On 4th December last year, members of Brighton Uncut glued themselves to the inside of a window at Topshop in one of the most audacious and widely read about actions to date. They were using the example of Topshop boss Philip Green’s £285m tax dodge to highlight the now well-publicised link between tax avoidance and public spending cuts.
Friday saw the culmination of their two-week trial, which featured Caroline Lucas MP, tax expert Richard Murphy and Dr Ron Singer called as expert witnesses by the defence. Caroline Lucas offered her full support to the Brighton 9, who she says “put the ethics back into politics”.
In a front page story, the local paper branded the £100,000 trial a “waste of money” and noted that defendants were actually cleared of most charges. Nevertheless, five were found guilty of accidentally damaging two mannequins which toppled over when they entered the window display and handed £200 fines each.
If I was keeping score this would be:
Caroline Lucas 1
Sheila Gilmore 0
For anyone concerned (not Sheila obviously) UK Uncut are accepting donations towards the fines. Go to their web site for directions.