Group to target Starbucks over cuts

An activists' group is to target Starbucks coffee shops next month as part of a campaign to highlight how the Government's spending cuts are affecting women.

UK Uncut claimed that money being lost through tax avoidance measures by multi-national companies could fund public services being affected by the coalition's austerity measures.

The group said it will transform Starbucks stores into "refuges, creches and homeless shelters" to show how the cuts are having a disproportionate effect on women.

The action will take place on December 8, three days after the Chancellor's autumn statement.

Sarah Greene, a UK Uncut activist, said: "The Government could easily bring in billions that could fund vital services by clamping down on tax-dodging, but are instead making cuts that are forcing women to choose between motherhood and work, and trapping them in abusive relationships."

Sheena Shah, another UK Uncut activist, added: "Women have had enough of being attacked by a Cabinet of out-of-touch millionaire men. The Government's savage austerity plans are pushing the cause of women's equality back decades.

"Welfare, healthcare, SureStart centres, childcare, rape and domestic abuse services are being cut and female unemployment is rocketing. Benefits cuts are forcing women to choose between heating the house and feeding the family. No-one should have to make these choices."

The US coffee giant has been in the spotlight over tax after reportedly paying just £8.6 million in corporation tax in the UK over 14 years.

The company maintained it had paid and would continue to pay its fair share of taxes in full compliance with all UK tax laws, adding there had been no suggestion by any authority that it was anything but compliant and good tax payers.