David Cameron lied to the House on country-by-country reporting yesterday

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This was the exchange between Jeremy Corbyn and David Cameron on country-by-country reporting yesterday during Prime Minister's Question Time:

Jeremy Corbyn

 [An] issue that I raised with him a couple of weeks ago is the anger over tax avoidance that exists all over this country and indeed all over the western world. I agree that we are more likely to make progress on tax avoidance inside the European Union than outside it, but his Members of the European Parliament have not been supporting country-by-country tax transparency, which would force companies to publish their tax payments in each country in which they operate. Will he now tell us when that will be supported by his MEPs and when it will go through so that we can close down just one of the many tax loopholes that currently exist?

The Prime Minister

I would argue that no Government have done more nationally to crack down on tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance. I would also argue that no Government have done more internationally to bring this up the international agenda: I made it the centrepiece at the G8; we have driven change in the OECD; and we are now driving change in the European Union. Let me confirm that my MEPs do support country-by-country reporting, and they have said that over and again, and I am happy to repeat it again today.

Jeremy Corbyn

I am really pleased that the Prime Minister's MEPs support this transparency; we are all delighted about that. I just hope that they get round to voting for it when the opportunity comes up, because that would certainly help.

Jeremy Corbyn's point was well made because David Cameron had just blatantly lied to the House. As  Anneliese Dodds MEP has pointed out, Tory MEPs have voted against country-by-country reporting in the EU parliament on the last five occasions when they have had chance to do so.

What will the government do on 28 June? That is the day when the lie that they support country-by-country reporting could be exposed.


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