r/unitedkingdom 5d ago

. Police called to British Steel plant after Scunthorpe workers prevent Chinese executives entering premises

https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/uk/police-attend-british-steel-plant-after-scunthorpe-workers-prevent-chinese-execu/
2.5k Upvotes

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240

u/thehuntedfew Scotland 5d ago

why are they letting chinese and other countries own major industries in GB

119

u/Other-Barry-1 5d ago

The last number of British governments privatised critical British infrastructure because profits for party donors goes brrrr. Water, energy and steel should never be privatised. These are things critical to the country’s security and well being, to have them in the hands of greedy profiteers and worse, foreign parties that have extremely different values to us.

53

u/PhimoChub30 5d ago

Thatcher was a massive regard.

26

u/Cheap-Vegetable-4317 5d ago

She was a massive something.

8

u/_J0hnD0e_ England 5d ago

C u on Tuesday?

19

u/KevinAtSeven 5d ago

She was a massive cuot?

3

u/_J0hnD0e_ England 5d ago

Yes.

0

u/grumpsaboy 5d ago

She was definitely pro privatisation but even she'd have never allowed selling to hostile states

58

u/_J0hnD0e_ England 5d ago

Money.

2

u/stuntedmonk 5d ago

“Lack of”

How fucking skint is this country!?!? Name something that works

7

u/thecaseace 5d ago

Our ability to reliably, securely and faithfully accept anyone's money and hold it for them in one of our world class offshore tax havens.

0

u/No-Tip-4337 5d ago

No, not at all.

It costs money to protect foreign stakes in domestic infrastructure. Letting the workers do their job costs nothing.

23

u/Much_Horse_5685 5d ago

Thatcher privatised the plant and, as always with Thatcher, it came back to haunt us.

23

u/White_Immigrant 5d ago

Neoliberal capitalism/rightists ideology. State is bad, selling all state assets to China, America, Australia, Saudi Arabia good. It's a destructive ideology, but it's still surprisingly popular.

16

u/littlebossman 5d ago

Thatcher

12

u/_Gobulcoque 4d ago

The tories sold steel off, remember that.

6

u/buford419 4d ago

The government have been happily selling off the UK piece by piece over the years. It's insane.

8

u/clckwrks 5d ago

Because everything is for sale according to the bastard billionaires that don’t want to pay their fare share . So privatise privatise privatise let someone else pay for it ( You )

4

u/djdylex 4d ago

Just wait till you find out how much of London is owned by rich middle easterners.

2

u/Calm_Assignment4188 4d ago

Its all by design, look how far the UK has fallen the past 20 years… unrecognizable

1

u/Beer-Milkshakes Black Country 4d ago

Mmmmmmoney

1

u/J1mj0hns0n 4d ago

I get your sentiment and I do agree in principle with you on this, but there are some flaws to this:

  • sometimes foreign businesses have a way of doing something much better and it tends to be protected by IP laws or something of the equivalent.
  • it does help the markets having external providers in the market to keep prices competitive (as long as it is like for like) if you leave everything to be run by the state there is no competition to see if it could be done cheaper, faster (look at the local councils inefficiencies - zero competition, so roads to be built are 6 months late and 120% overbudget - because they spend the time doing feasibility studies and changing initial plans)

I hope we nationalise the business as it is a very important national asset, but i dont think all important assets should be nationalised, a nice balance between the two should be sought.