Comments on: Mandelson undone by the politics of economics in the EU

By: Colin Foster

Colin Foster — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 05:41:38 +0000

You say;-

“There are two possible conclusions to be drawn from this: 1. You are totally incompetent; 2. Vested interest and selfishness are at the heart of everything the EU says and does.”

There is of course a third possible conclusion;-

3. Mandelson is totally incompetent AND Vested interest and selfishness are at the heart of everything the EU says and does.

I’ll go for number 3.

By: Bill Quango MP

Bill Quango MP — Fri, 29 May 2009 13:18:24 +0000

LFAT. Mark and Shaun are correct. HMG cannot make cars or run car plants. That has been proved beyond any doubt.

35,000 orders for new cars have been placed since the scrappage scheme came in {sky news}.
Thats about 20% of registrations isn’t it?
Mr Mandelson seems to have succeeded in his aim, but already the word is out that its first come, first served. {I.e. its limited funding only}

By: LFAT

LFAT — Fri, 29 May 2009 11:14:14 +0000

GOH, I agree that Mandelson’s career is hanging by a thread. Loving it.

Stan, it’s going to be a fascinating challenge to see how a future Conservative government deals with the issue of saving failing industries, as the politics/economics balance is always lop-sided.

Boudicca, I don’t think Merkel gives a damn about Brown, Mandelson or the UK. She has an election to win and she won’t let any failing British politico get in the way.

Mark and Shaun, I certainly don’t want British taxpayers to be sucked into saving a failing industry / firm, but the UK wing of GM Europe is apparently very efficient so if they scaled back elsewhere the jobs could be sustained in Britain without taxpayer’s help (in theory).

By: Shaun Pilkington

Shaun Pilkington — Fri, 29 May 2009 10:39:55 +0000

Yup – if a (foreign owned, incidentally) car manufacturer is making cars that people don’t want to buy then they need to go bust. That Darwinian process is a key part of capitalism – it is the risk that balances the reward of profit if things go well.

Naturally I feel sorry for the workers but ultimately this isn’t Soviet Russia or Saddam’s Iraq – we don’t need to pay to manufacture things that nobody wants. Sorry!

By: Mark Wadsworth

Mark Wadsworth — Fri, 29 May 2009 09:52:07 +0000

LFAT, seriously, do you want to be an indirect and involuntary shareholder in a loss-making car manufacturer, as well as being an indirect and involuntary shareholder in loss-making banks?

I know that I don’t – don’t you remember British Leyland?

By: Boudicca

Boudicca — Fri, 29 May 2009 09:36:18 +0000

Let’s just imagine Angela Merkel for a minute:

1) Angela Merkel persuaded Gordon Brown not to hold a Referendum on the Lsibon ConTreaty; it’s ratified unless the Tories get in quick
2) Angela Merkel knows that Gordon and Labour are dead and buried as far as the next election is concerned
3) Angela Merkel has an election coming up and needs to secure German votes

Now why should she adopt an EU-wide perspective? Gordon has tied us into the EUSSR (run by Germany and France to suit themselves). She needs votes. She will therefore do whatever is necessary to save the German car industry and her political future – and the UK/Gordon/Labour can go hang.

In a year’s time, she will be dealing with Cameron but Vauxhall will be long gone. And Mandelson? He’s just an EU tool – committed to supporting the EU or he loses his pension. Do we really think he’d put UK business above the interests of Peter Mandelson?

By: Stan

Stan — Fri, 29 May 2009 08:18:36 +0000

As I keep trying to tell everyone, “free trade” and the “free market” don’t exist. Virtually, every nation in the world has measures in place to “protect” their key manufacturing and production industries – we’re one of the very few that doesn’t and we suffer because of it.

By: grumpy old man

grumpy old man — Fri, 29 May 2009 07:14:29 +0000

I don’t see your alternatives as an either/or. both running concurrently is entirely possible.
Certainly Mandelson looks really worried in recent pictures. Merkel, like the rest of the Council of Ministers, is aware of just how weak The Labour Govt. is. She has, probably rightly, calculated that Brown will get no support from the 1st division of the EU, who are also frantically protecting their own. On a personal level crowing about his economic prowess in the early part of the decade, and his pomposity and hubris in the last year, has not endeared Brown to his european colleagues.
Mandelsons’ only “success” has been winning the handbag fight with boy George over yaughtgate. Otherwise,he has been unable to do anything to arrest Labour’s downfall since returning to British politics, and Alistair Campbells’ contribution has been farcical, as his blog demonstrates.
Mandelson probably has one last charge left in him, but I would suggest that he is finished as an influential political figure.

and that possibility makes me INCREDIBLY happy.