Tax haven snipe at Lord Ashcroft

Alistair Darling was cheered by Labour MPs when he announced agreements with offshore tax havens, which will now share information with Britain.

In a clear attack on Conservative deputy chairman Lord Ashcroft, who has non-dom status, he listed the three new countries that are about to sign up as "Dominica, Grenada and Belize".

Lord Ashcroft has been based in Belize for many years and only recently admitted that he has not paid UK tax on his overseas earnings. Mr Darling said: "I expect these deals to be signed within days rather than the 10 years it has taken the Conservative Party to reveal the details of its deputy chairman's status."

The Chancellor said that more than £1 billion of extra tax had been collected from UK citizens with secretive accounts in Liechtenstein. The new agreements will bring in £500 million extra revenue over each of the next four years.