A new leadership team has been appointed to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Investment Fraud and Fairer Financial Services following its Annual General Meeting at Portcullis House, Westminster.
Members from both Houses came together on 10 December to elect officers and agree the group’s priorities for the year ahead — a year they warn will be pivotal for rebuilding trust in the UK’s financial system.
Hayes and Harlington MP John McDonnell was confirmed as the APPG’s new Chair, supported by a cross-party group of Vice Chairs: Sarah Bool MP, Lord Davies of Brixton, and Ben Lake MP. Together, they form one of Westminster’s most politically diverse leadership teams dedicated to financial reform.
Accepting the role, McDonnell said he was honoured to lead the group at a “critical juncture” for financial oversight in the UK, stressing that victims of investment fraud and regulatory failures “deserve justice, not excuses”, adding ‘We will not allow a race to the bottom in regulation’.
He argued that consumer protection must be viewed not as a brake on growth but as “the foundation of a financial system that works in the public interest”, pledging that the APPG would hold regulators and industry to account while working collaboratively with parliamentarians, civil society groups and trade bodies.
“We are keen to work with any entity that wants to help the financial sector flourish by serving society as best it can,” he said, adding that the APPG was already preparing its policy agenda for 2026.
Vice Chair Sarah Bool said that while Conservatives believe in free markets, those markets “must also be fair”, warning that widespread fraud and regulatory gaps have damaged public trust and undermined the UK’s financial reputation.
Lord Davies of Brixton highlighted the severe personal consequences of misconduct, saying financial fraud “destroys real lives, pensions stolen, homes lost, futures wiped out”. He vowed to continue challenging vested interests and advocating for ordinary families.
Ben Lake MP emphasised the devastation felt by communities across Wales and the wider UK, citing small businesses ruined by banking scandals and individuals who tragically took their own lives after losing savings to fraud. “These are not abstract policy issues, they affect people in every constituency,” he said.
The AGM reaffirmed the APPG’s central theme — that strong consumer protections and robust enforcement are not obstacles to economic success, but essential to it.
The group remains deeply concerned about what it calls the UK’s growing “Trust Deficit”, warning that weak oversight and enforcement deter public participation in financial markets, damage the City’s international standing and erode systemic stability.
Its 2025 investigative work, including two major parliamentary summits and a high-profile report scrutinising the Financial Conduct Authority, will inform its approach in 2026.
The APPG confirmed it will continue to serve as a platform for dialogue between victims, regulators, parliamentarians, financial firms and civil society. A programme of hearings, evidence-gathering, and policy engagement is already planned for the year ahead.
The group operates on a strictly non-commercial basis. Its Secretariat is run entirely pro bono through the Transparency Task Force, a certified social enterprise, ensuring that its work remains “free from undue influence and firmly rooted in the public interest”.
The group’s purpose is to advocate for victims of financial misconduct and fraud, and to drive reforms that deliver a fair and trusted financial system. It is governed by the rules of the Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards and receives no parliamentary funding.
