Activists target Exeter's Starbucks in UK-wide protest
Growing public anger at Starbucks was clear this weekend as over 40 of their shops across the UK - including in Exeter and Bristol - were targeted on Saturday by the anti-cuts direct action network, UK Uncut.
Local activists gathered outside the Exeter branch of Starbucks on Saturday and performed protest theatre, subversive carols and built a mini-shelter. Activists were asking the public to sign a petition and carried signs such as ‘Too little Too latté and ‘making a mochary’.
UK Uncut took action to confront the company over its tax avoidance and highlight the impact of the government's cuts on women. The group says that Starbucks' offer of £10 million is a 'PR stunt straight out of their marketing budget'.
Starbucks and other tax-dodging companies, including Google and Amazon, have had to face increasing public outrage and stinging criticism from the Public Accounts Committee over their tax practices this week. Nearly £5 billion new cuts were announced by George Osborne on Wednesday in the Autumn Statement.
Protesters say that they chose to target Starbucks as a result of its tax avoidance practices. They say that the government should be clamping down on tax avoidance by companies such as Starbucks rather than making cuts to the welfare state and the NHS which are devastating people's lives.
Sarah Greene, a UK Uncut activist said: "It is an outrage that the government continues to choose to let multinationals like Starbucks dodge millions in tax while cutting vital services like refuges, creches and rape crisis centres. It does not have to be this way. The government could easily bring in billions by clamping down on tax avoidance that could fund vital services by clamping down on tax dodging."
Responding to Starbucks’ announcement that it will not claim tax deductions in the UK on a range of its tax arrangements and Starbucks statement regarding worker safety, Hannah Pearce, a UK Uncut supporter said:
“Offering to pay some tax if and when it suits you doesn’t stop you being a tax dodger. This is just a PR stunt straight out of the marketing budget in a desperate attempt by Starbucks to deflect public pressure - hollow promises on press releases don’t fund women’s refuges or child benefits.
Danny Alexander has told multinational firms that paying tax is an obligation, not "a voluntary choice" they can make to please their customers. The chief secretary to the Treasury was speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show in regard to Starbucks, which last week said it would voluntarily pay more UK corporation tax.
