From our business and jam tarts correspondent, Tim 'Two Tortoise' Jones
Activist group UK Uncalculated has staged a 'sit-in' protest at 35 branches of Barclays following the disclosure that the UK-based bank paid a mere £113m of Corporation Tax on its 2009 earnings of £11.6bn. Several branches were forced to close as regular customers became confused about who was queuing for the self-service deposit machines, and who was there to protest. Branch staff were unavailable for comment, but made repeated attempts to get protestors to sign-up for the new 'Online Protesting' service by accepting 2 new 6 digit pin numbers.
Activist group UK Uncalculated has staged a 'sit-in' protest at 35 branches of Barclays following the disclosure that the UK-based bank paid a mere £113m of Corporation Tax on its 2009 earnings of £11.6bn. Several branches were forced to close as regular customers became confused about who was queuing for the self-service deposit machines, and who was there to protest. Branch staff were unavailable for comment, but made repeated attempts to get protestors to sign-up for the new 'Online Protesting' service by accepting 2 new 6 digit pin numbers.
Barclays stands accused of occupying a 'parallel universe', as it revealed an effective corporate tax rate of just 1%. Meanwhile Jes Skelam, a supporter of UK Uncalculated, said, "Today we are transforming banks into forests, parks and zero-carbon organic community spirit centres, because we think tax should come from the heart."
MP Chuka Umunna, a member of the party responsible for the tax system in 2009 and of the Treasury Select Committee, placed the blame squarely with someone else, "Anyone with a tax handbook and a calculator can see what Barclays has done! They've interpreted the law for the benefit of their stakeholders and it's an outrage. This country needs a Robin Hood sort of figure and I'm nominating myself. There are historical precedents for seizing legally amassed wealth and distributing it to the masses. And everyone will wear the same clothes and everyone will be guaranteed a job in the great collective benefit!"
Barclays' CEO, an American, Bob Diamond was said to be unconcerned by the flatulent posturing. Diamond remarked, "Barclays is a global organisation of highly trained professionals managed efficiently with the aid of web-based systems which ensure performance and accountability at all levels. We comply with the letter and spirit of the law in all territories where we do business and ensure we are headquartered in location with an entrenched culture of high pay and ineffective regulation. Oh, and did I mention that my background is in finance, not PR, and I'm older and wiser than Cameron and Osbourne. Who the hell is Chuka?"
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