Boots battle as Miliband focuses on chemist’s tax affairs

The Labour leader said Monaco-based Stefano Pessina had to look at his own financial affairs before seeking to offer his views on the upcoming General Election.

Mr Miliband challenged the tax situation of Mr Pessina suggested that he would be a “catastrophe” as prime minister.

Speaking at an Ask the Leaders event organised by Sky News and Facebook, Mr Miliband said: “It turns out that the chairman of Boots lives in Monaco and is actually avoiding his taxes.

“I’ve just got to say to you, I don’t think people in Britain are going to take kindly to being lectured by someone who is avoiding his taxes on how they should be voting in the UK general election.”

Mr Miliband said he would continue to “stand up to these powerful forces” and act on tax avoidance by individuals and corporations.

“You have now got this unholy alliance between the Conservative Party and people like him who are actually saying that the country can’t change,” he said.

“Mr Pessina has been trying to lecture us about what we should be doing in this country. Frankly, I think he should be paying his taxes.”

Mr Pessina, who oversaw the £46 million merger of Alliance Boots with American firm Walgreens and is now its acting chief executive, told the Sunday Telegraph: “If they acted as they speak it would be a catastrophe.”

Walgreens Boots Alliance insisted that Mr Pessina’s comments had been “taken out of context”.

A spokesman said: “The comments made by Stefano Pessina were a small part of a much larger conversation and have been taken out of context.

“As a businessman, international entrepreneur and investor, he takes a natural interest in a broad range of topics within the economic landscape of countries where he has business interests, like he has done previously in the UK, Europe and the USA.

“Stefano Pessina was expressing his personal views only and is not campaigning against Ed Miliband or the Labour Party.”

It comes as a new poll has the Tories and Labour are running neck and neck.

The latest polling by Conservative peer Lord Ashcroft showed however that both main parties were down a point on last week at 31 per cent.

The Liberal Democrats jumped from 6 per cent to 8 per cent.