The shoe is on the other foot, after the new Chancellor, Alistair Darling, was forced to refute allegations the United Kingdom is a tax haven.

The International monetary Fund says the UK is little better than offshore jurisdictions, forcing the government there to respond to the allegations.

A recent working paper, commissioned by the IMF argued the UK should be in the same category as offshore financial centres such as the Isle of Man and Jersey.

The charges came after the UK’s consultation on the taxation of foreign profits, as well as its non-domiciled rules which exempt foreigners from paying tax on foreign income.

Mr Darling (pictured) said he wouldn’t be reforming or scrapping rules anytime soon, the matter was complex and a Treasury review of the taxation system was underway.