A number of Vodafone UK stores were forced to close yesterday following protests against the company's recent tax deal with HMRC. The company's Oxford Street store in London was targeted on Wednesday, with other protests following across the UK this weekend.
Vodafone settled an outstanding tax bill with HM Revenue & Customs in the summer. They'd set aside over £2 billion for the bill, which related to the company's takeover of Mannesmann ten years ago, but ended up paying £1.25 billion. However, critics – including Private Eye magazine – said the correct figure should have been around £6 billion.
Vodafone and HMRC insist there was never an outstanding tax bill of £6 billion.
[More information: FT.com; SocialistWorker.co.uk; guardian.co.uk; BBC News]