We thought Cheryl Cole likes us, we really did. Well, it turns out she just likes our low tax rates.

It has been revealed that the X-Factor judge has shut down Tara Entertainments Ltd – which was owned by CC Entertainments (of which Cheryl is the controlling party). This Irish company would have been a  way for the singer to pay a lower rate of company tax on her international earnings than she would have owed in Britain. A couple of days ago Gary Barlow and two other members of Take That found out that they owed millions in unpaid tax after it was ruled that an investment vehicle they had been using was a tax avoidance scheme, so perhaps Cheryl decided to quit while she was ahead (even though what she was doing was totally legal).

Standard corporation tax in Britain is 21%, whereas in Ireland it's 12.5% – which means Cheryl saved herself over £200,000, and she's not the first celeb to do so.

Olly Murs paid €61,735 on earning of €516,816 through his Irish company in 2012 – considerably lower than what he would have paid in Britain.

While we're sure the money has come in handy for us as a nation, the least she could do would be to visit more often to show her appreciation. We'd put her up in our house no problem!