Vince Cable Chased By Occupy Protesters

The Minister for Business has been chased and subject to a barrage of questions after accidentally walking into an ongoing protest by members of the Occupy Movement.

Vince Cable was escorted under a police escort away from the protesters who filmed the minister as they chased him along the street outside the head office of Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) in London.

Members of the Occupy London Stock Exchange movement had joined activists from direct action group UK Uncut to stage a protest outside the HMRC building calling for the resignation of Permanent Secretary for tax, Dave Hartnett, before Mr Cable stumbled unknowingly past the demonstration.

The Business Secretary was then chased to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills with protesters demanding the sacking of Hartnett.

The protesters said they are outraged at Hartnett’s role in approving "secret sweetheart deals", which they believe is letting corporations off billions in tax.

They were prevented from reaching Hartnett’s office by a heavy police presence and minor scuffles took place as police lined the main entrance to the building.

The protest continued outside the offices with chants of “Hey Ho Hartnett has got to go!”

Later, protestors attempted to gain access to the offices by a side entrance but were again blockaded by police.

Occupy London supporter Kyshia Davey said: “HMRC has just announced it will be going after 146,000 pensioners to demand hundreds of pounds from them following a tax code cock-up. Meanwhile, its boss is striking secret deals with opulent corporations to let them off billions of pounds in tax. Hartnett is fatally undermining public confidence in the UK’s tax system at a time of austerity and he must resign immediately.”

Meanwhile, UK Uncut activist Sam Gilbert added: "Whilst 25,000 rank-and-file staff at HMRC have been fired, leaving the organisation almost incapable of functioning, Hartnett has been carving out a career as the most 'wined and dined' civil servant in Whitehall. The money from Vodafone's £6bn tax dodge alone could have prevented all of the cuts in public services over the past year."

The incident takes place only a fortnight after campaign group Tax Justice Network (TJN) identified ten loopholes in a new agreement struck by Mr Hartnett between the UK and Swiss governments over banking arrangements.

Mr Hartnett claimed the agreement would raise between £4 billion and £7 billion in tax revenues, but the TJN say the agreement is "so fundamentally flawed" it could actually lose the UK tax revenue.

The UK-Swiss deal, signed on October 6, is designed to capture assets held by wealthy UK residents who have evaded taxes by secreting their fortunes in Swiss banks.

However, campaigners say the loopholes provide numerous ways for accountants, lawyers and bankers to help their UK clients escape the new rules, such as provisions allowing wealthy UK individuals, who hold their assets in so-called discretionary trusts, foundations and similar structures, to evade the new rules.

Branches of Swiss banks in other countries are also not included in the agreement, while the deal does not extend to wages, royalties, income on property, directors’ fees and loans.

John Christensen, director of TJN, said: "It’s hard to see how the British public will benefit in any way from this flawed agreement. Worse, it will reverse years of progress made by the EU towards tackling tax evasion through automatic information exchange. It is impossible to see how the HMRC can describe this deal as being in Britain’s interests."

(DW/BMcC)