Hats off to the anti-cuts protest movement UK Uncut. Today it took over part of Vodafone’s website in its high profile campaign to highlight how the mobile phone firm managed to shrink an estimated £6 billion tax bill to less than £ 1billion. Nice break if you can get it.
UK Uncut took over one of Vodafone’s “world of difference blogs” where it posted its demand for the mobile firm to pay up. While there is little chance of that happening this campaign is an embarrassment to Vodafone and is something that is difficult to fix via advertising or marketing. Nice job.
“For the last five months, people all over the country have occupied Vodafone’s high street stores in outrage at the company’s £6bn tax dodge. Today, UK Uncut have occupied this website.
“We demand that the government force Vodafone to pay the £6bn in tax it owes the public, in order to prevent the cuts to charities and essential public services.
“World of Difference is Vodafone’s flagship Corporate Social Responsibility initiative, designed to project the image of a company that cares about the society it is part of. But Vodafone’s charitable giving pales into insignificance next to their massive tax dodge.
“Charities across the country are having funding slashed by up to £5bn by a government that claims there is no alternative the cuts. But Vodafone’s unpaid tax bill on its own could cover every single cut to every single charity.
“The cuts are not fair, and there are alternatives, like making corporate tax dodgers pay. Until the government stops these cuts, people will continue to fight. See you on the high streets.”
