The collapse of British Steel Limited, with the potential loss of at least 5,000 jobs, has once again exposed deep fault lines in the governments laissez-faire economic ideology and in Britains shareholder-centric model of corporate governance.
The government clings to its do-nothing approach, justifying its rejection of financial support, a bailout or public ownership of British Steel because these options would be illegal under the EU state-aid laws.
Yet the UK government conjured up billions of pounds to bail out banks through loans, guarantees and an extensive quantitative-easing programme. It brought the East Coast rail service and other lines back into public ownership. None of this was opposed by the EU.
The government doled ou…
Read the full article at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/may/24/british-steel-scandal-private-equity-unchecked