In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, Lord Puttnam said it was "outrageous" that the search-engine company paid little taxes even though it generated huge profits. His comments came a few days before Google presents its first quarter results.

The paper said Google in 2007 paid only £600,000 in UK corporation tax, even though its local revenues exceeded £1.25bn. Last year, it did not pay tax on its £1.6bn advertising revenues in Britain but "diverted" the earnings to its Irish subsidiary.

Lord Puttnam was also concerned by Google's increasing power and felt it could come to hold control over political decisions. A spokesman for Google said they comply completely with the tax laws of a country in which they operate.