Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Illicit Finance Summit

Tuesday 21 April 2026 · 2 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Key points

  • Mr Speaker associated himself with remarks about Her late Majesty
  • The illicit finance summit will convene international partners to scale up global enforcement against illicit finance
  • The Foreign Secretary is working closely with leaders of the overseas territories on transparency issues

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Steffan Aquarone Lib Dem North Norfolk
Crime & Law Enforcement Economy Foreign Affairs

Question

What steps she is taking to help ensure the illicit finance summit 2026 will tackle international economic crime.

Answer from Stephen Doughty

Mr Speaker, may I associate myself entirely with your remarks about Her late Majesty?<br/>The illicit finance summit will convene a coalition of international partners to scale up global enforcement against illicit finance. The summit will forge new partnerships to combat this shared threat, including illicit gold, money laundering in the property sector and the abuse of cryptoassets. The summit builds on our long-term commitment to this agenda, which is also shown in the 2025 UK anti-corruption strategy, and will complement our upcoming presidency of the Financial Action Task Force and other meetings.

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Q2 Steffan Aquarone Lib Dem North Norfolk
Foreign Affairs

Question

The summit is an opportunity for global action on the dirty money that flows through our financial systems, but the Foreign Secretary might rightly be asked by our international partners why overseas territories, who fly our flag and have our King as their Head of State, are preventing transparency and accountability for billions of pounds of illicit finance. Britain should be a world leader in tackling dirty money, but we have to get our house in order. Can the Minister assure the House and our international partners that he will bring overseas territories into line, and can he outline which of his powers he will use to do so?

Answer from Stephen Doughty

The hon. Member will know from my previous answers in this place how seriously I take this issue. Our commitment across the whole of our British family on these matters is very clear. I have been working closely with leaders of the overseas territories. We have seen some important progress from a number of them, but a number have not gone far enough; I have been very frank with them about that. We are working in partnership and providing technical advice and support, and I am very hopeful that we will achieve progress, particularly on legitimate interest access to beneficial registers of ownership.

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