British jobs for British workers?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/ trains-jobs-boost-queried-as-japan-factory-con firmed-1607428.html

Many on this site blame Margaret Thatcher for the demise of the British manufacturing industry, and I would agree with this,BUT!!!!!!

What has the Labour party done to correct this trend in the last decade that it has been in power?

Here was the latest opportunity to use the few skills that are still left in this country, that is those connected with the Train industry.

Why wasn't the �7.5 billon contract for building these 'super express' trains given to the consortium led by East Midlands Derby based firm Bombadier?

Seeing that the Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon is MP for Ashfield, Nottingamshire, Bombadier would have been in with a chance, but no.

So much for Brown's 'British jobs for Britisn workers' and
'Labour are committed to creating jobs'.

[losingravity]

If labour are in power for another 25 years , People will still blame Maggie

[redcrx]

Makes you wonder who will have the contracts to construct the olympic village etc.

will we see it being made outside the UK and wshipped up the Thames?

[raysparx1]

The thing is foreign workers have been coming here for years, why all the fuss now? workers from the uk can work anywhere in the world,but nobody can come here. is that what you are saying? read the link it has been going on for centuries.

http://www.mineexplorer.org.uk/coniston.htm

[anotheoldgit]

raysparx1 and RoaldoM

I think you are missing the point, this isn't about foreign workers coming to do British jobs.

It is about a British Goverment awarding a British Goverment contract to a Foreign country, in this case Japan.

[raysparx1]

I can see that point ato, and I do agree with you. I never read your question properly so apologise to you. Japan and China obviously are very clever at exploiting the world markets, and we are becoming more and more dependant on these two countries, how many clothes are made in the UK? how much steel is made here? Britain was once a great country , Skill wise, alas it has all been vanishing before our very eyes.

[ajmmac]

why all the moaning--it is called capitalism--make the goods anywhere by anyone and the cheapest method to maximise profit

[dot.hawkes]

workers for the olympic village started being recruited last summer, it was good money but without an accomodation allowance

[paraffin]

1. British industry was in decline before Thatcher became PM.
2. Many thousands of Brits have been, and many still are, working in foreign countries, therefore it's pretty hypocritical of us to crab and whinge because some foreign workers are here working legitimately doing jobs which the majority of Brits wouldn't have touched with a barge pole before this so-called credit crunch started to bite.

[KARL]

Britain went through a period where manufacturers were losing a secure market in the former empire and adjustments were needed such as switching to products others wanted (and did not have to buy because protectionism ensured any alternative would be a more difficult choice in every way), not be so idio-synchratic in style and standards, etc. Coinciding with this happening a different type of protectionism became very evident: a right to a continuing job. To bail out the former and appease the latter, governments took over entire industries and made both problems worse. British Rail were for example forced to employ men to shovel coal long after the last steam train went out of service. Over a period of something like 20-30 years, Britain became the sick man of the world and anything from washing machines to cars got a bad name internationally for poor supply to poor quality. Somewhere in there was the Thatcher government which incurred the permanent wrath of those who resented facing the bitter reality that Britain was heading for complete bankruptcy. Yes, unsustainable jobs and hopelessly inefficient firms and industries disappeared forever, but some of the disease was removed, although not all of it. The tendency toward floating on easy solutions and expecting the real effort to be made by others continues (most recent result: shops now close and the banks are a mess). Worst of all, this nation remains hopelessly disunited along old class lines - to me it seems this situation is as fiercely maintained from "below" as it is from "above", perhaps even more so through the "us and them" view of society held by those who are forever on the look-out for "bosses" and "exploiters" to hate and vilify. This is perhaps Britain's oldest and most persistent handicap.and general problem - it frustrates attempts to educate people, persuade them to eat sensibly, drink and smoke much less, and generally make better choices for themselves and ultimately the whole of society.

[KARL]

PART 2: Compare with other European countries where very impressive things have been achieved. Britain needs to climb out of this hole - no government is in sight that will have the courage nor the backing to take this issue on in an effective way. In fact, many would say this is a hopelessly lost cause and that Britain will continue muddling along at way below her potential for generations to come. That is, perhaps, unless it is broken up into smaller units where better cohesion arises through the possibility of managing society more effectively in greater detail.

[Gromit]

Bombardier is a Canadian Company with its headquarters in Berlin. They were part of a rival consortium which included, Siemens of Germany, so presumably work would have gone abroad if their bid had have been successful,

We haven't built any trains on this scale since the introduction of the InterCity fleet in the 1970s, which this contract is set to replace, We no longer have the skills to undertake such a large project on our own. Just like we build cars and planes in conjunction with other countries, the same is true of trains.

The Hitachi trains are proven. They currently operate on the High Speed link from St, Pancras to the Channel Tunnel. Virgin also own some. Hitachi have built a large maintenance facility at Ashford, Kent.

http://www.hitachi.com/New/cnews/071002.html

The bottomline is, these trains are well overdue (no pun intended). The consortium the Government have chosen will be able to deliver a proven train and have it in operation quicker.

[rov1200]

Out of the top 800 companies in Britain over 300 are foreign owned. In this recession these companies are likely to downsize in the UK in preference to their home base. Therefore to keep the British worker in employment means either subsidising that company or else handing out work so that our workers can be kept in employment here.

http://www.innovation.gov.uk/value_added/defau lt.asp?page=44

[Hymie]

When Brown said �British jobs for British workers�, he mis-spoke, what he meant to say was �British dole for British workers� (an easy mistake to make) � see the front cover of the current edition of Private Eye for �proof�.

[BillyBB]

Rov1200
To keep indigenous and foreign companies in Britain all we need to do is lower the tax burden again. That was how we attracted the investment in the first place.
Unfortunately all we are likely to see are higher taxes for many years, to pay back all the govt borrowing.
Subsidies and bail outs just take from the currently productive sections and hand it to the failures.
So all workers, no matter how lowly, suffer and businesses choose other countries to build their factories which componds the problem. Plus the admin costs of tax collection and redistribution is appalling. They are mind bogglinly inefficient.
With lower taxes businesses close to failure such as Barratts, Zavvi, Viyella, USC, Empire Direct may survive. Oh too late for them.
Current policy has raised predictions to 100 companies going bust per week throughout 2009.
Govt spending predicted to hit 620bn pounds in 2009.
Of course it's not their money, it's taken from every working person and profitable business or borrowed (at extra cost) against what they can later take from us.

AOG, if there's one thing we are good at in this country it's cr@pping on ourselves.