Plans for a renewed assault on tax evaders with undeclared offshore accounts are being drawn up by Revenue & Customs, which has called an exploratory meeting with 170 banks, brokers and wealth managers today.

The Revenue wants to widen its net to catch more Britons who have hidden money offshore, in the wake of its recent success in prising open secret accounts held with five high street banks - Barclays, HSBC, HBOS, Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds TSB.