David Cameron under pressure from Jeremy Corbyn to publish his tax return in wake of Panama papers revelations

Jeremy Corbyn has said he would be prepared to publish his tax return and called on government ministers including Prime Minister David Cameron to publish theirs.

The Labour leader has also said Cameron’s family should be part of the HMRC investigation into the so-called ‘Panama papers’, in which tax avoiders were named in a massive data leak at a Panama legal firm.

David Cameron has indicated he he would be willing to publish his own tax return but has so far failed to do so, while Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell published his own tax return at the end of January during the row over Google's corporation tax settlement with HMRC.

"I have no problem whatsoever in publishing my tax returns, as indeed most other people don’t because my income is what I earn as a Member of Parliament," Corbyn told the BBC this morning.

"I think we need to know where somebody’s income comes from and in that sense it should be open and above board because the public need to have confidence that their representatives in Parliament, their representatives and ministers are getting their income from honest and open sources as Members of Parliament."

One of those named in the cache of documents leaked from Mossack Fonseca's database was Mr Cameron's late father Ian, who died in 2010.

The Labour leader said Mr Cameron's family should be part of the HMRC investigation into the so-called 'Panama papers'.

"There are questions that have been placed there about his family’s estate and his father’s investments, obviously they must be part of that investigation, the investigation must be independent, fast, thorough and fair."

Former Business Secretary Vince Cable last night called for the Government to take direct control of British overseas territories and Crown dependencies, such as the Cayman Islands and British Virgin Islands, who have been accused of facilitating tax avoidance and evasion.

Corbyn said imposing direct rule was "something that had to be considered" and could be done very quickly through an administrative instrument called an Order in Council.

"The point is they’re not independent territories, they are self-governing, yes, but they’re British Crown dependent territories, therefore surely there has to be an observance of UK tax law in those places. If they’ve become a place with systematic evasion and short-changing of the public in this country then something has to be done about it, either those government comply or a next step has to be taken.

"Direct rule can be done very quickly if that’s what the Government decides to do, yes, indeed, it can be done by an Order in Council, it can be done almost immediately," he added.

"The point is those dependent territories, governments have got to understand the anger of people in this country when they read of this industrial scale of tax avoidance and evasion."