THIS week has seen a serious debate over the amount of tax paid by Google and a real sense of anger over the apparent discrepancy over the rate of tax paid by multi-national companies and by small companies.

I share that concern. It is unacceptable for complexity in ownership structures to mask legitimate taxable economic activity in the UK and, whilst I welcome the closure of several loopholes which have led to increased tax revenues, more needs to be done to increase confidence in the fairness of tax.

I am pleased that our corporate tax rates are amongst the very lowest in the OECD countries, incentivising growth and investment in the UK, but this must not lead to headline tax rates of three per cent for some individual firms.

I was pleased to have an extended conversation with the Salisbury Area Green Space Partnership last week. I was impressed with their analysis of our different land uses in and around Salisbury. Though I remain more optimistic than some about the future of the city, I was encouraged by the lively discussion over how to protect the special features of our local environment.

We must be clear that in these discussions we must also represent the needs of those searching for affordable homes, and especially the young.

On Monday I was pleased to welcome the Life Sciences Minister, George Freeman MP, to Porton BioPharma for a discussion on how this business can be grown in the light of the decision to move large elements of Public Health England to Harlow.

The future of Porton now looks to be bright: the collaboration with Dstl and the imminent construction of the Porton Science Park means there are new opportunities to create graduate science jobs near Salisbury.