ICC contradicts William Hague’s suggestion that Muammar Gaddafi could be allowed to remain in Libya under peace plan The international criminal court has dismissed suggestions by Britain and France that Colonel Muammar Gaddafi could be allowed to remain in Libya as part of negotiated deal to remove him from power, insisting that a new government would be obliged to arrest the dictator under warrants issued by the court. The ICC, which Britain and France have signed up to, said that Gaddafi could not be allowed to escape justice. “He has to be arrested,” said Florence Olara, spokeswoman for the court’s chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo. On Monday the foreign secretary, William Hague, said Britain was prepared to agree to a political settlement in Libya that would see Gaddafi remain in the country after relinquishing his hold on power. “What happens to Gaddafi is ultimately a question for the Libyans,” Hague said. “It is for the Libyan people to determine their own future. Whatever happens, Gaddafi must leave power. “He must never again be able to threaten the lives of Libyan civilians, nor to destabilise Libya once he has left power.” But Olara said the decision to seek justice had been made in the UN, adding that the ICC’s arrest warrants were “legal facts” which “cannot go away”. “Any negotiation or deal has to respect (UN Security Council resolution) 1970 and the ICC’s decision,” Olara said. Hague’s comments on Monday chime with those of Mustafa Abdul Jalil, president of the rebel national transitional council, who told Reuters earlier this month that Gaddafi could remain in Libya if he agreed to step down. Jalil said the deal would require Gaddafi to live in a designated part of the country. “We will determine the place under international supervision.” However, giving Gaddafi what amounts to immunity would be a complex process. The only legal immunity for an ICC warrant is a UN security council resolution which can suspend a warrant from The Hague, but such a move would be highly controversial politically, not least because the ICC statue mandates that the resolution would need to be revisited every 12 months. Politically, immunity would go down badly in rebel-held parts of Libya, where the torture, killings and destruction have caused deep wounds. “It’s too late for such a thing,” said Yunis Al-Haq, an 18-year-old art student in the besieged city of Misrata. “Maybe if this deal [suggested by Hague] was made at the beginning, when Gaddafi had killed only 10 people, maybe we could forgive him. But now, after this war, he killed a lot of people, it can’t be forgiven that easy.” On 27 June, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Gaddafi and his son Saif al-Islam over crimes against humanity allegedly committed during anti-regime protests. It also issued a warrant for the Libyan intelligence chief, Abdullah al-Senussi, at the request of the ICC’s chief prosecutor. In his submission Moreno-Ocampo said Gaddafi had a personal hand in planning and implementing “a policy of widespread and systematic attacks against civilians and demonstrators and dissidents”. There were “reasonable grounds to believe” that the three men were “criminally responsible” for the murder and persecution of civilians, said a statement read out by the ICC’s presiding judge, Sanji Monageng. Gaddafi had absolute and unquestioned control over Libya as its undisputed leader, and had introduced a policy to suppress civilian demonstrations by any means, including by the use of force, the court said. Though Saif al-Islam Gaddafi held no official position in Libya, he was “the most influential person” in Gaddafi’s inner circle, it added. The court said Sanussi had “directly instructed the troops to attack civilians demonstrating” in Benghazi, now the rebels’ city stronghold. The warrants were requested by Moreno-Ocampo in May, to protect Libyan civilians. UN security council resolution 1970 states: “The Libyan authorities shall co-operate fully with and provide any necessary assistance to the (international criminal) court and the prosecutor.” The “primary responsibility” for respecting the UN and ICC decisions and arresting Gaddafi lay with the national transitional council, Olara said. It is believed Britain hopes to tempt Gaddafi out of Libya by suggesting he could go to a country that does not recognise the ICC. Former foreign secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind said on Tuesday: “This isn’t about the British position or the Nato position – it’s about what the Libyans themselves want and can live with”. He told BBC Radio 4 Today programme: “It is their country and it is their future. If they can live with a situation where Gaddafi remains in the country but is deprived of power then it is none of our business to say that is unacceptable.” Muammar Gaddafi Libya International criminal court William Hague United Nations War crimes Richard Norton-Taylor Chris Stephen guardian.co.uk
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Former business secretary attacks proposed dialogue with EDL and ‘misplaced, romantic ideas about turning back the clock’ Lord Mandelson has dealt the troubled Blue Labour movement another blow when the architect of New Labour said it beggared belief that the movement proposed a dialogue with the English Defence League (EDL) as a way of connecting with the concerns of young people in Britain. In a remarkably strong intervention, Mandelson, the former business secretary, said Blue Labour was attempting to fill a vacuum created by the killing off of his creation. Speaking to the Guardian, he said Labour needed a vision for the future but that it “is not going to come from the sort of populist, anti–immigrant, Europhobic, anti–globalisation language used by Blue Labour”. In an implicit criticism of Ed Miliband, he said: “The problem with killing off New Labour and putting nothing in its place is that it leads us to clutch at straws and grab at any passing sentiment. This is what has happened with Blue Labour which seeks to reconnect the party with its old, postwar, apparently white and male, industrial working-class base. These people have moved on, to other jobs, to other aspirations and, in the main, to an entirely different identity.” Miliband has been interested in the ideas of Blue Labour, at least as a discussion opening up new terrain, and ennobled Maurice Glasman, its chief thinker, in recognition of his work last year. Blue Labour puts forward a collection of controversial ideas focusing on community organisaton, conservatism, worker co-determination and nationalism. Mandelson has been careful in recent days to praise Miliband for earning a hearing over his bravery in taking on Rupert Murdoch, but said he had not yet replaced New Labour with anything coherent. He does not reject Blue Labour outright but appears to fear that Miliband might be willing to make its thinking central to his own policies. “Blue Labour’s platform of ‘faith, family and the flag’ lacks economic content – by far the biggest challenge facing the country – and its romantic ideas about working class people turning back the clock is misplaced,” he said. “Labour’s people live in the real world and, above all, want secure, well-paid employment and a safe future for their children which is why more activist growth and industrial policies are needed. And however important it is to address the economic concerns of young people attracted to the English Defence League, the idea that we should reconnect by entering a dialogue with this organisation beggars belief.” Lord Glasman became embroiled in controversy in April when he said Labour should have a dialogue with EDL supporters, later admitting it was a mistake because it was interpreted as showing sympathy for their views. The EDL is currently under the spotlight because of alleged contacts between members of the organisation and Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian mass killer. Lord Mandelson, who has admitted New Labour did not do enough to nurture an active industrial policy in government, is leading a review of globalisation on behalf of the left-of-centre thinktank, the IPPR. In a speech marking out current Labour thinking on industrial policy, the shadow business secretary, John Denham, said his party will back the concept of nurturing the “good company”, defined as a business that is committed to long-term investment, nurturing supply chains and good working practices. He said: “There is too little policy certainty to encourage long-term investment, and no vision of a better balanced and resilient economy. The emphasis is on making work less secure and less well rewarded. Investment in skills is being reduced. Consumer rights and protection are being eroded.” Peter Mandelson Labour Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk
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Nearly one million Pakistanis are still homeless, but charities hampered by fallout from Osama bin Laden killing Last summer aid workers in Pakistan battled with epic floods that affected 20 million people, destroyed crops and inundated one-fifth of the country. A year later they find themselves in a very different imbroglio: the escalating spy war between the US and Pakistan. With millions of flood victims still in urgent need of aid, western charities say their efforts are being hit by the fallout from Osama bin Laden’s death as the government hunts for CIA spies. Stringent visa regulations and restrictions on movement by the military are causing long delays, increasing costs and affecting the delivery of aid to areas hit by floods and the conflict with the Taliban. Last month a young American aid worker with Catholic Relief Services was brought to court for visa irregularities, imprisoned for nine days, then deported. British agencies say their staff have fallen under the microscope of Pakistan’s spy service, the ISI, with officials visiting field offices and introducing restrictions on travel. “We’ve seen gradual restrictions on movement and longer processing time for visas,” said a spokesman for the Pakistan Humanitarian Forum, which represents 40 aid groups. The crackdown started after CIA agent Raymond Davis shot and killed two Pakistanis in Lahore last January, and intensified after the killing of Bin Laden in Abbottabad on 2 May. Aid workers in Sukkur, a southern city at the heart of flood relief efforts, started to complain of regular visits from intelligence officers and police. In Jacobabad, location of a sensitive airbase, agencies were told that visiting certain areas now required a “no objection certificate” – an official letter of permission. “The authorities have started paying more attention to who is in the country and what they are doing,” said Michael O’Brien of the Red Cross. Pakistani embassies abroad have also started to restrict access. “It’s making things extremely difficult,” said Paul Healy of Trocaire, an Irish aid agency. “Before, we could get a visa for a technical expert in one week; now it takes 10.” The greatest impact is in north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the source of last year’s floods, and where 850,000 civilians have been made homeless by fighting between the army and the Taliban. Aid workers now require permission to visit previously open areas, such as Kohistan and Shangla near the Swat valley. Applications are vetted by the army’s 11th Corps, which runs local military operations; the UN says 43 no-objection certificates are outstanding there. One European aid manager said he had been unable to send staff to his rural project for more than a month because of the restrictions. “We’re being bundled in with diplomats and other foreign-service nationals. They need to be educated about who we are – and that is not CIA agents,” he said. “Quite a lot of the population are affected by both floods and conflict,” said a British aid worker. “The irony is that they’re getting half the help, even though the needs may be twice as great.” The aid worker, like several others, spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing discrimination from the authorities. The National Disaster Management Authority, which oversees disaster relief, said it was issuing travel permits on a priority basis. “We are committed to facilitate aid workers in their pursuit of assisting affected communities,” said spokesman Brigadier Sajid Naeem. Tensions were exacerbated by news that the CIA ran a fake vaccination programme in Abbottabad to identify the occupants of Bin Laden’s house. “It’s adding fuel to the fire in terms of mistrust,” said a senior UN official. “Now the Pakistanis can say ‘We were right all along – these NGOs are only doing spy work.’ ” Médecins Sans Frontières said the CIA operation was “a dangerous abuse of medical care” that would compromise humanitarian work. The bureaucracy and spy intrigues coincide with a serious crisis. Some 800,000 families still lack permanent shelter and more than 1 million people require food aid, according to Oxfam. In places the price of bricks has quadrupled, making it impossible for survivors to rebuild their homes. A UN appeal to help families get back on their feet has a $600m (£366m) shortfall. Then there is the psychological toll. “People are still afraid of the sound of running water,” said Suzanna Akasha, a psycho-social expert from the Danish Red Cross. “They have trouble falling asleep, staying asleep.” The monsoons started last week in northern Punjab and, although rainfall is normal so far, last year’s devastation left vast numbers vulnerable to hunger and illness. The US says 2 million people will be affected this year, though contingency plans are based on 7 million being affected should the weather deteriorate. Tensions between US and Pakistani spies continue to bubble. Last week an American convoy entering Peshawar was sent back to Islamabad because, officials said, it lacked the correct paperwork. Peshawar has been largely open to foreigners but the ISI is keen to rein in the activities of a CIA station presumed to operate from the American consulate there. In Washington, the FBI recently arrested the director of a lobby group focused on Kashmir that they allege is a ISI front; if convicted, he faces up to five years in prison. As the ISI scours Pakistan for undeclared CIA agents, aid workers worry about getting caught in the dragnet. Some accuse the United Nations of not doing enough to push their case with the government. “They’re asleep, as in Rip Van Winkle,” said one. A UN official said that some aid workers were “over-reacting”. “Certainly the situation has resulted in mistrust,” she said. “But they come into the country for a short period, they don’t know the system, and they overreact.” Pakistan Osama bin Laden US foreign policy Flooding Natural disasters and extreme weather Declan Walsh guardian.co.uk
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Nearly one million Pakistanis are still homeless, but charities hampered by fallout from Osama bin Laden killing Last summer aid workers in Pakistan battled with epic floods that affected 20 million people, destroyed crops and inundated one-fifth of the country. A year later they find themselves in a very different imbroglio: the escalating spy war between the US and Pakistan. With millions of flood victims still in urgent need of aid, western charities say their efforts are being hit by the fallout from Osama bin Laden’s death as the government hunts for CIA spies. Stringent visa regulations and restrictions on movement by the military are causing long delays, increasing costs and affecting the delivery of aid to areas hit by floods and the conflict with the Taliban. Last month a young American aid worker with Catholic Relief Services was brought to court for visa irregularities, imprisoned for nine days, then deported. British agencies say their staff have fallen under the microscope of Pakistan’s spy service, the ISI, with officials visiting field offices and introducing restrictions on travel. “We’ve seen gradual restrictions on movement and longer processing time for visas,” said a spokesman for the Pakistan Humanitarian Forum, which represents 40 aid groups. The crackdown started after CIA agent Raymond Davis shot and killed two Pakistanis in Lahore last January, and intensified after the killing of Bin Laden in Abbottabad on 2 May. Aid workers in Sukkur, a southern city at the heart of flood relief efforts, started to complain of regular visits from intelligence officers and police. In Jacobabad, location of a sensitive airbase, agencies were told that visiting certain areas now required a “no objection certificate” – an official letter of permission. “The authorities have started paying more attention to who is in the country and what they are doing,” said Michael O’Brien of the Red Cross. Pakistani embassies abroad have also started to restrict access. “It’s making things extremely difficult,” said Paul Healy of Trocaire, an Irish aid agency. “Before, we could get a visa for a technical expert in one week; now it takes 10.” The greatest impact is in north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the source of last year’s floods, and where 850,000 civilians have been made homeless by fighting between the army and the Taliban. Aid workers now require permission to visit previously open areas, such as Kohistan and Shangla near the Swat valley. Applications are vetted by the army’s 11th Corps, which runs local military operations; the UN says 43 no-objection certificates are outstanding there. One European aid manager said he had been unable to send staff to his rural project for more than a month because of the restrictions. “We’re being bundled in with diplomats and other foreign-service nationals. They need to be educated about who we are – and that is not CIA agents,” he said. “Quite a lot of the population are affected by both floods and conflict,” said a British aid worker. “The irony is that they’re getting half the help, even though the needs may be twice as great.” The aid worker, like several others, spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing discrimination from the authorities. The National Disaster Management Authority, which oversees disaster relief, said it was issuing travel permits on a priority basis. “We are committed to facilitate aid workers in their pursuit of assisting affected communities,” said spokesman Brigadier Sajid Naeem. Tensions were exacerbated by news that the CIA ran a fake vaccination programme in Abbottabad to identify the occupants of Bin Laden’s house. “It’s adding fuel to the fire in terms of mistrust,” said a senior UN official. “Now the Pakistanis can say ‘We were right all along – these NGOs are only doing spy work.’ ” Médecins Sans Frontières said the CIA operation was “a dangerous abuse of medical care” that would compromise humanitarian work. The bureaucracy and spy intrigues coincide with a serious crisis. Some 800,000 families still lack permanent shelter and more than 1 million people require food aid, according to Oxfam. In places the price of bricks has quadrupled, making it impossible for survivors to rebuild their homes. A UN appeal to help families get back on their feet has a $600m (£366m) shortfall. Then there is the psychological toll. “People are still afraid of the sound of running water,” said Suzanna Akasha, a psycho-social expert from the Danish Red Cross. “They have trouble falling asleep, staying asleep.” The monsoons started last week in northern Punjab and, although rainfall is normal so far, last year’s devastation left vast numbers vulnerable to hunger and illness. The US says 2 million people will be affected this year, though contingency plans are based on 7 million being affected should the weather deteriorate. Tensions between US and Pakistani spies continue to bubble. Last week an American convoy entering Peshawar was sent back to Islamabad because, officials said, it lacked the correct paperwork. Peshawar has been largely open to foreigners but the ISI is keen to rein in the activities of a CIA station presumed to operate from the American consulate there. In Washington, the FBI recently arrested the director of a lobby group focused on Kashmir that they allege is a ISI front; if convicted, he faces up to five years in prison. As the ISI scours Pakistan for undeclared CIA agents, aid workers worry about getting caught in the dragnet. Some accuse the United Nations of not doing enough to push their case with the government. “They’re asleep, as in Rip Van Winkle,” said one. A UN official said that some aid workers were “over-reacting”. “Certainly the situation has resulted in mistrust,” she said. “But they come into the country for a short period, they don’t know the system, and they overreact.” Pakistan Osama bin Laden US foreign policy Flooding Natural disasters and extreme weather Declan Walsh guardian.co.uk
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Controversy surrounds new testing system which union says is discriminatory towards disabled people David Cameron on Tuesday hailed official figures showing more than two thirds of those seeking to claim employment support allowance, the chief out-of-work benefit for the disabled, are found to be fit for work, or drop their claim before taking the government’s fitness-for-work test. Cameron stopped short of calling the claimants work-shy, but said those capable of work, should work. The figures released by the Department for Work and Pensions are the latest set of statistics released by ministers on the impact of the new work-capability assessment (WCA), designed to find out whether those tested are fit for work, capable of some work with help, or entirely unfit for work. The figures are, however, generating controversy as some claim the company overseeing the tests, ATOS, is driving people into work. on Tuesday Brendan Barber, the TUC general secretary, attacked the policy saying the government was making the tests harder to save money “by excluding more people”. The latest data shows only one in 14 people assessed for the new incapacity benefit (7%) are deemed too ill to do any work, and so are entitled to claim the full benefit in the long term. A total of 39% of claimants are deemed entirely fit to work, while a further 17% can do some work with help and support. More than a third drop their application before the test, sometimes because they have found work. The figures cover potential new claimants between October 2008 and November 2010 and the results are broadly in line with an earlier set of numbers published by the DWP in April. The numbers are, however, totally out of line with government predictions, which had predicted 65% would be deemed capable of some work and only 15% fit for work. Ministers admit they are concerned by the numbers dropping out before taking a test. The figures cover new claimants, and not the stock of existing claimants that have mainly been switched from Incapacity Benefit to ESA. In total there are 2.5 million IB or ESA claimants, and ministers have only just started requiring 1.5 million long-standing IB claimants to take the work-capability test. Trials began in Burnley and Aberdeen of existing claimants from October 2010 prior to turning the scheme nationwide in April. Initial figures from the pilots suggested 29.6% were fit for work and 39% were capable of some work with help. In a visit designed to coincide with the figures, and the growth statistics, Cameron said: “For too long in this country we have left people on welfare for year after year when those people, with help and with assistance, could work, and so we’re producing a much better system where we really put people through their paces and say that if you can work, you should work. “We’ll be there to help you with the training and the skills, but what we are finding, and the figures show today, is that only one in four of the people who apply for the new benefit are actually found to be unable to work. “The rest are able to work and we’re going to help them to get jobs. That will be good for them, good for their families and good for our economy.” The figures are published quarterly and have been published only for a year. Ministers have already accepted that the WCA has been flawed. The work and pensions minister, Steve Webb, said: “These figures show that many people are able to work with the right help. We have strengthened the support now available, tailoring it to individual needs so they can overcome whatever barriers they face.” Compared to the general population, people claiming ESA are disproportionately male. Almost two-thirds (65%) of those claiming are men; older (with an average age of 43); more likely to live in social housing – 35% are owner-occupiers, compared with 68% for the UK as a whole; and more likely to be single or a lone parent. The TUC’s Barber attacked the figures saying: “The new incapacity benefit assessment is a much tougher test than previously and is designed to save the government money by excluding more
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Controversy surrounds new testing system which union says is discriminatory towards disabled people David Cameron on Tuesday hailed official figures showing more than two thirds of those seeking to claim employment support allowance, the chief out-of-work benefit for the disabled, are found to be fit for work, or drop their claim before taking the government’s fitness-for-work test. Cameron stopped short of calling the claimants work-shy, but said those capable of work, should work. The figures released by the Department for Work and Pensions are the latest set of statistics released by ministers on the impact of the new work-capability assessment (WCA), designed to find out whether those tested are fit for work, capable of some work with help, or entirely unfit for work. The figures are, however, generating controversy as some claim the company overseeing the tests, ATOS, is driving people into work. on Tuesday Brendan Barber, the TUC general secretary, attacked the policy saying the government was making the tests harder to save money “by excluding more people”. The latest data shows only one in 14 people assessed for the new incapacity benefit (7%) are deemed too ill to do any work, and so are entitled to claim the full benefit in the long term. A total of 39% of claimants are deemed entirely fit to work, while a further 17% can do some work with help and support. More than a third drop their application before the test, sometimes because they have found work. The figures cover potential new claimants between October 2008 and November 2010 and the results are broadly in line with an earlier set of numbers published by the DWP in April. The numbers are, however, totally out of line with government predictions, which had predicted 65% would be deemed capable of some work and only 15% fit for work. Ministers admit they are concerned by the numbers dropping out before taking a test. The figures cover new claimants, and not the stock of existing claimants that have mainly been switched from Incapacity Benefit to ESA. In total there are 2.5 million IB or ESA claimants, and ministers have only just started requiring 1.5 million long-standing IB claimants to take the work-capability test. Trials began in Burnley and Aberdeen of existing claimants from October 2010 prior to turning the scheme nationwide in April. Initial figures from the pilots suggested 29.6% were fit for work and 39% were capable of some work with help. In a visit designed to coincide with the figures, and the growth statistics, Cameron said: “For too long in this country we have left people on welfare for year after year when those people, with help and with assistance, could work, and so we’re producing a much better system where we really put people through their paces and say that if you can work, you should work. “We’ll be there to help you with the training and the skills, but what we are finding, and the figures show today, is that only one in four of the people who apply for the new benefit are actually found to be unable to work. “The rest are able to work and we’re going to help them to get jobs. That will be good for them, good for their families and good for our economy.” The figures are published quarterly and have been published only for a year. Ministers have already accepted that the WCA has been flawed. The work and pensions minister, Steve Webb, said: “These figures show that many people are able to work with the right help. We have strengthened the support now available, tailoring it to individual needs so they can overcome whatever barriers they face.” Compared to the general population, people claiming ESA are disproportionately male. Almost two-thirds (65%) of those claiming are men; older (with an average age of 43); more likely to live in social housing – 35% are owner-occupiers, compared with 68% for the UK as a whole; and more likely to be single or a lone parent. The TUC’s Barber attacked the figures saying: “The new incapacity benefit assessment is a much tougher test than previously and is designed to save the government money by excluding more
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Click here to view this media Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann slipped up Monday and nearly referred to herself as “President O’Bachmann” during an attack on President Barack Obama over his use of teleprompters. “I know you’re not used to seeing a president without teleprompters, but I’m just here to tell you President O’Bach — President Bachmann will not have teleprompters in the White House.” CBS’ David Letterman has been calling her Michele O’Bachmann for about a month.
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Click here to view this media Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann slipped up Monday and nearly referred to herself as “President O’Bachmann” during an attack on President Barack Obama over his use of teleprompters. “I know you’re not used to seeing a president without teleprompters, but I’m just here to tell you President O’Bach — President Bachmann will not have teleprompters in the White House.” CBS’ David Letterman has been calling her Michele O’Bachmann for about a month.
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List of potential activities to fill empty coffers sound more like protection rackets and organised crime scams than jihad Al-Qaida in Iraq has made an online appeal for new fundraising ideas, saying it is in dire need of money to help thousands of widows and children of dead fighters. Insurgents of the Islamic State of Iraq – an umbrella organisation for Sunni militants in the country – have funded their operations in the past by robbing jewellery stores, banks and offices where the government pays out monthly salaries. But the group has seen its main source of money – funding from abroad – dry up, leaving the group strapped for cash. In an Arabic statement posted on AQI’s online forum, website administrator Seif Saad lamented the state of the group’s finances and launched an urgent appeal for money to “feed the widows and the orphans” of mujahideen. “A few days ago a brother was martyred, leaving behind a wife and children. There is no need to explain how we were running here and there to collect money for their minimum requirements of life,” wrote Saad. Among the new ideas to raise funds, Saad suggested insurgents find a way to extort money from foreign oil, construction, transport and mobile phone companies, as well as international media agencies. If the companies refused to pay, insurgents would disrupt their operations. He did not elaborate. He also said businessmen and wealthy families should be forced to pay annual zakat , or charity, which is one of the Five Pillars of Islam and stipulates should be roughly 2% of assets. Saad also called for fines to be imposed on wealthy Shia Muslims in Iraq “who receive aid from America and the west and steal the country’s oil revenues”. Mohamed Abdel-Hadi, who identified himself online as another administrator for the website, dismissed the idea of taking money from foreign companies, but said he strongly supports fining Shias. “All the Shias, including merchants or government officials, are infidels and confiscating their money is part of jihad,” he wrote. Another contributor advised recruiting specialised hackers to transfer money from US banks. al-Qaida Global terrorism Iraq Middle East guardian.co.uk
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GlaxoSmithKline’s plans for expansion will see it pay more tax in the UK but also deliver the prospect of new jobs GlaxoSmithKline lent its support to the UK economy on Tuesday by pledging to hire more staff and pay more taxes – in stark contrast to its US rival Pfizer, which is shutting a key centre in southern England . Glaxo’s chief executive, Andrew Witty, reiterated that the government’s patent box – which will offer lower rates of corporation tax on profits generated from the fruits of UK research and development from 2013 – had made the UK more attractive. He has previously attacked British companies that relocate in search of lower taxes, lambasting businesses that turn themselves into “mid-Atlantic floating entities” with no connection to society. The UK’s largest pharmaceuticals company, based in Brentford, west London, employs about 16,000 people in Britain of a global workforce of 98,000, and is promising to expand at a time when Pfizer is shutting its R&D centre in Sandwich . “We expect over the next several years to be increasing our activity in the UK. What we want to do is have more manufacturing and do more R&D work in Britain,” Witty said on Tuesday. “We would expect this to lead to us paying a greater tax yield in the UK.” This will increase the corporation tax paid by the company – £500m last year, with 97% of sales made outside Britain – because more profits will be deemed to be generated here. He added the company would be a “net hirer of personnel” in the UK in the next few years, which also means higher employee taxes. Witty cautioned that any further cuts to drug prices could make the UK less attractive as a base but added that the UK managed to strike a good balance between setting competitive prices for medicines and supporting research. Glaxo has started to bring back some manufacturing that had been moved to India and intends to build a
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