
the public interest at every turn. It is further evidence that,
rather than putting the British people first, sleaze and cronyism
drive every decision your Party makes.”
And asks:
- Were you aware of Jill Mortimer’s Cayman Islands connection
when she was selected?
- If not, why not? If so, can you confirm that you knew but
still endorsed her to represent the people of Hartlepool?
- What business, banking and investment interests were she or
her former husband engaged in?
- Did they gain any tax advantage from living there – and did
she or he advise others of the tax advantages of setting up or
living in the Cayman Islands?
- In the interests of transparency, will you now publish a full
account of Mrs Mortimer’s time in the Cayman Islands?
- Will you also order Mrs Mortimer to publish in full her tax
returns covering that period?
- Can the Conservative Party and Jill Mortimer confirm she no
longer has any connection to the Cayman Islands, including
financial interests such as bank accounts or any other assets?
- Will you apologise to the people of Hartlepool for seeking to
impose a candidate who has more connection with tax havens than
Hartlepool town centre?
This comes just days after Labour raised serious concerns that
the Conservatives were bringing the by election into disrepute by
amplifying material from US-based conspiracy theorists.
Ends
Notes
Full text of the letter:
Dear Amanda,
I am writing to you for the second time in a matter of days to
raise serious concerns about the Conservative Party’s campaign in
the Hartlepool by-election.
It is being reported that your candidate Jill Mortimer spent time
living in a tax haven where her former husband worked as a
banker. Mrs Mortimer had already admitted she has not “spent a
lot of time” in Hartlepool.
I am sure I do not need to remind you that businesses that set up
in places like the Cayman Islands tend to have a very specific
motivation for doing so: namely, to avoid paying their fair share
of taxes that contribute to running the public services we all
rely on in this country. This kind of thinking is a million miles
away from how most people live their lives. People in Hartlepool
believe in fair play and paying into the system. The average
full-time worker, for example, will be paying almost £5,000 in
tax – a contribution anyone living in a tax haven fails to
make.
That you are seeking to impose this candidate on the people of
Hartlepool speaks volumes about the overwhelming sense that the
Conservative Party believes that private interests should trump
the public interest at every turn. It is further evidence that,
rather than putting the British people first, sleaze and cronyism
drive every decision your Party makes.
On Friday I wrote to you about how you risk bringing this by
election into disrepute by amplifying material from US-based
conspiracy theorists. I repeat that our NHS workers have been
among the heroes of the pandemic and I would hope you are as
concerned as I am that the Conservatives are trying to undermine
the work done by doctors in the local area. Successive
Conservative governments have cut NHS budgets, closed hospitals
and downgraded services, including in North Tees and Hartlepool –
and the current one is refusing to give our NHS workers the pay
rise they deserve.
The contrast between your Party’s priorities and Labour’s
candidate – who has been
working on the NHS frontline in the town throughout the pandemic,
and who is campaigning to bring back the NHS services that the
Conservatives cut and to deliver good, well-paid jobs for local
people – could not be more stark.
To add to the questions I asked on Friday, I would also like to
ask:
- Were you aware of Jill Mortimer’s Cayman Islands connection
when she was selected?
- If not, why not? If so, can you confirm that you knew but
still endorsed her to represent the people of Hartlepool?
- What business, banking and investment interests were she or
her former husband engaged in?
- Did they gain any tax advantage from living there – and did
she or he advise others of the tax advantages of setting up or
living in the Cayman Islands?
- In the interests of transparency, will you now publish a full
account of Mrs Mortimer’s time in the Cayman Islands?
- Will you also order Mrs Mortimer to publish in full her tax
returns covering that period?
- Can the Conservative Party and Jill Mortimer confirm she no
longer has any connection to the Cayman Islands, including
financial interests such as bank accounts or any other assets?
- Will you apologise to the people of Hartlepool for seeking to
impose a candidate who has more connection with tax havens than
Hartlepool town centre?
Yours sincerely,
Deputy Leader and Chair of the Labour Party
