The UK has positioned itself a thought leader in the "corporate taxation of the digitalising economy" debate. The UK's position papers in November 2017 and March 2018 (the latter of which was released only a few days before the EC and OECD papers) sought to lead the discussion and limit the focus towards businesses that it saw as creating value through "user participation". This concept is subtly different from "user value". Chapter 2 of the March report is a useful guide on what the UK sees as the distinction, which seems to be limiting a very broad concept that could apply to all businesses, to one which applies much more to highly digitalised businesses only (i.e. generation of user content, depth of engagement with a platform, network effects/externalities, and direct contribution of users to brand).
The way in which the UK wants to see a new framework introduced is also novel; essentially through sharing a portion of groups' residual IP profits with the countries in which users are based (perhaps formulaically), rather than reverting to profit splits. The UK has been very open to speaking with stakeholders as it tries to develop what it sees as a principled approach that sits within the existing international framework.
The UK has been clear throughout the last year that it favoured a multilateral solution but that it was prepared to introduce interim (turnover based) measures with other countries - or alone if needed - if sufficient progress was not made at the OECD (over an unspecified time period). While some commentators do not agree with the coherence of the distinction that the UK draws on "active user participation", it is clear that they have a more nuanced focus than some countries (or the European Commission's proposals), and they have confirmed that they would want any interim proposals to be well targeted at the same targets, rather than a cruder blanket solution that targets a slightly different group of businesses (albeit one where the well known highly digitalised businesses would likely be in scope). Another key element for the UK seems to be that they would not want businesses to suffer economic double taxation in the UK (although they seem more relaxed about juridical double taxation where the UK taxes the same income as another country without double taxation being relieved).
The UK has been taking this approach into its OECD and EU discussions. The challenge that the UK has faced is that where businesses are already paying corporation tax in the UK on the profits that they generate from "active user participation", a UK turnover tax that is not creditable against UK corporation tax would result in double taxation for these businesses, hurting them more than the businesses perceived to be paying no corporation tax at all (or paying tax only on a margin for lower value activities in the UK). On the other hand, if the UK were to allow credit for turnover taxes against corporation tax, or find a mechanism where the tax is not levied where the "in-scope" profits are already taxed in the UK, this could cause issues under the UK's tax treaties (because it could be argued that the tax is effectively an "income tax" relievable under the treaty, thus rendering it useless). The UK and other stakeholders have been grappling with this issue for several months now.
It is important to note that the UK is also looking much more broadly than corporation tax; it also wants to be a leader in other areas of the digitalisation of the economy. Recent reports from an All Party Parliamentary Group for Responsible tax and through the independent Taylor Review have identified that (among other factors), digital platforms are influencing the way in which people work and share (i.e. the gig economy and the sharing economy) and this impacts workers rights and the income tax system. On compliance, HMRC is leading the charge on working with platforms to ensure that users' VAT (and potentially corporation tax / income tax) obligations are properly met. A recent discussion paper on the value of data is at an earlier stage (summary here), looking more broadly than tax at the data strategies that the UK could employ, and it confirms a new panel that will look at the broader economic impact of digitalisation on the UK economy and where the UK government should act to harness the potential of data. There has also been a long running debate about whether there is a level playing field between "bricks and mortar" retailers paying high levels of business rates (to local authorities), and their online competitors who may be able to locate in areas where rates are cheaper (or even overseas where they access UK customers without paying any UK rates). The UK is seeking to lead the way in all of these areas.