It is hoped that this will spell an end to the famous European food mountains

It is hoped that this will spell an end to the famous European food mountains.Britain, which receives £2.8bn a year in CAP subsidies, was one of the biggest supporters of reform but met opposition from France, which receives £6.5bn. O’Brien says the agreement heralds the start of the “fundamental reform of CAP” as “we have succeeded where, frankly, previous negotiations have failed”.But campaign group War on Want believes the reforms need to go further. “The agreement has been hailed as a great success and the Government is now saying it can go to Cancun with clean hands,” says director of campaigns Steve Tibbett. “But it is not good enough – the subsidies remain at the same level. It is difficult for the UK and EU to say they have done a fantastic deal, because they haven’t.”But O’Brien says further CAP reform is on the cards.

“I very much hope that we can see more movement in the future We are now set on a new course with CAP. It may take a short time, it may take a long time, but this is the sort of reform we in Britain have been seeking. It is that first crucial step of changing direction that has taken place.”He will be keen to impress this message on his US counterpart tomorrow Like O’Brien, Zoellick is a tough negotiator. Before America agrees to lift any of its farm subsidies – and, perhaps more critically, agrees to TRIP reform – it needs to believe that Europe is changing too. Much rests on the shoulders of Britain’s new trade minister..

Never in history has so much VAT been owed by so few. VAT “carou- sel” fraud has proved so lucrative that organised crime groups all over Britain have been diverted into this scam away from their more usual activities of drug running, tobacco smuggling and the proceeds of prostitution. The reason? VAT fraud has been far more lucrative and the prison sentences much lower

Never in history has so much VAT been owed by so few. Assuming none of the 17.5 per cent sales tax is paid on this, the cost to the Treasury is a cool £4bn.In 2002 VAT fraud disguised £11bn of Britain’s trade gap, confirming that it has become one of the most profitable enterprises in the UK. The fraud, almost exclusively involving trade in computer chips and mobile phones, has belatedly become one of the top priorities for Customs & Excise and the focus of new legislation soon to be introduced by the Treasury.The Chairman of the Board of Customs, Richard Broadbent, handed his notice in to Chancellor Gordon Brown a month ago. Mr Broadbent, a former merchant banker who was hired as a new broom in 2000 to revitalise a demoralised Customs & Excise, says he always intended to go back to the private sector at the end of his contract.

Sources within Customs suspect he resigned in the wake of bad publicity over a whole range of issues and in advance of last week’s Treasury figures.VAT fraud is nothing new. In the early 1980s, a particularly successful scam centred on the gold bullion trade. But this VAT carousel fraud is exponentially greater.How does it work? In its simplest form, you deal in small-sized consumer goods that are in high demand. This is why mobiles and computer chips have been the main items at the centre of the frauds.