An independent investigation must be held into the tax affairs of those implicated in the Panama Papers data leak, including David Cameron's family, Jeremy Corbyn has demanded.
The Labour leader said the leaks had exposed tax avoidance on an "industrial scale".
Downing Street has insisted that the business affairs of Mr Cameron's late father Ian, which were detailed in the Panama leak, were a private matter.
But Mr Corbyn told reporters in Harlow: "It's a private matter in so far as it's a privately held interest, but it's not a private matter if tax has not been paid.
"So an investigation must take place, an independent investigation."
Mr Corbyn said: "I think the Prime Minister, in his own interest, should tell us exactly what's been going on."
Speaking at Labour's local election launch event, he told reporters he wanted an investigation conducted by HM Revenue and Customs "about the amount of money of all people that have invested in these shell companies or put money into tax havens and to calculate what tax they should have paid over the years".
Asked whether the PM should resign if he is found to have benefited, Mr Corbyn said: "Let's take one thing at a time. We need openness, we need an examination, we need a decision after that."
Pressed on whether he would publish his own tax return, Mr Corbyn said: "There is no problem with my tax affairs, they are very, very limited indeed. I have got an income as an MP, sadly I have got no family trusts of any sort."
The Labour leader also suggested the Government could intervene to take direct control of the UK's offshore tax havens.
"If it's necessary for ministers to intervene because the governments of the Overseas Territories won't act, they can use an order in council to take control of them immediately," he said.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel