G8 summit: questions to Cameron in the whistling wind

On tax, there’s much more focus on illegal evasion than there is on legal avoidance. On the latter, David Cameron talks about hoping to come up with a “common template” or “tool” that ensures that companies report where they make their profits. This is work that the OECD is already engaged in and the G8 makes no claim to be unveiling a cooked idea.

The IF campaign’s Richard Murphy is underwhelmed by the repetition of the word “should” rather than “would” in the declaration. I mentioned before how many NGOs go into super polite mode at these gatherings, finding the positive and  stroking world leaders to keep them committed.

You’ll hear a bit of that in public pronouncements from the NGOs but some of them are privately disappointed by the wording of the declaration. I put that to David Cameron in his end of summit press conference as the wind off the lough whistled round his microphone.

He insisted it was a “really strong declaration” and jabbed his pen on the lectern to make his point. He credited the cosiness of the leader sessions with getting the final deal.

He said the G8 would hold leaders to their pledge at every year’s gathering though he acknowledged that some countries had performed a lot better than others when it came to honouring aid pledges made at Gleneagles in 2005.

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