As a member of the European parliament I have joined my Labour colleagues at every stage to vote for European action to combat tax evasion and crack down on tax havens.

Despite David Cameron saying at the G7 intergovernmental meetings that he wanted to lead international efforts to promote tax transparency, his Conservative MEPs have consistently voted against such efforts in the European parliament. The publication of the Panama Papers this week showed Cameron’s family benefitted from offshore shareholdings.

Now, the first priority must be for Labour to do the job of opposition, by holding to account the prime minister for his conduct:

First, if Cameron claims he has ‘nothing to hide’, why has Downing Street made five statements in four days, and finally been forced to admit he benefitted from owning 5,000 shares in Panama?

Second, as he did own the shares while serving as an elected member of parliament, why did he not record this on his register of interests?

Finally, if he has done nothing wrong, why did he then sell the shares he had been happy to own for 13 years, only shortly before becoming prime minister?

Cameron now claims his UK tax obligations were upheld, but wants us to ignore the fact that the law firm he used from which the leaks emanated, Mossack Fonseca, deliberately marketed itself as ‘not subject to UK income tax or UK corporation tax.’

Labour’s deputy leader Tom Watson was right to say on Newsnight last night, that Cameron will have more questions to answer.

The first chance members of parliament will have to do so will be when Cameron is called before the House of Commons, when it returns from recess on Monday.

And another chance will come when Cameron meets the promise he has now been forced to make, to publish his personal tax return.

But the consequences of the ‘share affair’ should not only be for Cameron and the Conservative party.

Labour in the European parliament wants to press through pending legislation for country-by-country transparent reporting by European Union-based companies for tax paid worldwide, and EU sanctions against tax havens and companies that use them if they do not submit to full transparency.

In 2013, we now know Cameron lobbied the president of the European council not to require ‘public registers’ of offshore trusts. If the prime minister survives the next days and weeks, he must throw Britain’s full weight behind the pending EU legislation.

Cameron is now belatedly arguing that he sees the merits both of Europe and of tax transparency.

Rather than having the truth dragged out of him, let him demonstrate his new-found conversion to both, by supporting European action to secure tax justice once and for all.

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Richard Howitt MEP is European parliament rapporteur on corporate social responsibility and MEP for the East of England. He tweets @RichardHowitt

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Photo: 10 Downing Street