Tuesday 20 November 2018

British Industry and politics

Guido Fawkes accuses the CBI of making bad political calls. Well, sometimes commercial interests run counter to the country's political or ethical aims. Here is his list with a few comments:


  • In the 1930s it supported appeasement

  • No doubt the FBI (as it was until 1965) would have done well trading with continental Europe run by the Axis powers

  • In the 1940s it supported nationalisation. 

  • A good call considering the state of British staple industry at the time

  • In the 1950s it supported state planning. 

  • Evidence?

  • In the 1960s it supported tripartite industrial relations. 

  • It may not have caught on in this country, more's the pity, but one cannot say it has been a failure in Germany

  • In the 1970s it supported price controls. 

  • Prices and Incomes policy may have been misguided, but the PM who presided over it was also responsible for abolishing Retail Price Maintenance

  • In the 1980s it opposed getting tough with the USSR. 

  • The Russian market looked so promising, even the Conservative government was encouraging British firms to invest. A bad call, but the CBI was not alone.

  • In the 1990s it supported the ERM. 

  • - which might have worked if the UK had allowed devaluation of sterling within it. Even so, the ERM was an unsatisfactory compromise

  • In the 2000s it supported joining the Euro. 

  • "euro", please. Membership would have reduced currency fluctuations and made financial planning easier for companies

  • In the 2010s it supported Remain… 

  • Considering the difficulty in recruiting labour which is already hitting commerce and industry, the CBI was right to do so. I suspect even the CBI was unaware of some of the additional trouble (insurance, travel and queues of lorries) which will hit the country on March 29th if there is not a change of direction


… and now it has declared its support for May’s draft withdrawal agreement.
Making the best of a bad job, but many voices at the recent conference were raised against the shortcomings of the deal.


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