Labour's relationship with tax avoidance

“The world is not run from where you think. Not from border fortresses, not even from Whitehall. The world is run from Antwerp, from Florence, from places you have never imagined.”- Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall

And twas ever thus. But today it’s not Antwerp and Florence but Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. Today it’s not Henry Percy and the landed aristocracy the money men have by the balls, but the Labour Party.

In 2013-14 the Labour front bench accepted over £600,000 of research help from the multinational accountancy company PricewaterhouseCooper to help form policy on tax, business and welfare. Streatham MP and shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna had research support from PwC between September 2013 and January 2014, and again between June and September this year, with a total value in excess of £60,000 - that’s more than double the average salary for his constituents.

‘So what?’ You may ask. 

Despite the rhetoric of Miliband’s crackdown on overseas ‘tax havens’ his party continues to be influenced at the highest echelons by firms like PwC where tax avoidance and is at the heart of their mission. 

According to a public accounts committee report published two weeks ago the top tax partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Kevin Nicholson, misled MPs over complex Luxembourg financing structures the accountancy firm helped to set up for scores of multinationals to avoid tax.

These companies infiltrate the policy making process, help design the HMRC’s tax laws  and then advise their clients, individuals and big businesses, on how to avoid paying this tax. How else do companies such as Amazon, who, despite a UK turnover in the trillions contribute less than £10m to the treasury, get away with such fraud? 

UKUncut is leading the fight against tax avoidance in the UK, but with the ‘Big Four’ consultancy firms so firmly entrenched in the political process of the ‘traditional’ parties, without a change to the political system, there will be no change.

In what way is the multi-billionaire tax avoiding Topshop owner, Philip Green an appropriate man to advise the government on austerity. In a country where one missed appointment at the Job Centre can lead to benefit sanctions and DWP is targeting ‘benefit cheats’, blatant fraud is acceptable so long as you’re a millionaire or a multi-national company.

Is it any wonder that politicians continue to inflict drastic cuts to public services, the NHS and the welfare budget, cuts that disproportionately harm the poorest in society, while the richest in society receive tax breaks? 

When the party that is supposed to represent the workers is on the payroll of parasitic ‘big business’ there is a serious issue about the ability of these predatory firms to exert such an influence at the heart of politics. Is it any wonder that people are disillusioned with the political establishment?

The Green Party alone is not funded by big business. We rely on the generosity of the general public and individuals, who are passionate about our values, to make donations. Last year a £7,000 donation from one of country’s richest men was rejected because he is not a full UK taxpayer.

Only the Green Party is not in the pockets of profiteering capitalists; only the Green Party offers a real alternative; only the Green Party offers the chance to change!

Streatham MP fails to respond to Crossrail 2 consultation

We have previously highlighted the inaction of MP Chuka Umunna with regard to bringing Crossrail 2 to Streatham, despite his election promises in 2010.  For full details click here.

The consultation report on Crossrail 2 has now been published, which includes all the various responses.  Several MPs responded, however, Chuka Umunna MP made no response to the consultation.

Lambeth Greens however ran a campaign to get people to respond to the consultation.  While it is clear that Streatham won't be getting Crossrail 2, we wanted people to call for improved transport links for Streatham. The result is that Streatham is the number one transport priority cited in the report.  You can read more here.

You can read the full report here: https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/crossrail/2/user_uploads/crossrail-2-consultation-report-2014--published-.pdf

Why was Trinity Free School in Brixton allowed to open with just 17 pupils?

'Why was Trinity Free School (in Lambeth) allowed to open with just 17 pupils?' asks Streatham MP Chuka Umunna.

Part of the answer is here in this article in the Brixton Blog from January which states:

MP Chuka Umunna has refused to come out in support of, or against, the school.

The fact is, that as with many other issues, the MP has sat on the fence and failed to take a position.

Chuka Umunna's failure to act over bringing Crossrail 2 to Streatham

We have now received a response to our Freedom of Information request to Transport for London regarding Crossrail 2, asking about what dealings Streatham MP Chuka Umunna has had with TfL.  

Things to note:

• It contains the astonishing revelation that "At the time of your request there had been no meetings between TfL and Chuka Umunna MP".
• It states: "Crossrail Ltd have not met Chuka Umunna in his capacity as the local MP for Streatham, nor to discuss route and station proposals for Crossrail 2."
• It suggests the MP has not engaged at all with TfL over bringing Crossrail 2 to Streatham, until after the decision was made over the route,
• The only correspondence seems to have come after we invited Mr Umunna to a public meeting at the beginning of June 2014.  At the public meeting it was made clear that all the decisions had been made, there had been no lobbying on the issue, and Streatham would not be getting Crossrail 2.

Why is this relevant?  

• The Streatham MP has been accusing Transport for London of overlooking Streatham over Crossrail 2, when it appears he has in fact done next to nothing as the MP for Streatham to try and get Crossrail 2 to Streatham.
• Mr Umunna was elected on a pledge to work for improved transport links for Streatham, with a petition which noted: "The planned Crossrail 2 scheme, running from Chelsea to Hackney, would considerably relieve congestion on the Victoria line, creating the potential for an extension southwards to Streatham from Brixton."
• It would appear that Streatham is not getting Crossrail 2 due in no small part to a failure by the MP to ask for it. 

The full text of the Freedom of Information request is below...

TfL Ref: FOI-0463-1415 

Thank you for your clarification email which we received on 26 June 2014 asking for information about meetings between TfL and Chuka Umunna about Crossrail. 

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. I can confirm we hold some of the information you require. You asked: 

"Please can you let me have details of any questions or meetings between TfL and Chuka Umunna, MP for Streatham (e.g. the questions he has submitted, how many meetings he has had, what they were about & what was agreed)?" 

At the time of your request there had been no meetings between TfL and Chuka Umunna MP.

The following correspondence, regarding the Crossrail 2 scheme, has been sent and received: 

Letter sent by TfL Commissioner, Sir Peter Hendy CBE, in response to e-mail received on 10 June 2014 

19 June 2014
E-mail received by TfL Commissioner, Sir Peter Hendy CBE, regarding Crossrail 2 serving Streatham and transport links to Streatham 

10 June 2014
Stakeholder information e-mail regarding current Crossrail 2 consultation sent to a range of stakeholders, including MPs, by Michele Dix, Managing Director for TfL Planning. 

09 June 2014
Stakeholder information e-mail regarding Crossrail 2 sent to a range of stakeholders, including MPs, by Michele Dix, Managing Director for TfL Planning and Paul Plummer of Network Rail. 

14 May 2013
We also provided information to the Department for Transport (DfT) to assist them in responding to a letter they had received from Chuka Umunna MP in April 2014. As this correspondence was not between Mr Umunna and ourselves you should contact the DfT for further details. 

Further information on Crossrail 2 can be found at http://crossrail2.co.uk/ 

In addition, please see below for a description of the information we hold in relation to Mr Umunna’s meetings with Crossrail Ltd (CRL). 

Crossrail Ltd have had three meetings with Chuka Umunna since 2012. 

· On 24 November 2012, Chuka Umunna met with CRL CEO Andrew Wolstenholme. While there are no meeting notes, a follow up letter confirmed they discussed the Rolling Stock procurement, employment issues including direct employment, blacklisting allegations, compliance and apprenticeships & training. 

· On 11 July 2013, the Leader of the Opposition, Ed Miliband, the then Shadow Transport Secretary Maria Eagle, Shadow Business Secretary Chuka Umunna and Lord Adonis visited Canary Wharf station, hosted by the Crossrail Chairman and Chief Executive. The nature of the visit was to view the progress made on the project and the visitors gave a media interview on industrial strategy policy, using Crossrail as a backdrop. There are no meeting notes as this was not a formal meeting, only a site visit. 

· On 24 June 2014, Crossrail’s Chairman met Chuka Umunna in his role as the shadow Business Secretary. The main purpose of the visit was to discuss progress on the Crossrail project, in particular the skills agenda and economic impacts on the UK economy and businesses. 

The meeting notes from the meeting on 24 June 2014 are as follows:
· A general project progress update was provided.
· An update on the extension to Reading was provided.
· An update on the rolling stock procurement was provided.
· An overview of the recent National Audit Office report was discussed.
· Chuka Umunna did mention Crossrail 2 (the route of which is a constituency issue for him in Streatham) but recognised that it was nothing to do with Crossrail Ltd and there was no detailed discussion.
· There was an explanation given as to the cost and final resting place of our tunnel boring machines.
· There was an extended discussion on skills, both in the context of the changing profile of the Crossrail workforce and the changing nature of railway technology.
· Chuka Umunna was interested in the demographic diversity of Crossrail’s apprentices and we undertook to send him the data we have.
· An update on industrial relations was provided. 

Crossrail Ltd have not met Chuka Umunna in his capacity as the local MP for Streatham, nor to discuss route and station proposals for Crossrail 2.

If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for some reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.
Yours sincerely
Eva Hextall
FOI Case Officer
FOI Case Management Team
General Counsel
Transport for London

Chuka Umunna champions commercial arms companies again

I chaired an event last month as part of Streatham’s Little Big Peace festival, at which Streatham MP Chuka Umunna spoke.

It is particularly disappointing therefore to see him just a few weeks later promoting British Aerospace – the UK’s largest commercial arms manufacturer.

In an article in the Huffington Post he urges the UK government to help companies "such as BAE acclimatise to the future, investing in skills and capabilities as well as supporting exports."

This is not the first time he has championed BAe. At the end of last year, Umunna placed British Aerospoace at the heart of Labour’s economic plans citing it as something the Government should spend more money on and "calling on the Government to use its consumer power to reward companies doing the right thing."

BAE was one of the two firms which David Cameron was heavily criticised for taking to the Middle East, when weapons sold by the UK were being used to suppress civilians in Libya.

Another notorious recent deal was the sale of 200 Tactica armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia. These vehicles were used by Saudi troops helping to suppress pro-democracy protests in Bahrain in March 2011. It has also been repeatedly fined for corruption and breaking export rules.

The press release from the Labour Party at the end of last year, in which Umunna celebrates BAe, cited the company as a long-term success, and urged the Government to “use all the tools and levers at its disposal to shape the rules of the game so they support long-term business success”. The latest article about BAe is Umunna’s strongest call yet for the Government to put more money into the commercial sale of arms.

The Shadow Business Secretary's concern however is first and foremost a business one. So it should be noted that in addition to the extensive human rights issues involved, support for the commercial arms trade also doesn't automatically make good economic and business sense. There is a strong economic case against supporting commercial arms companies like BAe, and instead using the money to pursue policies and long-term strategies of moving workers into more productive and secure industries. The arms industry already receives around hundreds of millions in taxpayer-funded subsidies every year. And as job losses at BAe once again demonstrate, the industry is volatile by nature.

More than *just* a pub: a George IV update

Last weekend we brought you news of Tesco's plans to turn the George IV Music Bar in Brixton Hill into an Express grocery store, and the petition to stop it.

I wanted to inform you of several important updates, which should give us heart going forward.

The first is to say that shortly after writing the post I received a lovely email from Vanessa Pope, who is involved in running local arts group The Effort Collective. The significant thing about this is that apart from being a hugely talented group of creative people, they are based at the George IV, both rehearsing and performing at the venue. As I said in the original post, pubs can perform a vital community function, and not just as a place in which to drink and be merry.

Take a look at The Effort Collective's website to see what they've been up to in recent months: some really interesting and innovative work in theatre, film and music. I certainly want to see what they do in the future and want them to be given the opportunity to go from strength to strength.

Vanessa tells me: "We have worked out of the fantastic facilities of George IV has to offer over the past 2 years: filming in the back room, make-up in the front room, theatre rehearsals and performances all over, band rehearsals in the basement.

"We are fully aware of the wonderful, productive uses this historic building can have and it would be a terrible shame to see it turned into a supermarket."

The other great piece of news is on the online petition, which following my blog of last weekend quickly exceeded our target of 1,000 signatures and now stands at more than 1,200. Please continue to sign it. Huge thanks should go to my Lambeth Green Party colleague Bridget Chapman for setting this up and making people aware of Tesco's plans.

I've written to a number of people, who are - or should be - involved in this process, with mixed results, to seek more information and to demand action.

I've written to Tesco: property.enquiries@uk.tesco.com and matt.magee@uk.tesco.com, whose names were provided as contacts on a letter of consultation that hardly anyone in the immediate area appears to have received. No response, and I would suggest that this speaks volumes.  I urge you to write to them as well to tell them what you think of their plans and to ask why their letter wasn't properly circulated. A change of use at the site of the pub appears to have been passed by the council without anyone being made aware of the scheme, and they've obviously left it very late in the day for people to try to stop the plans.

I've also written to Brixton Hill's three councillors, all Labour. That this Tesco scheme has got this far already should be of great embarrassment to them. They are Florecence Nosegbe (fnosegbe@lambeth.gov.uk), Steve Reed, Council Leader (sreed@lambeth.gov.uk), and Alex Holland (aholland@lambeth.gov.uk). Cllr Nosegbe, has written back to me to say she hopes to meet with the various parties involved and has asked that the decision on the current application goes before a meeting of the planning committee. I've got an Out of Office reply from Cllr Holland. I hope to hear from him on his return. I've have received no response from the leader of Lambeth Council. I've urge you to these councillors and tell them of your strength of feeling on this issue. They're our elected representatives. They should represent us.

Furthermore I've contacted Lambeth Council's planning officers (planning@lambeth.gov.uk), because at present the plan before the council, to remove railings and turn the beer garden into a car park, is set to be dealt with by them under delegated powers. I have received an email to say my objection, along with others, has been registered. I suggest you do the same. We can't assume that our elected representatives will do right thing and call this decision in before a full meeting of the planning committee. Tell them that the loss of the George IV would go against stated council policy of preserving historic pubs such as this. And tell them of the effect that having a busy car park on a Red Route will have on traffic. Do so quoting the application reference 12/02757/FUL‏. You need to do this by August 14, so not long.

I have today also written to the local MP and shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna. This is an issue which is written large across the constituency: the dominance of big supermarkets, the decline of corner shops and the decline of the local pub. Last time I wrote to *my* MP, I did not even receive an acknowledgement. I hope to do better on this issue. Why don't you join me in getting him working for us?

I will keep you posted. In the meantime feel free to contact me on andrew.child@greenparty.org.uk or or contact us via Twitter or Facebook. 

Best wishes

Andrew Child
Lambeth Green Party

Jen, then Ken: But not an endorsement for Labour

It's been announced this morning that the Green Party suggest voters give Ken Livingstone their second preference vote in the mayoral election, after our Green candidate Jenny Jones. This follows Ken Livingstone's own endorsement of Jenny Jones as his second preference.

I was at the meeting with Ken Livingstone on Monday night where this was decided, and what was interesting was that all parties agreed (including Ken) that this was not a second preference for the Labour party, but only for him personally. Indeed, he was quite openly scathing of the kind of New Labour politics being displayed by Lambeth Council and Streatham MP Chuka Umunna (who suggests that Blair was 85% right).

It is interesting to note that in 2008, Livingstone got 36% of first preference votes. However, when it came to voting for the Labour party, this dropped off significantly by around 10% when it came to vote for the Labour party list.

For the Greens, the reverse was true. The Green Party list got around 6% more votes than for our mayoral candidate, meaning that we got two London assembly members elected - Darren Johnson and Jenny Jones. It would seem that many people who vote for Ken, when given a preference where their vote will count under a proportional system, vote Green.

Putting the electoral maths to one side for a moment, what was very positive about the debate at the meeting on Monday was its level of political maturity. There was a feeling that the most important thing was values and policies, rather than tribal politics. There was an acknowledged risk that Labour might try and pretend that they were somehow being endorsed by the Greens, but it was also felt that this was a risk worth taking if we want a better, more grown-up type of politics and policy-making.

Having a pasty on Streatham High Road

With all that's going on today around the pasty tax, and with it being the Streatham Food Festival, I thought I would stop in for a pasty at the local Greggs on Streatham High Road. (Actually its a place the kids and I often frequent on a Saturday morning!)

There is a serious side though, and that is the ongoing threat to local shops on the high road, particularly with the impending Tesco mega store soon to arrive with Lambeth Council's blessing as part of the new Streatham hub development. It is going to be even harder for many local shops to compete. (For how a supermarket like this impacts a local community see this helpful briefing here ).

Gimmicks, like those being proposed by local MP Chuka Umunna aren't going to help either.

What will help are policies like those being proposed in our small business manifesto to support a renaissance of micro, small and medium-sized businesses and protect and re-develop the traditional “high street”. We have also produced a specific manifesto for the high street.