So now British Steel has gone the way of so many other privatised industries. Renamed Corus and merged with a European (Dutch) firm, it could be argued that we at least had a mjor steel manufacturer who was British. Now, Corus is Indian.Following on from BAA, Abbey National and a host of other British companies taken over by foreign rivals, this is another sign of how we have become the number one takeover destination for foreign firms. Is that all bad, well, yes it is.
Firstly, job tend to get repatriated abroad when cuts are made. Does anyone believe Tata (Corus' new owner) will have the same number of employees they have at present in the UK in 10 years time ? Of course not.
Secondly, where will Tata pay corporation tax ? That's right, not here. So bang goes the several million in revenue to the UK exchequer.
And finally, why aren't British firms doing this in reverse ? Because they can't for the simple reason that most foreign governments (inclusing those in the EU) have rules allowing them to bloack foreign takeovers whilst in some cases those same governments provide funds for their own companies to take over British firms (the French are good at this !)
It won't be long before the London Stock Exchange is foreign owned, and then what next ? There is constant talk of Aviva being taken over (Britain's largest insurer) and a number of US banks are on the prowl to buy some of the larger UK banks.
Britain under Labour is Britain for sale. Will there be anything British left when our children grow up ?
3 comments:
Tata is a great firm, and has a good attitude towards its employees. Tata is not new to UK.You drink Tata Tea Tetley every morning!
Read here.
and
here
Corus is very fortunate indeed considering the respect Tata enjoys in India.I am no Tata employee or PR but ask anyone in India and he will opine same.So Kahuna matata!
Simple solution to the corporation tax issue: axe the tax.
It is paid by employees anyway so lets collect it from them in their higher earnings.
I seriously hope the LibDems don't go down the economic nationalist route, its against what the party has stood for since the earliest days of the Liberal Party.
It does not matter who the owner of a company is, foreign investment bolsters the economy. Protectionism is a game of begger thy neighbour which hits both hard.
If you want to do anything about this 'problem' then we must encourage small business by cutting the regulation and making it easy to start businesses.
Big businesses are not the most important to this country, just the most visible.
Tristan, what you says makes sense. I cannot speak for the Lib Dems on this policy, I just speak personally, but from my point of view, I would like us to do a bit more to defend British companies from foreign predatory take overs. I remember how Nestle asset stripped Rowntrees resulting in the loss of hundreds of jobs from Rowtrees Norwich factory.
I also remember how Nestle wouldn't give the "last rolo" to come of their production line to be auctioned for charity. - Not nice !
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