09:04

George Osborne has repeated his controversial claim that the HMRC tax deal with Google is a “major success” despite a widespread backlash against the £130m agreement for being too lenient.

The chancellor was criticised after hailing the deal as a victory for the tax authorities over the weekend, with Labour claiming it amounted to an effective tax rate of around 3% - compared with the corporation tax rate of 2020.

No 10 repeatedly refused to echo Osborne’s language, saying merely that it was a “positive step” and a “good deal, while stressing there was further to go on clamping down on tax avoidance.

But the chancellor has now given a broader defence of his approach to tax, saying it was indeed a success for Google to have gone from paying no tax to paying tax.

His comments suggest he believes that Google is now paying the correct amount in accordance with its profit made on economic activity in the UK.

He told Sky News:

My only interest, as the country’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, is to get the best deal for Britain - to bring the jobs here, the businesses here and to make sure that taxes are paid here. When I became the chancellor, Google paid no tax. Now Google is paying tax and I have introduced a new thing called a diverted profits tax to make sure they pay tax in the future. I regard that as a major success.

