David Cameron has rejected calls for Take That singer Gary Barlow to hand back his OBE after it emerged he had put money into a scheme ruled to be set up for tax avoidance purposes. Mr Cameron said he was against "aggressive tax avoidance schemes". He said: "If people go after these schemes and aggressively avoid tax they're making it the case that everyone else has to pay higher taxes as a result... We should be very clear: tax evasion is illegal, you can be prosecuted for that, you can go to prison. Tax avoidance is, in these cases, these very aggressive tax avoidance schemes, they are wrong and we should really persuade people not to do them, and that's why we have these court cases where the court looks at whether a scheme is more about avoiding tax than anything else." But asked whether he agreed that Barlow should consider returning his OBE, Mr Cameron said: "I don't think that is necessary, frankly... Gary Barlow has done a huge amount for the country, he's raised money for charity, he has done very well for Children in Need. The OBE was in respect of that work and what he has done."
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