UK Uncut protesters blockade Vodafone stores across country

Anti-tax avoidance protesters UK Uncut held a series of demonstrations at Vodafone shops across the country on Saturday, claiming that they forced at least four to close.

The demonstrators warned that more actions were planned in the coming weeks, with the Vodafone's AGM in late July thought to be a prime target.

Groups targeted 10 Vodafone stores across the country, including the flagship Oxford Street shop in central London. Protesters descended on Vodafone outlets in Bristol, Manchester and Glasgow, as well as in Cornwall and Grimsby. They also targeted shops in Newbury, Norwich, Peterborough and St Albans on Saturday.

They were protesting the tax avoidance schemes employed by Vodafone, a company that admitted in December 2013 that it has paid "little or no corporation tax" in the UK. Vodafone said it had closed only two stores in response to the protests.

UK Uncut said it shut down the firm's Oxford Street branch for more than two hours on Saturday afternoon. "It was quite good natured. The manager didn't want people on the private property, he obviously wasn't delighted people were there. But it was generally quite good natured," said one of the demonstrators, Adam Ramsay.

He added: "It was a very positive atmosphere, people in their cars hooted their horns as they passed. People seemed shocked by the figures, about how much Vodafone has avoided."

The UK Uncut members said that there were minor scuffles as they sought to prevent security staff closing the shops' doors and shutting the protesters out on the streets. There is not believed to have been any major disorder.

The demonstrators claimed that, besides London, the stores in Grimsby, Manchester and Falmouth were shut down. The rest closed in preparation, having been forewarned.

The demonstrations mark the return to prominence of the UK Uncut movement, members of which said they now planned to launch a series of anti-tax avoidance actions.

"Everyone just needed a bit of a rest, our last big action was against Starbucks [in December 2012]. People needed a break and we wanted to do something that was meaningful and to build up to [Vodafone's] AGM. We need to be tactical about what we do next," said Molly Solomon.

She added: "The AGM is coming up. We are most likely going to do something for the AGM. It is definitely not going to be the last time we visit Vodafone."

Richard Brooks, author of the Great Tax Robbery, said that the tax system needed to change. Brooks, who has carried out extensive investigations into the tax affairs of Vodafone and other firms, said: "Companies are using weaknesses in national tax laws, that are sometimes deliberate."

He added: "Countries used to have laws to sweep up profits that go into tax havens, but George Osborne has completely wrecked those in the name of competitiveness."

He said the argument that capital is highly mobile and the subject of intense global competition was overplayed.

He added: "There is very little in that. The tax system should follow where companies really make their profits, where their employees are. The idea that there is this massive competition for capital is just wrong."

Vodafone said on Sunday: "We closed two shops, out of the 364 we have across the country for a brief period today, but there was no impact on our UK trading overall.

"This was a pointless protest directed at the wrong target. We have never avoided any UK tax. Instead, we are investing massively in our UK network, (more than £1bnthis year alone) and creating hundreds of new UK jobs as every penny of our UK profit is invested back into our UK business.

"Those massive investments are offset against corporation tax under standard allowances used by all businesses, big and small. We also paid £275m in other UK direct taxes last year.

"The protesters just don't understand the facts and show no interest in listening to an explanation of the truth. Their attacks were ignorant, deeply unfair and completely undeserved."