Anti-Vodafone campaigners hijack #VodafoneAGM
The mobile phone company was targeted by UK Uncut on Twitter for allegedly avoiding £6bn of corporation tax
Vodafone has accused critics of its dealings with HMRC of failing to understand “even the most basic” aspects of corporate taxation, as shareholders raised concerns about its stores being repeatedly targeted by protesters.
The mobile operator’s chairman, Gerard Kleisterlee, went on the offensive at its AGM in response to continued attacks by campaigners such as UK Uncut, a left-wing group which claims it avoided more than £6bn in UK tax. Vodafone denies the claims.
Mr Kleisterlee told shareholders: “It’s totally unjustified, we don’t deserve that treatment. If people based their action on information and not emotions this will go away.”
Vodafone has sought in the last year to defend its record on tax by publishing a detailed breakdown of its contribution in every country in which it operates and pointing to its effective global tax rate of more than 27pc. The tactic has failed to placate campaigners who focus the fact it does not pay any corporation tax to HMRC, however.
A Vodafone spokesman added: “Every penny of our UK profit (£187 million last year) is invested straight back into our UK business, and we’re creating hundreds of new UK jobs.
“There is no complex financial engineering here. We do not shift profits out of the UK. Under standard HMRC allowances… these enormous UK investments are offset against corporation tax.”
Vodafone also faced criticism from shareholders over the continued presence on the board of former Marks & Spencer chief executive Luc Vandervelde, who has been a non-executive for over a decade and chairs the remuneration committee.
Campaigners have protested against Vodafone on numerous occasions in the past, with angry consumers occupying the company’s high street stores and threatening to cancel their contracts.
On Tuesday morning, abuse began spreading on Twitter under the hash-tag #VodafoneAGM, which was created by anti-austerity group UK Uncut in a bid to “occupy Vodafone online” during their annual shareholder meeting.
According to a statement released by the campaign group on Monday, Vodafone has paid no corporation tax since 2011 and avoided a £6bn tax bill in 2010. The bill was written off by Dave Hartnett, the controversial former permanent secretary to Her Majesty’s Revenues and Customs (HMRC), but UK Uncut claim it should be paid in full.
UK Uncut believes the £6bn is “money they owe the British public”. It said in a statement: “We can use their own social media channels against them …and the Government’s refusal to do anything about it.”
Many of the groups 75,000 Twitter followers responded enthusiastically to the plea, with hundreds of anti-Vodafone tweets posted in the first hour of the campaign.
A spokesman for Vodafone said: “The protestors are completely wrong and simply don’t understand the facts. We have never avoided any UK tax. Instead, we are investing more than £1 billion a year in the UK network relied upon by millions of households and businesses, every penny of our UK profit (£187 million last year) is invested straight back into our UK business, and we’re creating hundreds of new UK jobs.
The protest comes just days after Vodafone was forced to reveal a revenue decline of 4.2pc as consumers turn to cheaper packages and European regulation clamps down on charges.
The company was hit hardest in Spain, where revenues fell by 15.3pc in the three months to June 30 – compared to a 12.6pc decline in the previous quarter – due to a shift in consumer preference towards sim-only contracts.
In a bid to revive growth, Vodafone has switched its focus to the emerging market of India, where appetite for data has grown amid another controversial tax battle that is making the headlines.
It was reported earlier this month the firm would continue its legal opposition to the Indian government’s claims that it owed $2.2bn (£1.29bn) in tax to the country.
Vodafone claims retrospective laws introduced in 2012 in a bid to justify the multi-billion dollar tax claim contravenes an earlier Supreme Court ruling that dismissed the claim.
