A campaign group which has previously been an arch critic of the Isle of Man has turned its criticism to the UK.

The Tax Justice Network’s financial secrecy index ranks countries on the size and secretiveness of their financial sectors every two years.

Their latest list has seen the UK climb up to 12th place having been 23rd two years ago.

Meanwhile the Isle of Man figures further down the list in 43rd spot having been in 42nd place two years ago.

Guernsey is in 11th place and Jersey is in 16th position.

It was Richard Murphy of the Tax Justice Network who claimed credit for raids on a revenue sharing deal between the island and the UK in 2009 and 2011.

The issue meant the island’s public finances were sent reeling from the loss of more than £200m in VAT revenue - a third of government income - after the UK revised the Customs revenue sharing arrangement in 2009 and 2011.

Since then, however, it has started to rise again and in 2016 there was the introduction of FERSA (Final Expenditure Revenue Sharing Arrangement) .

Now the The Tax Justice Network (TJN) has said the UK has become a more desirable place for businesses and super-rich individuals to hide their finances from the law, raising serious concerns about Britain’s post-Brexit strategy.

Countries on the index decreased their secrecy scores by an average of three marks out of 100, while the UK increased its rating by four marks. It was the highest increase of any country.

The change was largely down to the ’network of satellite jurisdictions to which the UK outsources some of its financial secrecy activity’, says TJN.

Because the UK’s ’spider’s web’ of regulatory control includes some of the highest ranking jurisdictions on the index, including the Cayman Islands, its ranking worsened.

And while the UK has become more secretive, other countries have become more open, it claims.

John Christensen, TJN’s director and founder, said the UK’s worsening performance prompted concern about how it would operate after leaving the EU at the end of January.

He said: ’The UK’s surge up the financial secrecy index raises serious concerns about the UK’s post-Brexit strategy to turn the City of London into a ’’Singapore-on-Thames.’’ ’

TJN’s Financial Secrecy Index 2020 rankings (2018 ranking in brackets)

1. Cayman Islands (3)

2. US (2)

3. Switzerland (1)

4. Hong Kong (4)

5. Singapore (5)

6. Luxembourg (6)

7. Japan (13)

8. Netherlands (14)

9. British Virgin Islands (16)

10. United Arab Emirates (9)

11. Guernsey (10)

12. United Kingdom (23)

43. The Isle of Man (42)