The Tory “access for influence” buddy system that pairs high-ranking MPs (including our own Hugo Swire) with multinational corporation executives

We must not forget that, in addition to “cash for influence” there coexists another system of “access for influence” created by this government and in which our current MP plays his part.

This buddy system (posh name: strategic relationships) pairs high-ranking MPs with up to 80 multi-national companies and gives the top executives of those companies fast-track and frequent contact to those MPs, as explained here:

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/jan/18/buddy-scheme-multinationals-access-ministers

… Analysis of official registers reveals the 38 companies in the first wave of the initiative – more than two-thirds of which are based overseas – have collectively had 698 face-to-face meetings with ministers under the current government, prompting accusations of an over-cosy relationship between corporations and ministers.

The full degree of contact between the chosen companies and the government is not known as telephone calls, emails, and meetings with officials are not recorded on the registers. …”

…”Among the first wave of “buddied” firms were some which have been targeted by campaigners for paying little or no UK tax, or making “sweetheart” deals with tax authorities, including Google and Vodafone. A spokeswoman for UK Uncut, which campaigns against tax avoidance and spending cuts, said the regularity of government access for big business was drowning out other voices.

There are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people who have marched, written to MPs, gone on strike, protested and occupied over the cuts and privatisation which are devastating our lives,” she said.

“These demands by ordinary people have been ignored by a cabinet of millionaires which is choosing to only take the calls, the meetings and the dinners with big business and the banks to introduce policies which benefit them and the wealthy minority in this country.”

The new companies to be given ministerial buddies – but not yet publicly disclosed – include the property firms Atkins and Balfour Beatty, which have been paired with climate change minister Greg Barker, who is overseeing work on the government’s green deal and zero-carbon homes programmes.

David Heath of the Department of Agriculture is paired with food businesses Nestlé, Unilever, Mondeléz (formerly part of Kraft, and includes Cadbury) and Associated British Foods (owner of Primark and Kingsmill). Statoil is added to the oil companies already in touch with Vince Cable; foreign office minister Hugo Swire has been buddied with Procter and Gamble, and David Willetts with Cisco. The culture minister Ed Vaizey is paired with Telefonica (O2) and Everything Everywhere (Orange and T-Mobile), while Green adds engineering firm GKN to his list.”

Only three days ago, this appeared in an article in “Tribune”

http://www.tribunemagazine.org/2015/02/mind-the-tax-gap-avoidance-is-an-election-issue/

entitled

Mind the tax gap – avoidance is an election issue”

“…The resulting loss of tax revenues is hard to quantify. Tax dodgers don’t own up to it. HMRC reluctantly admits to a tax gap (tax avoidance, evasion and arrears) in the United Kingdom of £34 billion a year. But other more serious investigations estimate it to be around £120 billion a year. A large part of this is due to organised tax avoidance. Major corporations, such as Amazon, Pepsi, Deutsche Bank, Ikea, Heinz, Accenture, Procter & Gamble, Microsoft, Dyson, Google, eBay, Starbucks and others, have become expert at avoiding taxes on their profits.

and here are some more articles on how Procter and Gamble avoids tax:

http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/66936437/procter-gamble-dark-art-tax-avoidance

http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/newsrelease/out-state-corporations-fighting-keep-tax-loophole-are-top-us-tax-dodgers-says-consumer-w

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/procter-and-gamble-and-the-art-of-tax-avoidance/2011/10/18/gIQA627kyL_story.html

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