Panama Papers: Cameron to announce tax taskforce to investigate revelations as he seeks to regain the initiative

PM insists the Government has the expertise to ensure that those who used Mossack Fonseca law firm to illegitimately avoid tax in the UK can be brought to book

Demonstrators called for the PM's resignation outside Downing Street on Saturday (Reuters)

The Government is to set up a tax, crime and financial misconduct taskforce to investigate the revelations in the Panama Papers, David Cameron will announce, as the Prime Minister seeks to put his own involvement with his father’s off shore trust behind him.

In a speech to Tory activists in London, that was picketed by hundreds of demonstrator, Mr Cameron admitted he should not have tried to hide his own profits from the fund when he was first questioned about it.

“I know I should have handled this better,” he told the Conservative Spring Forum. “I could have handled this better. I know there are lessons to learn and I will learn them. Blame me.”

The taskforce, which will be led by HMRC and the National Crime Agency, will also include investigators and financial compliance specialists from the Serious Fraud Office and the Financial Conduct Authority.

But the new group will not have automatic access to 11.5m files from the database of the off shore lawyers Mossack Fonseca that have led to the revelations.

These are in the hands of a consortium of journalists and it is unclear whether the taskforce will have the authority or the inclination to demand that they are handed over.

The group is expected to make an initial report to the Home Secretary by the middle of this year which critics will argue will not give it enough time to reach any meaningful conclusions.

But announcing the plan Mr Cameron insisted the Government already had the expertise to ensure that those who had used Mossack Fonseca to illegitimately avoid tax in the UK could be brought to book.

“The UK has been at the forefront of international action to tackle the global scourge of aggressive tax avoidance and evasion, and international corruption more broadly,” he said.

“There is clearly further to go and this taskforce will bring together the best of British expertise to deal with any wrongdoing relating to the Panama Papers.”

In his speech Mr Cameron, who confirmed he would be publishing his own tax returns going back a number of years, suggested he had not come clean about his own involvement in the Panama Papers because he was “very angry about what people were saying about my dad”.

“I love my dad. I miss him every day,” he said. “He was a wonderful father and I’m very proud of everything he did.

“But I mustn’t let that cloud the picture. And the facts are these. The facts are I bought shares in a unit trust, shares that are like any other sorts of shares, and paid tax on them in exactly the same way. I sold those shares, in fact I sold all the shares that I owned on becoming prime minister.

“And later on I’ll be publishing the information that goes into my tax return, not just for this year but for years gone past because I want to be completely transparent and open about these things. I’ll be the first prime minister, the first leader of a major political party, to do that, but I think it’s the right thing to do.”

As he was speaking hundreds of Protesters - many wearing Panama hats – gathered at Downing Street and the conference venue carrying placards saying 'he's got to go', 'time to go chum' and 'Eton's mess'.

A huge pig with the Prime Minister's face emblazoned on the front was hoisted into the air above the crowd who chanted 'David Cameron must resign/Tax evasion is a crime'.

The protest gained support from high-profile figures including arch whistleblower Edward Snowden, who tweeted mocking Mr Cameron's “it's a private matter” defence.

The singer Lily Allen meanwhile joined the protests outside Downing Street, saying the PM was “dishonest” and had lost trust. “I just think it's really important that young people take more of an interest in politics so that's why I'm here really. I think lots of people in my position don't speak out because they're scared of the repercussions.”

Financial Secretary to the Treasury David Gauke said that “everyone should pay their fair share of tax, just as the honest majority already does”.

“No government has done more to make sure we crack down on tax evasion and aggressive avoidance, both here in the UK and internationally,” he said.

“But as the Panama papers show, tax evasion is part of a wider set of international criminality activity together with money laundering, illicit finance and evading sanctions.

“Our message is clear: there are no safe havens.“

The Government said that HMRC officials were already investigating 700 current leads they have with a link to Panama. At the same time the Treasury is working with other countries to speed up progress towards sharing beneficial ownership information, so that enforcement agencies can share information on who really owns companies. This would allow for more effective investigation of financial wrongdoing.

The UK will publish its own register of company beneficial ownership from June 2016, making it clear who the real owners of companies are, the first major country to have such a list in place and the information it contains will be free for anyone to access.