For centuries, London has been the beating heart of global finance. Its history is tied to empire, trade, and innovation. But behind the gleaming towers of the City lies another story—one of greed, capture, and complicity in the flow of dirty money.
A recent article by Jochen Ressel traces how London became the world’s dirty money capital. It’s a sobering account: from colonial profits laundered into polite society, to Thatcher-era deregulation, to the post-Soviet oligarch billions that flooded in through shell companies and property portfolios. Today, Transparency International estimates £6.7 billion worth of suspicious wealth sits in UK property alone.
And yet, instead of breaking with this legacy, our Government’s so-called “growth agenda” risks doubling down on the very playbook that brought us here: captured deregulation, pandering to the City, and treating lax money laundering rules as a competitive advantage.
Deregulation is not growth
We’re told that light-touch regulation boosts investment and fuels economic growth. But history tells a different story. Deregulation doesn’t produce prosperity for the many—it produces vulnerability. It creates a system where:
- Elites benefit from tax havens, secrecy structures, and captured regulators.
- Ordinary citizens pay the price through weakened public services, distorted housing markets, and exposure to economic shocks.
- Democracy erodes as kleptocracy and corruption gain a foothold in our political and financial systems.
The City of London, with its unique privileges and autonomy, has long acted as both lobbyist and gatekeeper. Successive governments of every stripe have tolerated, even encouraged, dirty money flows because they paper over fiscal gaps and prop up asset prices. But this is a Faustian bargain: the NHS, pensions, and social safety nets cannot and should not depend on oligarch roubles or laundered billions.
Citizens must not tolerate dirty money
Money laundering is not a victimless crime. It is the laundering of human suffering—the profits of trafficking, arms deals, kleptocracy, and fraud. Every time we accept it, we enable the crimes behind it.
That is why we must reject the myth that deregulation equals growth. Growth built on corruption is not sustainable, and it is certainly not in the national interest.
Instead, citizens must:
- Get wise – understand how deregulation and captured politics serve the few, not the many.
- Get empowered – support transparency initiatives, independent watchdogs, and citizen-driven financial reform.
- Get heard – demand a financial system that works for people and planet, not for oligarchs and offshore service providers.
A better society is possible
We face a stark choice. Do we continue down the path of deregulation, secrecy, and dependency on dirty money? Or do we confront the truth, strengthen financial integrity, and build a system rooted in transparency and fairness?
This is about more than financial crime. It is about the kind of society we want to live in. One where money laundering is tolerated as “business as usual,” or one where citizens hold power to account and insist that economic growth must serve the common good.
London does not have to remain the dirty money capital of the world. But only if we—the citizens—refuse to accept the false promises of deregulation and raise our voices for integrity, empowerment, and justice.
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