Treasury ministers should go further to clamp down on Google’s “unfair” tax avoidance, Ruth Davidson has said.
In a rebellion against her party’s UK leadership, the Scottish Conservatives’ boss talked down a £130 million deal with the internet giant.
In a speech on Tuesday night, Ms Davidson warned that tax avoidance by the likes of Facebook, Google and Apple can “erode trust” in government.
She said: “It doesn’t feel right. It doesn’t feel fair. And in our hearts, I think we all know it isn’t fair.
“How can it be, when families across the UK see money taken off their pay cheque every month before it even reaches them only to see these fabulously wealthy multinationals able to dictate the sums they pay?”
George Osborne has come under pressure following Google’s agreement with HM Revenue and Customs covering 10 years of back taxes.
The Chancellor was challenged about the settlement while answering questions at a FSB conference in London. He was told corporate giants should be made to play by the “same rules” as smaller firms.
It has been reported that the UK Government lobbied the EU to remove Bermuda, used by Google to avoid paying high rates of tax, from an official tax haven blacklist.
The SNP will today call for the company to publish its UK revenue figures since 2003 as its bosses, as well as those at the top of HMRC, are grilled by Westminster’s Public Accounts Committee.