Labour warns that UK ministers' old links to defunct firms could be hidden from public

credit - Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP/Press Association Images

Chancellor Philip Hammond's links to six dissolved companies could be hidden from public view if the UK Government pushes through a record-keeping change, Labour's deputy leader Tom Watson has warned.

Ministers are considering proposals to limit the amount of time records of dissolved companies are kept on public database Companies House.

The change would mean the ex-directorships of 24 current Conservative ministers, including the Chancellor, would no longer be accessible, Watson claimed.

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The likes of Home Secretary Amber Rudd, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon and Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, among others, also have links to 48 dissolved firms that would be affected.

More than 2.5m records could be lost if the plans go ahead to limit record-keeping of dissolved companies from 20 years to six.

Labour MP Watson urged the UK Government not to go ahead with the change.

“If the Tory government was truly committed to transparency and openness then it would not allow this move – which would effectively wipe from public view the records of 2.5m dissolved companies and the people associated with them – to go ahead,” he said.

“It’s now up to Theresa May to ensure that this proposal will never see the light of day.”

However, a spokesperson for Companies House, which is an agency of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, said: “This issue is being considered following a number of complaints made by members of the public who believe that retaining, and making publicly available, information relating to long-dissolved companies is inconsistent with data protection law.”