To Rachel Reeves: 

As concerned citizens and taxpayers, we urge you to immediately investigate the new Shell-Equinor joint venture, Adura, which appears designed to dodge at least £1.3 billion in UK tax revenues that our public services urgently need. The structure of this deal would allow Shell to offset major tax liabilities using Equinor’s accumulated losses and allowances. This “loss buying” lets a major polluter avoid paying its fair share while exploiting British resources. Equinor, in turn, gains access to income from Shell’s projects, including the controversial Rosebank oil field, which alone could cost the Treasury a further £250 million. The public expects the Treasury to protect taxpayers, not enable oil giants to privatise profits and shift their tax burden onto the rest of us. 

We urge the Treasury to take the following steps immediately:

• Fully investigate the deal: The Treasury, and HMRC, must immediately launch a full investigation into the creation of Adura to assess the legality of a deal that looks like it could dodge anti-avoidance provisions against ‘loss buying.’
• Prevent tax relief transfer: If current loss-buying restrictions apply, Adura must be prevented from inheriting Equinor’s tax reliefs.
• Strengthen tax laws: Regardless of the outcome of the investigation, the Government must immediately strengthen and retroactively apply tax dodging protections to permanently close this loophole and prevent such deals from ever being attempted again. 

Instead of allowing Big Polluters to dodge taxes. The Government should be drawing up plans for a fund - paid for by a levy on fossil fuel companies and other major polluters - to help communities at home and abroad deal with the impacts of climate change.