Kevin Farnsworth *An edited version of this piece appears in Tribune: https://tribunemag.co.uk/2020/05/corporate-welfare-is-not-the-exception-its-the-rule Although the present Covid-19 crisis is one of the most serious health crises in living memory, it also threatens to create […]
There has been a great deal of interest in recent years in the direction of travel of the main political parties in the UK. The Conservative and Labour Parties have both been accused of harking […]
Source: Revealed: global video games giants avoiding millions in UK tax | Games | The Guardian
We have written before on the way in which governments subsidise aircraft manufacturers. To build an aircraft requires huge investment and risk and both are beyond many companies. Governments also have an interest in continual […]
Interesting and highly relevant account of how Amazon has responded to criticism by increasing wages at the bottom. Next on the list: paying its taxes! Source: Even Amazon must heed the basic laws of politics […]
The government has announced that another of its flagship policies on outsourcing have come unstuck. Privatising the probation service always looked like a privatisation too far. And now even the Conservative Government agrees. This is […]
It is widely assumed that public services are organized and delivered for the sole benefit of citizens. The reality, however, is very different. The more we consider the role and function of different government departments […]
Jaguar Land Rover, a company that has received more than £127m in corporate welfare since 2005, announced on 13 April 2018 that it is cutting 1,000 jobs at its Solihull plant in the West Midlands. […]
The Financial Times provides a detailed discussion of just what PFI is, why it is appealing to governments and just how much money the British public owes on existing contracts. Based on the recent National […]
The Guardian reports that UK taxpayers will be forced to give £200bn to contractors over 25 years because of private finance initiative (PFI) deals. According to a report by the National Audit Office (NAO), PFI […]
Didier Leroy, executive vice-president of Toyota, called on the UK government in late October to provide insight into Brexit negotiations and secure a trade deal for the UK automotive industry. He voiced his concerns amid […]
In my report on the British Corporate Welfare State, I pointed out that tax credits and housing benefits subsidise employers. In the report, I estimate that tax credits and housing benefits make up almost half […]
Ineos, the new owner of the Land Rover Defender is reportedly asking for new subsidies as an incentive to invest in the UK. And the UK government will no doubt be seriously considering making a […]
Two recent stories published by two major media outlets in two different nations within four days help to capture a major challenge faced by governments today. On the 8th September, The Wall Street Journal reported […]
Many of those who voted to leave the EU would have been encouraged to do so by the rallying cry of the leavers: ‘take back control’. It was never quite made clear who would be […]
Martin Shkreli, who gained notoriety in 2015 after he raised the price of a drug used by AIDS patients by 5000 percent, was found guilty of three of eight federal charges by a jury in Brooklyn, […]
The Guardian reports that Foxconn received an estimated $3 billion in subsidies from the state of Wisconsin in support of its plans to build an LCD screen manufacturing facility there. Read more here: Foxconn’s $10bn […]
Sir David Metcalf, director of labour market enforcement, has said that many UK companies are violating the living wage law by underpaying their employees and that the government must implement stricter enforcement and harsher penalties […]
The Guardian reports that the UK has plans to invest £246m in battery technology as part of its new industrial strategy. It is expected that most of the funding will go to the automotive and […]
The Guardian reports that several hundred banks have now contacted German authorities about setting up new European offices there in preparation for Brexit. Morgan Stanley is reportedly the most recent to do so. Read more […]
JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon, chairman, president, and CEO of the bank, has called out finance journalists for failing to report on the impact of US government policy on the average citizen. Dimon harangued journalists for […]
The Guardian reports that the Irish Business and Employers Confederation (Ibec) have asked the Irish government and the EU to support Irish businesses with as much as €1bn in state aid to offset the instability and […]
Two of the largest German industry groups have warned the UK that German industry will not help to secure post-Brexit trade deals. Rather, they stated, their priority will be protecting the single market for the […]
The Financial Times reports that investment in the UK car industry has plummeted since the June 2016 referendum, having fallen to £322m during the first half of 2017, according to industry data compiled by SMMT. Investment during 2016 within […]
In a searing piece for The Guardian, Patrick Collinson reports on the extreme manner in which the rising cost of necessary utilities has far outstripped increases in averages wages over the last decade. Collinson references a […]
Copyright: Corporate Welfare Watch 2017