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years to agree a way to raise more revenue from large multinationals such as Google, Amazon and Facebook, which often book profits in jurisdictions where they pay little or no tax.

US President Joe Biden’s administration gave the stalled talks fresh impetus by proposing a minimum global corporation tax rate of 15 percent, above the level in countries such as Ireland but below the lowest level in the G7.

Germany and France also welcomed the agreement, although French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said he would fight for a higher global minimum corporate tax rate than 15 percent, which he described as a “starting point”.

German finance minister Olaf Scholz said the deal was “bad news for tax havens around the world”.

“Companies will no longer be in a position to dodge their tax obligations by booking their profits in the lowest-tax countries,” he added.

Irish finance minister Paschal Donohoe, whose country is potentially a big loser with its 12.5% tax rate, said any global deal also needed to take account of smaller nations.

Sunak said the deal was a “huge prize” for taxpayers, but it was too soon to know how much money it would raise for Britain.

The agreement does not make clear exactly which businesses will be covered by the rules, referring only to “the largest and most profitable multinational enterprises”.

European countries have feared that a business such as Amazon could slip through the net as it reports lower profit margins than most other well-known technology companies.