The newly appointed minister responsible for HMRC, James Murray, Exchequer secretary to the Treasury has set out a brief overview of plans to deal with tax avoidance and HMRC funding, in a written statement to MPs.

As recently as May 2024, HMRC was given emergency funding of £51m by the last Conservative government to deal with the immediate resourcing problem resulting from the decision not to close a string of HMRC phone helplines.

During the election campaign, Labour said it would take action to stamp out abuse of the tax system with the aim of recovering £6bn in unpaid taxes within the next five years.

Before being elected, Labour also said it would provide up to £555m of new funding for HMRC as part of its tax evasion crackdown, set out in a document entitled Labour’s Plan to Close the Tax Gap.