[mike_hearn]

It's normal that companies can choose where to book revenue by performing various forms of cost shifting. The entire EU system of corporate taxation is based on that principle (tax is paid where your HQ is registered). Global tax treaties, ditto. It's the USA that is weird and exceptional in this case.

So the British approach is not to "ignore tax dodging". It's to theoretically apply the same system it's always used, along with everywhere else, whilst simultaneously trying to appease populist anger over spending cuts by branding various foreign companies as socially irresponsible, although (a) there is no chance of this making any different to austerity and (b) those companies were only following rules that were considered uncontroversial not so long ago.

It's kind of a dumb strategy.