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Post by northwestman on Aug 30, 2023 18:07:58 GMT 1
www.opendemocracy.net/en/labour-party-google-youtube-digital-services-tax-keir-starmer-jonathan-reynolds/Senior Labour figures accepted valuable gifts from Google in the days before abandoning a plan to tax digital giants more, openDemocracy can reveal. Labour’s shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds, his senior parliamentary assistant (who is his wife), and Keir Starmer’s political director all attended Glastonbury festival in June as guests of YouTube, which is owned by Google. Including accommodation and ‘hospitality’, Reynolds estimates his Glastonbury package for two was worth £3,377 – significantly more than the cost of two regular tickets, which were £335 each. The next day, reports emerged that Labour had ditched its proposal to hike tax on digital businesses like Google.
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Post by martinshrew on Aug 30, 2023 23:53:59 GMT 1
www.opendemocracy.net/en/labour-party-google-youtube-digital-services-tax-keir-starmer-jonathan-reynolds/Senior Labour figures accepted valuable gifts from Google in the days before abandoning a plan to tax digital giants more, openDemocracy can reveal. Labour’s shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds, his senior parliamentary assistant (who is his wife), and Keir Starmer’s political director all attended Glastonbury festival in June as guests of YouTube, which is owned by Google. Including accommodation and ‘hospitality’, Reynolds estimates his Glastonbury package for two was worth £3,377 – significantly more than the cost of two regular tickets, which were £335 each. The next day, reports emerged that Labour had ditched its proposal to hike tax on digital businesses like Google. I've said it for years, they've all got their noses in the trough and they're all greedy, self-serving barstewards; just to varying degrees. Anyone thinking that Labour, the Lib Dems or even the next Tory government will be any different to the current incumbent is either delusional or completely biased. |
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rob62
Midland League Division Two
Posts: 210
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Post by rob62 on Aug 31, 2023 18:35:53 GMT 1
You may be right, personally I don't believe that all politicians are the same and still have faith that some enter politics for the right reasons...
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Post by mattmw on Sept 1, 2023 13:43:48 GMT 1
www.opendemocracy.net/en/labour-party-google-youtube-digital-services-tax-keir-starmer-jonathan-reynolds/Senior Labour figures accepted valuable gifts from Google in the days before abandoning a plan to tax digital giants more, openDemocracy can reveal. Labour’s shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds, his senior parliamentary assistant (who is his wife), and Keir Starmer’s political director all attended Glastonbury festival in June as guests of YouTube, which is owned by Google. Including accommodation and ‘hospitality’, Reynolds estimates his Glastonbury package for two was worth £3,377 – significantly more than the cost of two regular tickets, which were £335 each. The next day, reports emerged that Labour had ditched its proposal to hike tax on digital businesses like Google. To be fair I probably wrack up close to £3000 spend at Glastonbury considering the amount of Annie Mae's Mac and Cheese I eat there. Joining the shadow cabinet might also be a goodway to get a ticket each year. On a more serious note the influence of large global companies on politics is a growing concern, both through lobbying and gifts such as these. The mega organisations like Google are argubaly more powerful than some countries now in terms of their finances, and in some ways its important that politicians have a diaglouge with them and work with them, but clear processes need to be in place to facilitate that, and accepting gifts or hospitalty doesn't seem to way to go. It costs both Conservatives and Labour between £30 and £40 million a year to run their parties each year, and expecially in election years, so they are always reliant on donors for funds. One way round it might be state aid for political parties but that in itself is tricky as you can end up funding all sorts of cranky political parties |
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Post by SeanBroseley on Sept 1, 2023 15:05:03 GMT 1
Like someone once said - "laws and sausages - you don't want to know how they're made". Google must be killing themselves that British politicians are so cheap.
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