http://www.libdemsinbusiness.org.uk/articlearchive.php Recent Press Articles from Liberal Democrats in Business en-GB Liberal Democrats in Business http://www.libdemsinbusiness.org.uk/ Prater Raines Ltd http://www.praterraines.co.uk/ (c) 2008 Liberal Democrats in Business 2008-12-05T09:24+00:00 United Kingdom http://www.libdemsinbusiness.org.uk/articles/000051/uk_trade_and_investment.html As trade becomes ever more global, manufacturing moves East and competition intensifies, the challenge to Britain's exporters and the fight for more inward investment gets tougher. The UK's mounting trade deficit suggests we are far from meeting that challenge. So what should Ministers be doing? 2006-09-16T12:01+00:00 http://www.libdemsinbusiness.org.uk/articles/000050/dont_sound_the_last_post.html As support grows for the Western Daily Press Don't Sound The Last Post campaign, ED DAVEY, the Liberal Democrat Shadow Trade and Industry Minister, explains why the Post Office network is too crucial to be allowed to wither and die 2006-09-12T18:18+00:00 http://www.libdemsinbusiness.org.uk/articles/000049/tax_proposals.html Tax is important, politically. In the otherwise abstract world of political slogans and 'isms, tax consistently brings home to voters in simple cash terms what parties stand for and what they will cost to elect. 2006-08-22T10:29+00:00 http://www.libdemsinbusiness.org.uk/articles/000046/energy_review.html 1. Do you think the government's decision to support a new nuclear regime was made long before the energy review was due? 2006-07-07T00:00+00:00 http://www.libdemsinbusiness.org.uk/articles/000048/globalisation.html The consolidation of one of the chief industries fuelling globalisation has been reduced to a bitter fight in a tiny corner of Europe. News that Arcelor's latest defensive move against Indian-origin entrepreneur, Lakshmi Mittal is to try to ram through a merger with Russian steel mogul, Alexei Mordachov's Severstal, has taken many by surprise. In playing favourites over the jewel in the nation's corporate crown, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg has become "the mouse that roared." 2006-06-13T00:00+00:00 http://www.libdemsinbusiness.org.uk/articles/000047/manufacturing_in_britain.html Despite encouraging quarterly statistics and some signs that manufacturing is anticipating a revival with industrial production growing at its fastest pace for six years, the long term trend is far less buoyant. Manufacturing as a share of national income, and Britain's share in world production of manufactured goods is on a long decline. How should Government respond? 2006-05-26T00:00+00:00 http://www.libdemsinbusiness.org.uk/articles/000045/economic_stability__the_golden_rule.html This year has been dominated by Gordon Brown's "will he, won't he" struggle to meet his self-imposed Golden Rule, culminating in several attempts to move the goalposts. Redefining the economic cycle to accommodate the deficit is simply to undermine the credibility of the Rule. The Rule was based on a fairly simple premise and for several years, it appeared that it was working. It now appears that one of the cornerstones of the Rule has been flouted by the Chancellor: borrowing only to invest, not spend. 2005-08-20T00:00+00:00 http://www.libdemsinbusiness.org.uk/articles/000044/g8.html It is gratifying, even a source of some pride, that the UK has taken a lead within the G8 on issues of debt relief and aid and, through the African Commission, is spearheading the international effort to mobilise external support for African development. 2005-06-01T00:00+00:00 http://www.libdemsinbusiness.org.uk/articles/000041/article_for_personnel_today.html In recent weeks the Liberal Democrats have published a Business Manifesto and a policy paper on workplace rights. 2005-03-29T00:00+00:00 http://www.libdemsinbusiness.org.uk/articles/000039/malcolm_bruce_looks_at_the_problem_of_red_tape_faced_by_business.html I read recently that complaining about red tape was becoming the business equivalent of complaining about the weather. The difference is red tape is not an act of nature, it's an act of Government. 2005-03-21T00:00+00:00 http://www.libdemsinbusiness.org.uk/articles/000040/corporate_social_responsibility_the_liberal_democrat_approach.html The economist Milton Friedman declared that the 'one and only social responsibility of business is to make profits'. Does this assertion still stand today? 2005-02-03T00:00+00:00 http://www.libdemsinbusiness.org.uk/articles/000038/liberal_democrat_proposals_for_the_department_of_trade_and_industry.html The Liberal Democrats are instinctively a pro-business party. We believe that business is best placed to deliver prosperity when it is freed from excessive regulation, unhelpful state interference, and the distorting effects of government subsidies. More than two decades after it was established it is clear that the role for which the Department of Trade and Industry was created doesn't exist any more. 2005-01-03T18:16+00:00 http://www.libdemsinbusiness.org.uk/articles/000043/does_the_uk_need_the_dti.html It may not be the workshop of the world anymore, but the UK has managed to maintain a position as a major trading nation in the global market. 2004-11-25T00:00+00:00 http://www.libdemsinbusiness.org.uk/articles/000042/post_offices.html Ask a person on the street whether they use their post office regularly and they may say no. Ask them whether they would fight to keep their local post office open and I am confident they will say yes, even if they find it hard to explain why. 2004-11-23T00:00+00:00 http://www.libdemsinbusiness.org.uk/articles/000037/the_case_against_nuclear_power.html Fifty years ago nuclear was going to produce electricity too cheap to meter. Now, three expensive generations of power plant later, it needed a £600 million bail-out to save the last private sector producer, and taxpayers will spend £50,000 million on cleaning up the mess. That's a 60 year job, employing more people than the production phase did. In the harsh world of market forces, risk assessments and business cases, no investor will touch it. No wonder the industry is glum. 2004-11-16T14:54+00:00