The not-so-blind trust: How ministers see their investments without looking
What if Rishi Sunak has invested his wealth in Oil and Gas shares? This is worth considering because if he has, his reluctance to impose a substantial windfall tax on Oil companies’ excessive profits would have a new significance.
What if Rishi Sunak has invested his wealth in Oil and Gas shares? This is worth considering because if he has, his reluctance to impose a substantial windfall tax on Oil companies’ excessive profits would have a new significance.
📌 The main points...
- Prime ministers such as Rishi Sunak and ministers use “blind trust/blind management” arrangements to avoid conflicts of interest.
- These ‘blind’ arrangements are ineffective and structurally prone to failure because ministers appoint their trustee/fund manager.
- Lack of transparency prevents ministers from being held accountable.
- ‘Blind’ trust arrangements fail to prevent potential abuse by politicians and lack supervision.
R ishi Sunak may indeed own those investments, but we are not authorised to be privy to such information, the Good Law Project said.
All we can ascertain is that his investments are managed through a “blind trust/blind management” arrangement, as outlined in the Register of Ministerial Interests. The rationale behind this setup, and similar ones held by other Ministers, is to ensure that individuals who hold extraordinary powers to enhance the financial prospects of businesses and sectors do not exploit these powers for personal gain.
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