Thread by @FairTaxMark

🧵Thread on new #publicprocurement rules that are being advanced by UK Government

New rules encompass every town & city, national bodies and NHS. Combined value of contracts is £300bn per annum!

Massive opportunity for taxpayer spend to finally embed tax justice 1/n #DirtyMoney

Research shows that c.17.5% of UK public contracts are won by companies linked to tax havens: likely the highest rate in Europe

But UK polling finds that two thirds of people believe public procurement should consider a business' tax conduct before such contracts are agreed 2/n

Moreover, there is a growing movement of towns & cities across the UK that want to use their buying power to encourage responsible tax conduct

Our #FairTaxCouncil network is expanding rapidly, and includes municipal powerhouses such as Birmingham, Newcastle & Edinburgh 3/n

A Public Procurement Bill was published in June: and promised (post Brexit) to remove the UK from EU procurement restrictions

However, the Bill does very little to meaningfully allow progressive towns & cities to factor in the tax conduct of companies supplying them 4/n

The UK Public Procurement Bill will recommence its passage through the House of Lords this autumn, and then move to House of Commons

We are urging Peers & MPs to back some moderate amendments that would help drive out #DirtyMoney and advance tax justice (a little bit) 5/n

In particular, along with the UK Anti-Corruption Coalition @ukaccoalition, we would like to see enhanced powers conveyed to allow the exclusion of business from public procurement where there is good evidence of financial and criminal activity. As per the United States 6/n

There are some positive aspects to the Procurement Bill: not least the requirement that overseas suppliers should disclose their beneficial owners, as UK suppliers already do

But the Bill is far too vague in many places and needs to be clearer on economic crime matters 7/n

It's vital that we never again have the debacle of progressive towns and cities feeling that are unable to exclude the likes Gazprom from procurement, as current law makes it very difficult to factor in the consideration of broad matters of ethical conduct and economic crime 8/n

The most likely chance of real progress is that moderate advances are progressed in the Procurement Bill over the next 6-9months. With a focus on radically enhanced process transparency and debarment of the very worst of corporate abusers... 8/n

See ukanticorruptioncoalition.org/work/ed12u33pf…

But we need the door to be left firmly open for further substantive progress down the line to ensure that 'responsible tax', and other issues of corporate conduct, are overtly allowable considerations of #SocialValue for progressive towns and cities in the near future 10/n