Chris Leslie MP, Labour’s shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, responding to comments by Danny Alexander on tax avoidance, said:

“Nobody will believe these warm words when Danny Alexander and the Lib Dems have broken their promises on tax. Along with the Tories they have totally failed to tackle tax avoidance and cut taxes for millionaires while raising VAT on families and pensioners.

"The amount of uncollected tax has gone up by £3 billion under Danny Alexander and George Osborne. This government has refused to close loopholes which Labour has highlighted. And Ministers still need to explain why there has been just one prosecution out of 1100 names in the HSBC case and why the head of the bank was made a Tory Minister.

"Labour has set out a clear plan to tackle tax avoidance, close loopholes and toughen up penalties. And we’ll have an immediate root and branch review of HMRC to ensure it’s up to the job.”