Mandelson calls for Ashcroft investigation
Updated on 02 March 2010
Lord Mandelson has called for an investigation into whether fellow peer Lord Ashcroft has broken any parliamentary rules by remaining a non-dom for the past ten years.
Following Ashcroft's revelations about his tax status yesterday, Business Secretary Mandelson has contacted the House of Lords Appointments Commission, asking it to probe the Tory peer's arrangements.
Mandelson's request comes as Tory leader David Cameron faces growing pressure to reveal how long he has known that Ashcroft, who has bankrolled much of the Conservative's election campaign, was a non-dom.
Ahead of being made a Lord in 2000, Ashcroft had promised then Conservative leader William Hague that he would "take up permanent residence in the UK again before the end of the calendar year".
Ashcroft's non-dom status means the billionaire has been paying less in tax than someone registered as living in the UK permanently.
Mandelson told
Channel 4 News, : "Someone, somewhere along the line made a deal with Lord
Ashcroft; the terms of which he has chosen to dodge for the past ten
years.
"He is trying to buy seats in order to steal the election for the
Tories, the public has a right to know about this, it is a matter of
democracy.
"We need to know how someone like Ashcroft has operated in the
dark for so long, manipulating the electoral system in order to gain advantage
for one party."
He also called for the Conservative Party to pay back
the money it has recieved from Ashcroft, as he claimed it was derived from
avoiding the higher tax rate a UK resident would have paid.
In a statement this morning, the commission said it would "consider" the suggestion, but was not able to hold a formal investigation.
It said: "The vetting of Lord Ashcroft, however, took place before the commission was established in 2000 and the commission has no documentation on this case and no retrospective powers to investigate.
"The commission will now only vet individuals who are already resident in the UK for tax purposes and commit to remaining so."
As well as confirming his tax status yesterday, , Lord Ashcroft released a letter he sent in 2000 to then Tory leader William Hague in which he pledged to "take up permanent residence".
"In subsequent dialogue with the government, it was officially confirmed that the interpretation in the first undertaking of the words 'permanent residence' was to be that of 'a long-term resident'," he explained in his statement.
The peer made clear he was ready to pay full UK tax if the law is changed to bar non-doms from membership of the upper house, saying: "I agree with this change and expect to be sitting in the House of Lords for many years to come."
Government legislation introducing a ban is set to clear its final Commons hurdle today, with Conservative support.
The Conservatives pointed out that Labour too was funded by some "non-doms", including Lord Paul.
But Lord Paul said it was "really ridiculous" to compare his case with that
of Lord Ashcroft, as he had always been open about his tax status.
