Young Greens cancel Vivienne Westwood’s Kingston appearance after tax avoidance allegations

Vivienne Westwood has been axed as the guest speaker at a Kingston Young Green’s event because the group do not want to be associated with her.

The veteran fashion designer had been due to speak alongside Green Party deputy leader Amelia Womack at the We Are the Revolution talk tonight in Kingston University.

However the party cancelled her appearance at the last minute when allegations of her tax avoidance came out in the press.

The Sunday Telegraph accused Westwood of avoiding UK tax by paying £2 million a year into her company’s group headquarters accounts in Luxemburg.

George Forty of Kingston Young Greens said: “It was a decision made by people higher up than us.

“The National Young Greens decided that we don’t want to be represented by someone who doesn’t pay their taxes.

“They read her statement about the accusations but voted that what she said wasn’t good enough.

“We are a bit disappointed but we support their decision. We were only given a days notice so it would have been good to get a little bit more.

“It is not actually her that is in trouble with the tax stuff, it is one of her companies but it’s still not good enough.”

The talk is still going ahead tonight.