At a time of unprecedented underfunding, every council has to be a careful steward of public funds. Balancing the books, whilst making sure the people who need support receive it, is a constant challenge.

Being at the sharp end of that decision-making made it galling to hear the results of research commissioned by the Fair Tax Mark from Datlab. They discovered that 17.5% of UK public procurement contracts (by value) commissioned by local and national government over the period 2014-19 were won by businesses with connections to a tax haven. The total combined worth of these contracts was an astonishing £37.5bn. This is quite simply unfair. Businesses being awarded government contracts, and generating profit from them, should pay their fair share of corporation tax. Indulging in aggressive tax avoidance not only short-changes the public purse, but it also creates an uneven playing field for business.