MPs rage at the Caffe Nero milk row cowards
Caffe Nero fiddles while cows burn
From Tuesday’s Mail
FURIOUS MPs have branded Caffe Nero bosses ‘spineless’ after the company gave in to threats by animal rights activists.
It agreed to protesters’ demands for a boycott of milk from badger cull areas, penalising farmers already suffering from the impact of bovine tuberculosis.
The move comes amid criticism of the coffee shop chain for paying no corporation tax since 2007 on UK sales of £1.2billion.
It claimed it feared for its workers’ safety if it continued to buy milk from Gloucestershire and Somerset, where a badger cull pilot scheme is taking place.
But politicians said the firm, which has a holding company in the tax haven of Luxembourg, does not ‘give a stuff’ about British farmers. Angry customers cut up their loyalty cards and urged others not to ‘give in to hippies wearing badger masks’.
Caffe Nero bowed to militant activists after just 200 protesters from the Stop The Cull campaign threatened to target their cafes in a march on June 20. The company said it ‘instructed its partners supplying to stores … around the cull zone areas to supply milk from farms outside of the zone’, saying it appreciated ‘this is an issue of concern for some’.
But ministers and farmers insist culling is necessary to tackle bovine TB, which can be spread from badgers to livestock. Last year, more than 26,000 cows were slaughtered in England after testing positive for the disease, leading to multi- million-pound losses for farmers. Last night, Ian Liddell- Grainger, Tory MP for Bridgwater and West Somerset, said: ‘This is a company, effectively based in Luxembourg, which does not give a stuff about British farmers … They appear to only be interested, selfishly, in the bottom line and profits.
‘If they paid UK corporation tax, I might have had some sympathy, but they don’t. Britain now needs to stand up and boycott Caffe Nero.’
He dismissed the activists, some of whom have criminal records for harassing farmers, as ‘bullies’ – and added that if they opposed Caffe Nero buying milk from cull zones, they should ‘go to Luxembourg’ and protest there instead.
A four-year pilot, begun in 2013, aims to cull 70 per cent of the initial badger population in the two counties to test how ‘ effective, humane and safe’ a cull can be. About 2,500 animals have been killed so far, shot by marksmen.
Laurence Robertson, Tory MP for Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, said: ‘Farmers in this area are already having a tough time. The last thing we want is a company to kick you even harder when you’re suffering.
‘Nobody wants animals to be killed … but this is actually about saving animals – animals that supply Caffe Nero.’
He added: ‘For years … the disease spread, costing a lot of animals their lives and costing taxpayers a huge sum. The decision to cull was not taken lightly and followed extensive scientific research.’ Jacob Rees-Mogg, Conservative MP for north-east Somerset, accused Caffe Nero’s bosses of being ‘spineless’. He said: ‘Does Caffe Nero really want us to allow this disease to spread? … they must lift the ban sooner rather than later.’
Sainsbury’s was also named as a target by protesters, but the supermarket has said it will continue to buy milk from cull zones.
Gerry Ford, the American who founded Caffe Nero Group in London in 1997, and lives in a £6million Kensington house with his wife and two sons, could not be contacted for comment yesterday. Companies House records show the group has paid no corporation tax since June 2007 on UK sales of £1.2billion and reported profits of £123million.
This is because the chain makes an overall loss due to interest payments on its debts, including money owed to a holding company in Luxembourg, meaning it is exempt from corporation tax.
The UK business is controlled through a complex structure of subsidiaries in the UK, the Isle of Man and low-tax Luxembourg. But Mr Ford has insisted that its offshore set-up ‘has no implications for our corporate tax at all’, adding: ‘We’re not in the same category as Starbucks [accused of tax avoidance].’
Twitter user Matty Tyler, of Northamptonshire, wrote: ‘It’s pathetic for a multinational company like Caffe Nero to give in to hippies wearing badger masks.’ Alexandra Jenks, of East Sussex, said she would be making her own coffee, ‘not bowing to rural terrorists’.
Caffe Nero did not respond to requests for comment last night. In a statement earlier this week, the firm said: ‘We are not intimidated by protesters … we made a decision to limit any risk to our people.’