Burnham-On-Sea MP Tessa Munt has said boycotting tax-avoiding companies like Starbucks can work in pressurising them to change their ways.
During her first ever appearance on BBC1’s Question Time panel on Thursday night, she was asked whether companies like the coffee giant should be boycotted for avoiding Corporation Tax.
“Boycotting companies can work as long as we are basing it on fact,” she said. “People power does work,” the MP added, giving the example of Costa withdrawing from Totnes in Devon following a campaign by local residents.
She went on to say that she would support coffee firms being asked to pay tax on their UK sales in order to avoid tax avoidance through overseas purchasing.
During the programme, Tessa was also asked whether controversial Muslim cleric Abu Qatada should be put on a plane to Jordan. “I think he should be arrested now… the time has come for us to arrest him and run him through our courts,” she responded.
When asked ‘who’s wrong – Hamas or Israel?’ following this week’s hostilities in the Middle East, she replied: “This has the potential to escalate and escalate. Our place is to urge restraint.”
In the light of recent child abuse allegations in Wales, the panelists were asked ‘Should we spend more time discussing how we can better protect children than worry about who’s running the BBC?’
Tessa said: “In my view, all violence is unacceptable… as a mother I taught my children to show respect to their elders, good manners and be graceful – trust is someone that’s earned and that’s a very difficult thing.”
