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Helena Wood, co-head of the UK Economic Crime Programme, said: “The plan aims to improve the policing response to economic crime, but does little to deal with the fact that economic crime represents only 1% of policing resources. “The additional 475 staff earmarked in the plan are not enough to stem a multi-jurisdictional, multi-billion pound threat to the UK’s national security.”

The plan places a welcome focus on the threat that the proceeds of kleptocracy and corruption pose to the UK’s national security interests,” said Maria Nizzero, a research fellow at the Rusi UK economic crime programme, who specialises in asset recovery and combating illicit finance. “However, the actions in the plan are a timid starting point. The response to transnational illicit finance needs to move beyond sanctions into long-term criminal justice responses.”