HSBC has got itself into a bit of a stew over tax. Chris Spooner said last week to an institute conference that HSBC had moved HQ in the past and would consider it again, especially as the UK was increasingly a poor place to be.

There's certainly a point there, even though the bank is now tripping over itself to disown the comments (how Spooner feels about that I'm not sure).

Tax rates, and the tax base after anti-avoidance moves, have climbed (in my personal view, by too much, in that I continue to believe in low tax economies promoting growth). There will come a breaking point where it makes sense for companies to move abroad, and they will have a duty to their shareholders to do so.

But there are plenty of reasons to stay, as Richard Murphy makes clear here.

I've written before about companies saying they don't find the UK competitive and are going to move. I fear this is another case of it all being very well saying it: are you going to do it?