ANDREW PIERCE: Farage’s tax haven is back to haunt him

Having failed to maintain its momentum of last year, and with its poll ratings falling, Ukip’s credibility is increasingly coming under fire.

The latest problem to face party leader Nigel Farage is accusations of hypocrisy over tax avoidance.

Some years ago, the former City trader attacked the EU for ‘creating a system in which businessmen and women could legally avoid’ paying tax. In a speech to the European Parliament, he spoke of targeting this ‘common enemy’.

However, he seems to have backtracked on that pledge.

A few days ago, the European Parliament, in its annual report, proposed tough measures to tackle tax avoidance by making companies report where they make their profits and pay taxes. It also proposed a Europe-wide definition of tax havens that would make it easier for tax-dodgers to be named and shamed.

So why did Ukip vote against such a move that clearly chimed with the sentiments expressed by Farage?

Perhaps it’s because he has never really been an enemy of tax avoidance — addressing the issue only because he knows it will make a popular soundbite.

For just weeks after that magisterial European Parliament speech, it was revealed that Farage had set up a trust fund in the tax haven of the Isle of Man to avoid inheritance tax.