Cabinet office under pressure over Ashcroft tax promise

The Cabinet Office has been given a 35-day deadline [from 1 Feb] to disclose full details of the undertaking Lord Ashcroft gave to become a UK resident for tax purposes when he became a Tory peer ten years ago.

Information Commissioner Christopher Graham has ruled there is a legitimate public interest in the issue. He was ruling on an appeal by Labour MP Gordon Prentice after he was refused information on Lord Ashcroft thorugh a Freedom of Information request.

Graham added the public is also entitled to know whether Ashcroft had complied.

His ruling said that since the ennoblement of the billionaire Tory donor and former party treasurer there had been speculation he had not satisfied the undertaking he gave, adding: “Statements by senior politicians concerning Lord Ashcroft’s undertaking have been evasive and obfuscatory and have served to compound this speculation.

“Lord Ashcroft could have ended the speculation about his residency by making a public statement to that effect. He has chosen not to do this." In the commissioner’s view there is a legitimate interest for the public to know more about Lord Ashcroft’s undertaking.

Graham said public interest in transparency in the honours system outweighed the Cabinet Office claim that disclosure would be unwarranted and prejudicial to Ashcroft's rights.

But he had initially been turned down for a peerage on the ground that he was a tax exile.

The Cabinet Office has said it is considering the ruling and would respond in due course. The Tories' only comment was that the party supports the government amendment to the Constitutional Reform Bill prohibiting anyone not a UK tax resident from sitting in the Lords.

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