A new campaign calling on people to boycott Cadbury's products for Lent and Easter has been launched after it emerged the firm's owner paid no corporation tax.

The Methodist Tax Justice Network is behind the campaign against Mondelez UK which included a demonstration outside its chocolate manufacturing plant in Bournville yesterday to coincide with Ash Wednesday.

The US firm hit the headlines recently after it emerged it made a profit of £96.5 million from Cadbury products alone during 2014/15 but paid no corporation tax in the UK.

The network said Methodists and all supporters who believed corporations should pay their fair share of taxes were being urged to boycott Cadbury products for Lent and Easter.

More: Cadbury founders would be 'spinning in their urns' over US owners paying no tax

The network also wants supporters to write to Mondelez UK's executives explaining why they are taking this action and is urging supporters to continue the boycott beyond Lent until Mondelez UK makes a public statement of its intention to pay UK corporation tax in line with UK profits.

Ruth Cadbury

Ruth Cadbury MP, a descendant of Cadbury's founders, said last month her forefathers would be "spinning in their urns" over the issue.

Campaign co-ordinator Matthew Jones said: "We believe that Mondelez UK is failing to fulfil its social duty by avoiding UK corporation tax which helps pay for the infrastructure and services that help them make massive profits in this country.

"Furthermore, it is causing great damage to its reputation and bringing shame on the name of Cadbury, a company which is still regarded as a British institution and was once a standard bearer for corporate social responsibility.

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"Tax should not be optional for big companies any more than for individuals and we ask all who believe this to join us in boycotting products from these bad eggs for Lent, Easter and beyond."

Mondelez said in a statement: "In common with all global businesses, we pay corporation tax based on the laws of the countries in which we operate.

"We comply with all applicable tax legislation in the UK and on a global basis we pay hundreds of millions of dollars in corporate income tax annually.

"Since 2010, we are proud to have invested over £200 million into both UK-based manufacturing and R&D supporting our 4,500 employees in the UK.

"Independent academic research has also shown that, as a business, we are worth over £1.06 billion to the wider UK economy, illustrating our impact reaches far beyond the factory gates.

"Our recent £75 million investment into four state-of-the-art new lines in Bournville will secure the next generation of manufacturing there - a site which makes over five million Cadbury Dairy Milk bars every day."