Read on Twitter
A recent Brexiteer theme is how the UK can manage just fiene without food products from the EU. Just search for mentions of "Somerset Brie" and you'll find dozens of pompous claims from true patriots who eat no other cheese. But what do we know about Somerset Brie?
A thread. /1
A thread. /1
A quick Google reveals that Somerset Brie is made by a company called Lubborn Cheese Limited. Their address is 1 Manor Farm Cottages, Cricket St Thomas, Chard. Could they be more English? Let's check their web site, shall we? /2
Oh. /3
Oh. /4
Oh. /5
Well, let's ask Google. /6
While we wait for the page to open, we hum Rule Britannia to ourselves. Surely this proud British company will have Union flags all over their site. Maybe a statement from Old Farmer Lubborn about where those Frenchies and EU bureaucrats can stick their level playing field. /7
Oh. /8
Oh. Oh. Oh.
This doesn't look like much like sunlit sovereign uplands full of yeoman farmers. It looks like a French-based multinational with 80,000 employees, production capacity in 51 countries, worldwide and nearly €20 billion in revenue. In other words... GLOBALISTS. /9
Lactalis has an English-language Wikipedia page, but the French version is much more complete. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactalis
It has sections on the company's past refusals to publish its accounts and accusations of tax evasion /10
It has sections on the company's past refusals to publish its accounts and accusations of tax evasion /10
There is also a 2,400-word section on all of the court cases where Lactalis has been found guilty of fraud, illegal strike-breaking, price fixing, pollution of rivers, and selling baby formula contaminated with salmonella, resulting in its CEO being arrested in 2019. /11
Lubborn Cheese's site contains a link to the Lactalis Group's UK tax strategy, which isn't something one would normally associate with a small family-owned creamery. /12
I tried to copy the URL of the Group Tax Strategy for you, but apparently Lactalis is afraid that I will steal their content or something, because when I right-clicked, this appeared. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ /13
But it's still legal to use developer tools to examine the page contents, so here is that link anyway. /14 https://www.lactalis.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/June-2020-Lactalis-McLelland-and-Subsidiaries-UK-Tax-Strategy.pdf
And here is the heart of that strategy. If you don't speak this language, let me translate for you: It says "We are not going to pay a penny in UK tax if we can help it". /15
Still, I'm sure their corporate site will tell us how much they paid in taxes last year. /16
Oh, silly me, there's an accent in "impôts". /17
Oh. Well, apparently they don't like telling people how much tax they pay.
So, Somerset Brie comes from a French-based globalized company that pollutes the environment and refuses to say how much tax it pays anywhere. Yet Brexiteers think it's just great. /18 /end
So, Somerset Brie comes from a French-based globalized company that pollutes the environment and refuses to say how much tax it pays anywhere. Yet Brexiteers think it's just great. /18 /end
