I will just finish what I am saying before I give way. I am being bombarded by distinguished right hon. Members.
We know that the debate on corporation tax tends to focus on companies’ sales, but corporation tax is not based on sales; it is based on activity. If a company takes part in a lot of activity in the UK but makes a lot of sales in another jurisdiction, it is likely to pay a lot of tax in the UK, but not a lot of tax in other jurisdictions where there is little or no activity but a great many sales. If the UK is the only jurisdiction that is putting out this information, or requiring its companies to put it out, there will be many examples of UK companies that are acting completely properly in foreign jurisdictions and not paying a lot of tax in those jurisdictions, but are vulnerable to criticism. It would be very much easier for all businesses to be able to point to an Italian, German, French or Swedish company that is in the same position, with a lot of activity in its own jurisdiction and a lot of sales in another jurisdiction, and is paying its tax where the activity is, not where the sales are. If the UK is acting unilaterally, I worry about unfair reputational
criticism of our companies. As the right hon. Member for Barking (Dame Margaret Hodge) knows very well, reputational damage to a business can damage its commercial interests,.