Retail appointment ruffles Lib Dems
By politics.co.uk staff
The coalition government’s new efficiency advisor Sir Philip Green is provoking growing disquiet from Liberal Democrat MPs.
The billionaire businessman, whose retail empire covers some of the biggest names on the high street, was unveiled as the head of an external efficiency review of government spending last week.
He pledged to give his “very best effort” to examining government procurement practices – but several Lib Dem MPs responded by demanding that his tax arrangements receive greater scrutiny.
“The issue is that people on high incomes have a huge amount more latitude to arrange their financial affairs than people on small incomes,” the Lib Dems’ Roger Williams told Channel 4 News.
“As far as I’m concerned, what Sir Philip is doing is legal at the moment. But we would like to look at that type of arrangement to see that, in future, it is not allowed in our taxation system.”
Deputy prime minister was not informed of Sir Philip’s appointment, the Times reported. It claimed the incident prompted the Lib Dem leader to implement a shake-up of his closest advisors.
Sir Philip’s strong presence in the UK clothing market, which covers the Arcadia group including Burton, Dorothy Perkins and Miss Selfridge, also controls BHS and Topshop.
