Hague: I was wrong to claim Ashcroft would pay millions in tax

Hague: I was wrong to claim Ashcroft would pay millions in tax

Tweet

Print Share

 

Also In The News

FTSE 100 up almost half a per cent following unemployment figures
The FTSE 100 rose by almost half a per cent on Wednesday following the news unemployment in the UK fell by 33,000 in the final quarter of 2009.

• Death of two teens after taking legal drug leads to call for ban
• Jonny Wilkinson dropped by England for France clash
• John Terry breathalysed 'after breaking steward's leg'

 

Thursday, 18, Mar 2010 05:33

By Richard James.

William Hague has conceded today he was wrong to claim Michael Ashcroft would pay "tens of millions of pounds" in tax in a deal that saw the controversial Conservative donor take a seat in the House of Lords.

The shadow foreign secretary wrote a letter to then prime minister Tony Blair in 2000 claiming that Lord Aschorft was planning on becoming a UK resident the following financial year in a decision which would result in millions of pounds a year for the Treasury.

However, leaked papers seen by the BBC appear to show Downing Street had been made aware of the agreement by which Lord Ashcroft could take up his peerage, which related to residency, rather than his tax status.

In an interview with the Today programme on Thursday, the former Tory leader denied there had been a "secret plot" to hide the party deputy chairman's tax status.

He admitted though he had been wrong to claim Lord Ashcroft's peerage would result in millions of pounds of extra tax, saying: "The one thing I will concede on this - and which I think in retrospect was a mistake - was to say 'tens of millions' because it may have cost him millions, we don't know, it may cost him millions into the future.

"None of us can know - other than him, I suppose, and the tax authorities - what it has cost. But it was certainly an important change for him to go from being not resident in the UK."

Mr Hague, seen by many as David Cameron's de facto deputy, confirmed the Conservatives would boycott inquiries currently held by two parliamentary committees into the circumstances surrounding Lord Ashcroft's peerage, describing them as "partisan".

The Tories have attempted tirelessly to move the Ashcroft saga off the news agenda, claiming all main parties receive sizeable donations from 'non-doms'.

The accusation though has been rejected by Labour and the Liberal Democrats who point to the millions of pounds of Lord Ashcroft's money poured into marginal constituencies in the lead up to this year's general election and the seeming lack of conversation between the peer and party hierarchy.