Clamping down on tax dodges by multinationals could save the lives of a thousand of children a day, according to the latest pressure group to call for big businesses to pay more tax.

Christian Aid, the charity, argued billions of pounds were being leeched from developing countries by tax avoidance and evasion by big companies, in a report published today. It echoed calls by ActionAid, another anti-poverty charity, to focus on tax avoidance by multinationals, which “denies poor countries billions of dollars which they urgently need to fight poverty”.