Tesco is ‘considering’ an offer of amends from The Guardian following the paper’s admission of libel over coverage of the supermarket’s tax affairs.

The newspaper denies malicious falsehood, a separate claim, saying its criticisms were not, as Tesco claims, a ‘devastating attack on its integrity and ethics’.

Tesco spokesman Jonathan Church said: ‘We have received the Guardian Media Group’s defence. This is a serious matter and we are considering our response.’

The newspaper said that Tesco’s ‘ethical stance’ in terms of avoidance ‘is in fact …a sham’.

But it has admitted that its claim that Tesco’s Cayman Island deals were about avoiding corporation tax was incorrect, when in fact the deals were about stamp duty land tax savings.

The Guardian said it was prepared to apologise, issue a correction and pay compensation and costs for the libel action ­ but not for the action in malicious falsehood.