Larry Ellison writes for The Guardian occasionally and he had a piece last week (HERE) suggesting we "overdo" our respect for the EU and that we can "flourish" outside it. He talks about the pessimism and unwarranted gloom in The Treasury forecasts and that Brexit "is an opportunity to do things differently, to exploit the policy space
that Brexit affords and tackle the structural problems that have plagued
the economy for decades".
I don't believe Ellison is a hard Brexiteer and may even be a remainer but he is probably one of those people who doesn't think Brexit will change things very much. He's an economist I think and the article may even be an effort to cheer us up.
Anyway his conclusion is this:
"Such a transformation [Brexit] is much more likely to happen outside the EU than
inside. That’s because the two most significant UK imports from the rest
of Europe – German industrial goods and cheap labour – have helped to
bend the economy out of shape by holding back the manufacturing sector
and encouraging the growth of low-wage service sector jobs. It is
possible to do better than that".
The idea that being inside the EU has been "holding back" our manufacturing sector is plain wrong. And as for transformation being more likely outside the EU than in, this is just risible.
I spent more than half of my working life working for and with European companies in Germany, France, Finland, Spain and Italy. This involved packaging machinery and systems. Individual machines and large and complex systems with a value between £100,000 and £1 million. In all cases this involved importing equipment from Europe. Barely any (if any at all) is exported from here to Europe. There are no British competitors.
UK customers invariably want to see reference sites and this frequently involved visits to factories in Europe. You might find yourself in Finland looking at large reels of paper being wrapped, or on a dockside in Ravenna seeing imported fertiliser being packed for distribution in Italy. On other occasions it might be a mineral water palletising system in South East France, a flour mill in Catalonia or a minerals processing firm in the Black Forest or a pet food plant in the Rhineland. What you see are companies of all types and all sizes investing in advanced manufacturing facilities and looking neat, clean, organised and efficient. The machinery is all from continental Europe and well maintained and operated.
You then return to Britain. Your potential UK customer's factory (usually) looks shambolic, chaotically run and badly managed. But you get the order and perhaps six months later it's installed and working. After a year or so, you call in to see how things are going to find maintenance isn't being done and the customer is sourcing cheap consumable items from a local cowboy company. Within five years the machine or line starts to look as if it's been in a war zone and has taken a direct hit.
UK customers invariably want to see reference sites and this frequently involved visits to factories in Europe. You might find yourself in Finland looking at large reels of paper being wrapped, or on a dockside in Ravenna seeing imported fertiliser being packed for distribution in Italy. On other occasions it might be a mineral water palletising system in South East France, a flour mill in Catalonia or a minerals processing firm in the Black Forest or a pet food plant in the Rhineland. What you see are companies of all types and all sizes investing in advanced manufacturing facilities and looking neat, clean, organised and efficient. The machinery is all from continental Europe and well maintained and operated.
You then return to Britain. Your potential UK customer's factory (usually) looks shambolic, chaotically run and badly managed. But you get the order and perhaps six months later it's installed and working. After a year or so, you call in to see how things are going to find maintenance isn't being done and the customer is sourcing cheap consumable items from a local cowboy company. Within five years the machine or line starts to look as if it's been in a war zone and has taken a direct hit.
In Britain it's almost impossible to find skilled people who (a) can operate a complex line (b) understand the concept of maintenance and most importantly (c) care about production and productivity.
So, when Larry Ellison says it's time for "the left to come up with its own vision that would deploy every available policy tool to modernise the economy, rebuild Britain’s industrial space and spread prosperity more widely" I agree with him - but pulling yourself out of the nearest, largest and richest market in the world is still an act of needless self harm. Let us be in no doubt the EU does not hold us back, we are doing this ourselves. The EU was - according to the leaflet sent to every household in 1975 - "one of the biggest concentrations of industrial and trading power in the world. It has vast resources of skill, experience and inventiveness". Coming out of it is not going to help.
So, when Larry Ellison says it's time for "the left to come up with its own vision that would deploy every available policy tool to modernise the economy, rebuild Britain’s industrial space and spread prosperity more widely" I agree with him - but pulling yourself out of the nearest, largest and richest market in the world is still an act of needless self harm. Let us be in no doubt the EU does not hold us back, we are doing this ourselves. The EU was - according to the leaflet sent to every household in 1975 - "one of the biggest concentrations of industrial and trading power in the world. It has vast resources of skill, experience and inventiveness". Coming out of it is not going to help.
Every other country in the EU can modernise their economies inside the EU, we can't. Why? This is the question that needs addressing. Until then Brexit is just displacement activity.
