Starbucks, Google and Amazon grilled over tax avoidance

Executives from some of the world's most-recognised firms found themselves before a committee of MPs to answer accusations about on the issue of tax avoidance.

The head of Google UK and top managers from Starbucks and Amazon faced probing as part of a wider inquiry by the commons Public Accounts Committee.

A four-month investigation by news agency Reuters revealed that Starbucks reportedly paid just £8.6m in corporation tax in the UK over 14 years - including reporting accounting losses when it was profitable.

Simon Gompertz reports.