Responding to Vince Cable’s announcement on a register of company ownership, Shadow Business Secretary Chuka Umunna MP said:

“Labour has been calling on the government to introduce a register on company ownership since this announcement was made in July last year.

“Ministers need to give assurances that this will be properly delivered and policed. Companies House has a patchy record in enforcing the existing transparency rules – last year it emerged that thousands of offshore and foreign subsidiaries owned by large firms had not been properly declared.

"Ministers have dragged their feet and refused to take the steps needed to make the economy work better for working people. Under the Tory-led government we’ve seen a rising tide of insecurity at work, yet Vince Cable has failed to act to ban zero-hours contracts where they exploit people.”