Bentley Motors

[Cheshire East Baggie]

But after 40 years of "let the market decide"

If only.

Proth, are you suggesting that we should have let things float even more freely in the turbulent waters of free trade? Are you happy that we have to buy power stations from France or China, that EDF, GDF and Centrica control most of our power, foreign interests own all of the transport network and most defence manufacturing? Is there any example in the world of a successful modern economy where absolutely everything is down to "cheapest best value" regardless of source or impact on the home economy? And don't reference our friends across the Atlantic - they are the most protectionist people out there.

Of course, it isn't really a free market in procurement of all this cheap foreign shit. Plenty of large, unaccountable organisations make a huge amount of money buying the very cheapest stuff from wherever. Then when we have a pandemic, their supply chain fails completely - while competent British manufacturers are exporting better stuff that the "procurement specialists" wouldn't buy. That's not free market, it's old boy network. Free markets are like free lunches - they don't exist.

[Ossian]

It's 'free' to the extent that those with the wherewithal and connections are free to meet for expensive breakfasts and days at Ascot with whoever's decisions they might be hoping to influence.

The ones who lobby most aggressively for deregulation are invariably people who can least be trusted with it.