In the pre-Budget report (PBR) the chancellor made quite a low key comment.

"The government will shortly commission an independent review of British offshore financial centres," he said.  He also made it clear that the UK would not be held responsible for any sums held in the offshore bank accounts, in the same way as it is for the amounts held at UK on-shore bank accounts. One wonders what is behind all this. . . .

 . . . But at the end of it all, the mainly Western governments who are seeking information from the off-shore centres may find that their taxpayers were actually being much more honest than they were giving them credit for. ..    By Chas Roy-Chowdhury - Association of Chartered Certified Accountants - 26-Nov-08.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7748803.stm