will RM fall into foreign hands and does it matter ?

[borders]

will RM eventually end up in foreign hands after we are privatised and does this really matter ?
have a guess how many of these well known companies are still in British hands ?
Boots
Selfridges
Savoy
Harrods
Dorchester
Debenhams
Jaguar/Rover
Asda
MG Rover
P@O Ports
Corus
British Energy
Camelot
ICI
Cadburys

why should we care ? consider this :-
Boots — which had been based in Nottingham for 161 years — moved its headquarters to Zug in Switzerland. Why Zug? Well, certainly not for its climate.
Before the takeover, Boots had paid £89 million in British tax in its final year as a quoted company on the London stock market. Now that it pays its tax in Zug, that figure has shrunk to just £9 million.

So the financial rewards from all these foreign takeovers rarely swell government coffers for long. Hence, as more and more British companies vanish overseas, it’s the ordinary taxpayer who has to make up the difference — through higher VAT and other taxes.


The real tragedy is that no one seems to care when a company like ICI, the great chemicals giant, disappears into the jaws of a foreign power — taking with it scientific and industrial expertise built up over many decades.

ICI was vulnerable to foreign interest for two reasons: the lack of Government interest in its possible future and the shareholders’ greed for cashing in — to the exclusion of other considerations. So no one gave much thought to what might happen next.

Consider this , we like to think we are outside of the EU and are uniquely British but in fact David Cameron said at the time: ‘We are an open, global economy. We cannot start creating ownership barriers, trade barriers and protectionist barriers.’ in fact, Britain is unique in having such a supine attitude to selling off its crown jewels.

Other countries adopt what’s come to be known as ‘economic patriotism,’ which involves putting tremendous obstacles in the path of foreign bids.

The chief reason lies in our continuing love affair with banking and financial services, which still provide a large slice of our tax revenues. From the late Eighties onwards, governments have viewed these banks — which arrange and finance all these overseas deals — as a sort of universal economic panacea.


At all costs, it seems, the banks need to be kept happy. And since much of their money comes from buying and selling companies to the rest of the world, the British sell-off seems destined to continue unabated.

In the real world, away from the gilded environs of the City, the tragedy is that tens of thousands of jobs have gone. Crucial skills have been lost — probably for good. And the strategic heart of British manufacturing has been ripped out, which affects our ability to climb out of recession.


Still, the outlook isn’t all bleak: bankers and foreign shareholders are doing just fine.



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[UnhappyGremlin]

Probably. And I think it does.

Just to take one example, Cadbury's.
It was bought by Kraft (American), and in the short term, nothing happened.
But, in recent times, they've changed the recipe, which uses cheaper alternatives, and it doesn't taste as good as it did.
They have also reduced the sizes of pretty much all their products. And it will likely happen again. (Though they aren't the only ones to do this).
Prices have gone up considerably. 4 or 5 years ago a choccy bar was about 50/55p, they're now 75-80p each.
Some of this is due to increasing costs in cocoa beans, but it's not all down to that.

I think it would be best for the UK if money generated here, stayed here, but we live in a worldwide economy, it's the way it is now.
Can see RM 'moving' HQ abroad for tax reasons, whether bought by foreigners or not, if the Government sells the lot off at some point.
Profits will take precedence over everything, which makes the claim of outside investment being necessary total bollocks, as it will be stopped to ensure vast profits.