Downing Street says Theresa May won’t be publishing her tax return this year
Prime Minister Theresa May has “no plans” to publish her tax return, Downing Street said today, despite the former home secretary previously doing so as part of her leadership campaign.
May published a summary of her earnings last July as she battled it out to become Tory leader and Prime Minister, but Number 10 has today said she has no plans to repeat the act.
A spokesman said there was “no longstanding convention” of such publications, “and no plans to do so”.
High-profile MPs rushed to publish their tax documents last year in the wake of the Panama Papers scandal, with former PM David Cameron, and former chancellor George Osborne among those disclosing their finances.
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However, May's stance puts her alongside her own chancellor, Philip Hammond, who similarly said yesterday he had “no intention” of publishing his own tax return.
"This demonstration politics isn't helping to create a better atmosphere in British politics," Hammond told the Andrew Marr Show.
It comes as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn published his own return for a second year in a bid to pressure May. However, Corbyn succeeded only in generating confusion over his own earnings.
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Corbyn, whose disclosure last year revealed that he had paid a £100 fine for filing his tax documents late, generated questions yesterday after the latest documents appeared to exclude his salary as leader of the opposition.
But late last night, aides to the Labour leader subsequently clarified that income was listed under “other pensions and annuities”, under a heading of “public office”.