Shabana Mahmood MP, Labour’s shadow exchequer secretary to the Treasury, responding to HMRC figures published today showing the amount of uncollected tax in the UK rising, said: 

“These damning figures show that this Government is totally failing to tackle tax avoidance and evasion. According to HMRC’s own assessment, the amount of uncollected tax rose again last year and has now gone up by £3 billion on George Osborne’s watch.

“At a time when working people face a cost-of-living crisis, our NHS is going backwards and the deficit is still high, it’s even more vital that everyone pays their fair share of tax.

“Labour has set out a clear approach to tackling tax avoidance, including measures to help raise revenues for our National Health Service. In contrast, George Osborne is failing to tackle the tax gap while giving the top one per cent of earners a £3 billion a year tax cut.”