With the Conservatives firmly in power in Britain after last week’s General Election, the issue of beneficial ownership registers will not be as topical as in the lead-up to the poll, Premier Michael Dunkley has predicted.

The initiative had been trumpeted by Prime Minister David Cameron as a method to battle tax avoidance.

The Financial Times had reported on March 27 that Mr Cameron had been adamant on the subject, telling the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands to have central registers, or similar systems, in place by November, and in Bermuda’s case to make the information more accessible to law enforcement agencies.

The newspaper also reported that Labour leader Ed Miliband had gone farther and warned offshore centres in February that they would face sanctions unless they produced a public register revealing the identities of the ultimate owners of companies within six months of a change in government. However, after a damaging defeat at the polls, Mr Miliband resigned — and took his threats with him.

“Beneficial ownership issue has been topical, but it won’t be quite as topical at this point in time,” Mr Dunkley said yesterday.

“The current Prime Minister has acknowledged our leading position on it. We’ve always been one of the forerunners of beneficial ownership regulation.”

The Premier called Bermuda’s position “open and transparent” and said that the Bermuda Government has been open to discussions with Britain and other Overseas Territories on the subject.

With Mr Cameron returning to power, it means the Government will be working with an established Prime Minister.

“Obviously, in the initial stages, it is easier to work with a Government you’ve been working with,” Mr Dunkley said. “We will continue to work together on issues of mutual importance and make sure the UK is always aware of our concerns and interests on any matter, and seek their support on these matters.”

The surprise election outcome put pundits and pollsters, who predicted no clear majority, on the back foot. “Obviously they had a drastic misread of the election results,” Mr Dunkley said. “The UK has been hard to read, but we try to stay out of the politics of it, whether it is the UK or the US. Whatever the result, we are willing to work with anybody.

“We’ve made relationships with both the UK Government, and the Opposition. We will continue on developing those relationships.”

Mr Dunkley said he does have an agenda of items on which he wants to work with the new British Government, but he was not ready to reveal what was on his list. “I plan to go to the UK during the summer, and I want to talk to the Prime Minister and some of his colleagues when I am there,” he said. The Government is also preparing for the Overseas Territories’ Joint Ministerial Council conference at the end of July, in preparation for the conference sessions in November.