The 4th of December is expected
to be the next big show of public anger against the government’s public
spending cuts.

The target for the day of action will be revealed shortly, but it can be
said today that it will be a high profile entity, making huge profits,
operating in towns across the country, and deliberately using loopholes
in the tax system to avoid paying tens of millions of pounds in tax to
the British public purse.

The campaign continues on from nationwide protests against the
communications giant Vodafone that resulted in over 30 of its stores
being closed by ordinary people who had blockaded entrances to the
stores [1].

Over two weeks, stores were closed in towns and cities including London,
Glasgow, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Brighton, Manchester, Oxford, York, Bristol,
Hastings and Worthing, amongst growing public anger [2].

The protests were sparked after the corporation reached a ‘settlement’
on a long standing tax dispute with HMRC earlier this year. Some experts
believe the deal meant that Vodafone saved up to £6bn in tax [3].

Jenny Sasken, a spokesperson for UKuncut, said “These cuts that will hit
the poorest and most vunerable in our society are based on ideology, not
necessity. The argument that there is no alternative is false.”

“An estimated £25bn [4] is lost to the public purse every single year
from tax avoidance by extremely wealthy people and big business, while
the coalition of the rich are barely lifting a finger to stop it.”

Emi Zhara said, “On the 4th , ordinary people in their town and city
centres will stand up, show that we are not all in this together and
that we will not let these cuts happen without a fight.”

For more see www.ukuncut.org.uk