Brexit…
“Taking Back Control”
Britain cobbles together a Brexit deal at the last moment – which includes manufacturing, but not services and finance. This at least avoids total disaster, but leaves England dangerously exposed in world markets. The impact of an inadequate UK/EU trade deal and the terrible effects of Covid19 on health and the economy make the optimistic blather of Premier Johnson seem ridiculous.
“Controlling” What??
Johnson seems to believe in “Centralist Unionism”, despite the fact that Scotland is moving inexorably towards independence - and the English regions are determined to gain more powers from Westminster government. Next Wales will be pressing for more powers to run their own affairs.
- Royal Mail; Part owned by German government,
- Energy generation and distribution: Electricity de France, and Australian, American, Spanish and Chinese companies. Only Scottish and Southern Energy is British owned
- Construction Materials: Lafarge, Holderbank, Cemex, CRH (Ireland). No large UK owned companies left
- Rail Franchises: German, Dutch, Italian
- Rolls Royce motors, Bentley and Mini, German
- Jaguar Land Rover, Indian
- British Steel, Chinese
Alas, letting the Financial Markets have free rein has meant that there is not much left of UK industry to “Control” – and the markets have been “out of control” for at least 30 years. Apart from selling many successful companies, to foreign competitors, or causing destructive break-ups, the financial crash of 2007 was solely due to gross irresponsibility by the banking sector.
Nothing has been done to reform the financial sector since 2009, and Corporate taxation has run completely out of control, with £trillions being hidden in a multitude of Tax Havens, many of them on British “controlled” territories.
