The UK’s dirty money reforms: from pledges to practice

In December 2025, David Lammy, the Justice Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister, announced a new strategy to combat bribery and other misconduct, create extra funding for an elite anti-corruption police unit, and see the UK host a global summit on tackling illicit finance.

While some precise details of this government offensive are yet to be finalised, it will also include efforts to target those who help foreign despotic leaders and other dubious figures move and conceal their illegally-obtained wealth. 

A review, to be conducted by former MP and veteran anti-corruption campaigner Margaret Hodge, will examine the movement of stolen or illegitimate assets in the UK in an attempt to close the avenues used by those who carry out such activities. There will also be attempts to improve transparency in political donations.

Strong words, familiar territory

David Lammy announced the strategy in the strongest possible terms. He talked about the “stain’’ of dirty money, referred to “kleptocrats bleeding their countries dry, stealing from their own people’’ and vowed that this country “will no longer be their haven’’. 

Taken at face value, it is stirring stuff. But Mr Lammy and his colleagues will need to achieve a great deal if they are to live up to the promise of his words. 

"Stop me if you've heard this one before" is a phrase that rarely, if ever, comes from a politician’s lips. Which may be due to a lack of self-awareness or pure political expediency. So it was never likely that the Deputy PM was ever going to admit that much of what he was saying was an echo of words uttered by previous ministers in previous governments. But his pronouncements were going over old, problematic ground.

In his defence, Mr Lammy and the government of which he is part have only been in power for one year and a half. Much of the rhetoric surrounding the UK’s dirty money problem predates the current government. 

Indeed, the previous government passed the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022, which created a beneficial ownership register for overseas entities holding UK real estate, strengthened the unexplained wealth order (UWO) regime and made it easier to prosecute those involved in sanctions busting. This was followed by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, which gave Companies House greater powers of scrutiny and tightened the rules on beneficial ownership. There were also changes to the 2017 Money Laundering Regulations, instigated by the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) (No 2) Regulations 2022. 

Promise versus proof

The current government presents itself as capable of tackling the UK’s dirty money problem. It now needs to show that it can act on that promise.

Anyone who has taken on that task before may be keen to point out it will not be easy. Those making illegal gains, moving the proceeds of crime and then looking to hide it in plain sight always have one eye on their criminal operations and one eye on what the authorities are doing in response to them. Such people will have put great thought into the challenges they faced as a result of the previous government’s efforts to combat their operations. It would be a surprise if they are not already working on ways of sidestepping any measures introduced as part of David Lammy’s strategy.

The government, if it is to remove the UK’s dirty money problem, needs to overcome these challenges. While we do not yet know everything about the government’s plans, we can at least commend it for acknowledging that more needs to be done. But any further praise needs to be held back until we are given the full details of the strategy. And, ideally, until we see how effective the government proves to be at keeping its promise.

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