Google tax deal was purely HMRC decision, Downing Street stresses

No 10 seeks to further distance itself from deal under which internet firm will pay 130m of tax on 7.2bn profits over 10 years

Downing Street has further distanced itself from the deal to make Google pay 130m of tax, stressing that it was purely an operational decision of HM Revenue and Customs officials.

Amid heavy criticism of the government for extracting so little from Google, David Cameron's official spokesman said it was a good agreement but again refused to repeat the verdict of George Osborne, the chancellor, that it was a "major success".