All peers and MPs to pay UK tax or quit under Tory plan

Mr Cameron said he wanted to put the matter beyond doubt

All MPs and peers would have to pay taxes in the UK under legislation that would be rushed through if he became prime minister, David Cameron has said.

The Tory leader, facing questions about the tax status of one of his party's biggest donors and one of his would-be MPs, wanted to put it "beyond doubt".

He told Sky: "If you want to be in the Houses of Parliament... you need to be, or be treated as, a full UK taxpayer.

"We would pass that law if we get elected... as rapidly as we could."

Mr Cameron has faced regular questions since becoming leader about the tax status of prominent Conservative Party donor Lord Ashcroft, who has extensive business interests in Belize.

When he was made a Conservative peer in 2000, he gave an undertaking that he would pay taxes in the UK but has since refused to comment on his tax status, insisting it was a private matter.

'Hypocrisy'

Last month it emerged that Zac Goldsmith, the party's candidate for Richmond Park in south west London, was non-domiciled for tax purposes - although he said that was a position he was ending.

Mr Cameron said a new law would "will bring much needed clarity to the situation so that the whole country can see that the law is there and being obeyed".

Mr Cameron said donations by Lord Ashcroft were "within the law" because he was resident in the UK and on the electoral register.

But he said the tax status of many peers from different parties was currently "rather unclear", he said.

Transport Secretary Lord Adonis said a law change was not needed, saying the Conservatives could just bring in such a rule for all its peers and MPs now.

A Labour Party spokesman called it a "brazen attempt... to obscure the truth about Lord Ashcroft's tax status" and said it was "a largely academic point... [as] no non-doms sit in the House of Commons".

The spokesman said it was government policy "to ensure that anyone sitting in a reformed second chamber is subject to UK tax law".

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said: "It is the height of hypocrisy for the Tories to suggest a new law when they opposed Liberal Democrat Lord Oakeshott's bill to stop non-doms sitting as peers.

"Someone who wants to pass laws about tax in this country ought to pay this country's full taxes, and not hide behind the special offshore status of non-doms."

But a Tory spokesman said Mr Huhne was "wrong", adding: "When the other parties attack these proposals it just shows they don't get it.

"We are arguing for transparency to allay questions that have been asked of all major parties, they should be supporting us and working with us instead of sniping."