71% of Britons believe GM food and meat from animals fed on GM food should be banned

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A recent survey found that 71 per cent of Britons believe GM food, and meat from animals fed on GM food, should be banned from supermarkets. A further 15 per cent are ‘undecided’. In other words, just over one in ten thinks it’s a good idea.

But in modern government, where big policy decisions are taken behind closed doors, the opinions of ordinary folk play second fiddle to the self-interested demands of big business.
The GM industry’s wealthy — but little-known — trade body, the Agricultural Biotechnology Council [ABC], seems to have decided it had a sporting chance of converting David Cameron and his administration to its cause.

Last June, it duly invited a selection of Tory ministers, high-ranking MPs and top civil servants to attend a round table discussion about GM at the Westminster Conference Centre in central London.

To the ABC’s surprise and delight, several accepted. On paper, the summit, inside a steel and glass building a stone’s throw from the Houses of Parliament, couldn’t have sounded more anodyne.

Headlined Going For Growth and held in an air-conditioned upstairs boardroom, it was billed as an informal talk between politicians and industry experts hoping to find ways of ‘realising the potential of agricultural technologies in the UK’. Read more >>

UK Tax avoiders may be 'named and shamed'

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The Treasury will announce a crackdown on tax avoidance schemes on Monday in the wake of the row over the tax affairs of the comedian Jimmy Carr. Promoters of aggressive tax avoidance schemes may be forced to disclose client lists to inspectors, according to David Gauke, the minister with responsibility for tax matters.

It follows revelations about the financial loopholes used by the rich and famous to legally sidestep large tax bills. In one scheme, Carr was paying 1% tax on his income. The plan, which is going out to consultation, has been greeted with scepticism by Labour. One shadow minister said the Tories were so closely associated with tax avoiders they would not have the political will necessary to change the tax system.

Gauke will tell the Policy Exchange thinktank that scheme operators will be "named and shamed" for sharp practice. Officials often hit a dead end when investigating schemes that are based offshore but, under the proposals, UK promoters will be made to hand over customer databases. That information will be used to formally warn clients about the deals they have signed up to and to work out how much the amount of tax they would owe if the scheme failed. Read more >>