UK's Osborne dismisses Barclays claim that the bank was singled out

British finance minister George Osborne has rejected a claim by Barclays that the bank was singled out for harsh treatment in a tax row and said the government took action due to the amount of tax at risk.

“This was not harsh treatment of a particular bank but rather the first opportunity to block a newly identified avoidance scheme,” Osborne said in a letter to Andrew Tyrie, chairman of parliament’s cross-party Treasury Select Committee.

via Business feed http://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/1030534/uks-osborne-dismisses-barclays-claim-bank-was-singled-out