U.K. Pulls Debate on Key Brexit Bill After Warning From Jersey

(Bloomberg) --

The U.K. government pulled a debate on a key piece of Brexit legislation after Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man warned against plans to force an end to secret company ownership.

The main sticking point is a proposed cross-party amendment to the Financial Services Bill led by former International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell. It calls for British overseas territories and crown dependencies to publish a register of the real owners of companies by the end of 2020 -- three years earlier than the U.K. government planned to make it obligatory.

“It is a respected constitutional position that the U.K. does not legislate for the Crown Dependencies on domestic matters without our consent,” the three dependencies said in a statement. Several proposed amendments relating to company registers run “contrary to the established constitutional relationships” and “would produce inoperable legislation,” they said.

The Financial Times reported that leaders of the three jurisdictions would travel to London on Monday to warn against the proposals.

Debate on the bill -- considered vital in the event the U.K. leaves the European Union without a deal on March 29 -- was scheduled to start on Monday afternoon and conclude by 10 p.m. While it was listed on Parliament’s order paper, it later disappeared from the online schedule.

The opposition Labour Party’s junior finance spokesman, Jonathan Reynolds, said the government had canceled it.

“There were amendments on preventing a ‘race to the bottom’ on financial deregulation and on transparency for the Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies that we had hoped to pass,” Reynolds said on Twitter.

The Treasury didn’t immediately respond to request for a comment.

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