Leaders clash over donors who had HSBC Swiss accounts
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The prime minster claims that no government had been tougher than his on clamping down on tax evasion and tax avoidance
Ed Miliband has clashed with David Cameron over political donors who held Swiss bank accounts with HSBC.
The PM accused Mr Miliband of being controlled by trade union donations and said the Labour government had been the "friend of the tax dodger".
The row comes amid allegations HSBC's Swiss private bank may have helped wealthy clients avoid or evade tax.
Lord Fink, who stepped down as Conservative co-treasurer in 2010, is among those named in documents seen by Panorama, as is Labour donor Lord Paul.
The Guardian has also published names of Swiss account holders. They report Conservatives have raised more than £5m from HSBC clients with Swiss accounts.
'Revolving door'
Labour have benefited, the Guardian says, from cash and gifts in kind worth well over £500,000 and received a loan for £2m.
Holding a Swiss bank account is not illegal and does not prove either tax evasion or tax avoidance.
The individuals named may have held the accounts for a wide variety of reasons and there is no suggestion they did anything wrong.
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Exchanges between David Cameron and Ed Miliband descend into insults as their PMQs clashes come to an end
He said none of the Labour donors named in the list had "given a penny on my watch" and claimed Mr Cameron was "up to his neck in this".
Mr Cameron said Conservative donors did not choose the party's policies and candidates - unlike Labour who, he said, were controlled by trade union donors.
Shouting across the despatch box at the Labour leader, he said: "The only reason he is sitting there is that a bunch of trade union leaders decided he was more left wing than his brother."
'Desperate' In a separate exchange Mr Miliband said: "You took the money, you gave a job to the head of HSBC and you let the tax avoiders get away with it.
"There's something rotten at the heart of the Conservative Party and it's you."
Mr Cameron replied: "For 13 years they (Labour) sat in the Treasury, they did nothing about tax transparency, nothing about tax dodging, nothing about tax avoidance.
"This government has been tougher than any previous government. That's why they are desperate, that's why they are losing."
He said Labour had welcomed the appointment of former HSBC chairman Lord Green as a trade minister, and had even held meetings with the peer as recently as 2013.
Tax chief Lin Homer said she had been "diligent" and "not ignored any information"
Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith is among those being linked to a HSBC Swiss bank account.In a statement, the Richmond Park MP said: "To be clear, my very numerous family members around the world who are beneficiaries of the same Trust do not own or control it, but like me, they receive income from it.
"I have never had a Swiss bank account, and do not control any Swiss bank accounts. I have never sought or been given tax minimisation advice by HSBC, directly or indirectly. The media commentary around this is therefore wrong."
He said he had paid taxes in full on his income and the "vast majority" of his donations to the Conservative Party were "notional" and "relate to use of offices over the past ten years".
Lord Fink, who was mentioned by Ed Miliband in his Commons exchanges with Mr Cameron, is understood to have lived and worked in Switzerland and had his salary paid into a Swiss bank account.
Committee hearing
Labour is calling for Lord Green, who was the most senior figure at the bank for much of the time the documents cover, and the prime minister to make a full statement about Lord Green's role at HSBC, and his appointment as a government minister in 2011.
But former Conservative Chancellor Ken Clarke said this was a "bogus, synthetic row" and "no MP or no journalists had raised a peep" when Lord Green was appointed.
"If something has now come out, and it has not yet, which actually reveals that Stephen Green did anything wrong then of course I would wish to see it pursued," he told BBC Radio 4's World at One programme.
He added: "Every government I have ever known has wanted to cut down on tax avoidance. Over the last five years, I have never known such progress made."
Lib Dem Treasury Minister Danny Alexander told the same programme that if the Crown Prosecution Service had sufficient evidence to take action against any individuals being investigated by the HMRC then it should do so.
'Change of behaviour'
Meanwhile, the boss of HM Revenue & Customs has told a committee of MPs the Crown Prosecution Service decided that only case so far had "met the test" for criminal proceedings to be undertaken although she said several of the other 14 individuals who were most strongly considered for prosecution had voluntary disclosed their liabilities and settled their affairs.
"Prosecution is a very important part of the toolkit.... but it is only one of the things we do," she told the Public Accounts Committee.
"We are after the tax, we are after a change of behaviour and we are after a deterrent. We believe all of these things are required."
The bank helped 100,000 individuals - 7,000 UK nationals - with tax affairs.
On Tuesday, HMRC said it could not share information it had about the bank because of an international agreement.
HMRC was passed a hoard of documents in 2010 from France about clients of HSBC's Swiss operation. The committee is also planning to hear from Lord Green.
The scandal has triggered promises of scrutiny from around the world.
Offshore accounts are not illegal, but many people use them to hide cash from the tax authorities. And while tax avoidance is perfectly legal, deliberately hiding money to evade tax is not.
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