The first in a three part series compiled by one of our young English Radicals.

Many UK retailers are now discovering that clothing manufacture in the Far East no longer has the same attraction as it once did, due to rising labour charges and increased freight costs. The need to be reactive to the impatient and fast paced fashion industry is great, and the most suitable answer to the problem is to return to English and UK manufacturing. However this is not a simple solution, since retailers deserted English factories for low cost China, manufacturing went into decline, factories were left no option but to close, and universities and colleges put a greater emphasis on designing rather than learning how to technically construct garments. This has left England with a missing generation of skilled workers and artisans, and with the current employee base ageing considerably something has to be done.

This situation isn’t getting any better, it took another hit, when De Montefort University announced that they were axing their BSc Fashion Technology course, due to lack of government funding. This particular course has a 100% employment rate and is highly regarded, mainly due to the fact that their graduates are highly trained in a wide range of technical skills, which are greatly needed by many English retailers. Despite the fact that Ed Vaizey has been vocal about the importance of these skills and how he would like to see British manufacturing grow again, there doesn’t seem to be any action from the government. Which begs the question how supportive is the British government of the English manufacturing industry. And the answer is they’re not!

The Ministry of Defence had a very good opportunity to support the English manufacturers; instead they turned their back and gave to the multi million pound contract to produce camouflage gear to the Chinese. When questioned, the MoD spokesman stated ‘Our focus is on getting the Armed Forces the equipment they require, when they need it, at a reasonable cost to the taxpayer. In the last two years British companies have won 87% of clothing contracts.’ In the act of saving a few pence per camouflage trousers, surely they are depriving a perfectly good English manufacturer who employs many tens if not hundreds of workers a contract, which could give their current employees stability, and also lead them to create more jobs, which overall is highly beneficial to the economy and in the long run to the taxpayers. Not only this many manufacturers, including Lee Dawson, managing director of military uniform specialist Samuel Brothers have argued that by having uniforms manufactured in China could expose the Armed Forces to potential dangers. Lee Dawson goes on to say ‘If we are sourcing from China and something goes wrong with Anglo-Chinese relationships, we have a problem, China could withdraw supply,’ leaving troops with a lack of basic clothing, not an ideal situation on the frontline!

A UK retailer Mulberry has recently enjoyed great success in the last few years, mainly due to the Roxanne and Alexa style of bags. These bags are highly sought after by celebrities and women alike, with demand so great, Mulberry can’t produce enough of them. As result it needs to open another factory and increase the capacity of their existing factory in Somerset by 30%. However Godfrey Davis, the Mulberry Chief Executive, has spoken with Drapers Magazine (a renowned Fashion Business journal), and said that he has been put off opening a new factory due to the impact of rising National Insurance (NI, up to 13.8% from 12.8%) rates on operating costs. Davis stated that ‘a constructive approach would be to give some sort of tax break to encourage [businesses] to relocate. An employer NI holiday for a number of years [would work] and UK plc would benefit because we would be creating more employment.’ Davis is presenting the British government with a constructive solution, instead of giving tax breaks or NI holidays to those who don’t manufacture here in England, give it to those who do make the effort to contribute to our economy and job market. The Government’s reaction so far has been, at the Start Britain conference, Chancellor George Osbourne stated ‘We are considering tax breaks for capital investment, which we will be looking at ([in more detail], particularly for various manufacturing businesses.’ If the British government doesn’t support Mulberry, then they may be forced to invest in their other production bases in Turkey or Spain, another wasted opportunity for English manufacturing.

This is a real opportunity for the British Government to invest in something positive, by channelling some of the money they are saving elsewhere, into giving more manufacturing contracts to English manufacturers, tax breaks and NI holidays which will allow manufacturers to grow and expand more easily, this will help to kick start English manufacturing. In the long run it will create more jobs, taking the unemployed off the dole and into more skilled jobs, contribute to the economy and overall make England a more lucrative country to manufacture in. We have the reputation of great design and highly quality manufacturing now all is left is to prove it!      

In part two: Retailers have to step up to the mark, and support English manufacturers.   
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Albion Street 02/27/2011
 
Imagine this scenario: you have a steady job which pays well, but house prices are sky high and you are not able to leave the parental home. You share the house with your lazy, dishonest father whose name the (re)mortgage is in, who favours your grumpy half-siblings (they don't like you, but are quite happy to be kept housed and fed), and even strangers who your father has taken a shine to and invited in off the streets. Your feckless father has no intention of working for a living, but is fond of spending money – yours. Even though you are the main breadwinner, he insists as a condition of living under “his” roof, that you hand over all your wages, out of which he distributes to everyone in the household a small allowance to buy essentials. He keeps the majority of your wages for himself, and if he's spent too much in the pub or had a bad run of luck at the bookies, you will have your allowance cut even further – there's no way he's doing without his luxuries, even if you have to. Even though you are working, you are no better off than the siblings and “guests” who don't.

Does this sound like a fair situation, one that you'd personally be happy with? Well, if you're an English taxpayer, this is already happening to you. I'm sure once you realise that the “lazy father” in this parable represents the British Government, you won't have too much trouble identifying the other characters. Please, read on.

Eventually, a small house comes on the market locally which is affordable. You decide to buy it, and inform your family that you intend to move out, but their reaction is one of bitterness and anger,  with statements like: “after all we've done for you!” and “you won't manage on your own!”.

With some sadness, you pack your belongings and move into your new home. Your family disown you and you lose contact. Time passes and you decide to visit them to see if tempers have cooled,  but when you turn the corner back into Albion Street, you find that your old house is boarded up, with a “For Sale at Auction” sign. There is no sign of your dysfunctional family, or the lodgers.

All over England, local councils are being ordered by the British government to make cutbacks, even in essential services, because Whitehall is withholding their funding to “balance the books”. The English Radicals believe that the present system where central government keeps all taxation revenue and then rations funding to local authorities is wrong, and should be scrapped. Where does this taxation revenue come from in the first place? From taxpayers all over England! Why should taxes raised in Exeter, Birmingham or Newcastle automatically be sent to that corrupt middleman - the British government in Whitehall - who keep the bulk of that cash and decide what we in the “sticks” should be able to spend? And then they have the audacity to tell us, that we need to make cutbacks? That pile of money they are sat on was ours in the first place!

As outlined in a previous article on this website, the English Radicals believe the whole system of taxation in “broken Britain” is in serious need of overhaul. Instead of all taxation going straight to the British Treasury, it should first pass through the local area where the tax is generated. At least 50% of all revenue should be kept for local government funding, and only then should any remaining revenue be passed on to central government. This system is not new, similar ones exists already in places like Germany and Switzerland, who you may have noticed are weathering the recession much better than we are.

With this system, local government would have more funding than it does now, and central government would have to make do with less – it would have to live within its means, as we do.  And perhaps if the British had less money to play with, they might be less inclined to prop up the EU, go to war, or donate foreign aid to India – a country rich enough to fund a space programme!

If David Cameron is truly serious about creating a “Big Society” (which we doubt), then it will only happen when there is “Smaller Government”. But the Tory Unionists, by definition, are intent on keeping the British government as big as possible – the Home Nations are the last remnants of Empire, and will be kept prisoner at all costs. There will be no help from any of the main parties in securing a fairer deal for English taxpayers, and so our taxes will continue to be taken and misused.

The British government would do well to realise that you can only push people so far before they push back, as the student riots in this country demonstrated, and as recent events have shown in North Africa. And they would do well to remember what the American people told a previous British government in 1776 - that there should be “no taxation without representation” - they were being taxed by the British but had no voice in the British parliament - and we all know how that turned out. The English taxpayer of 2011 is in exactly the same boat as the American of 1776. We pay more tax than ever, but we see our public services diminish – because we have no say in how those taxes are spent. In effect the British government is one of occupation in England, as surely as it ever was in America or Ireland. Seriously - isn't it time England moved out of Albion Street?

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A Taxing Problem 01/19/2011
 

Our American “special friends” are stalking us like prey again – the US medical giant Johnson & Johnson are apparently trying to buy Hull-based Smith & Nephew for an estimated £7+ Billion, but the S & N board have been trying to keep this news quiet for some reason, despite Takeover Panel rules that require companies to keep investors informed of possible offers. Strange, that…..

If recent acquisitions by American companies are anything to go by, it will pan out something like this: a British bank bailed out by English taxpayers in 2008 will play the role of Judas and lend the Johnson gang the money – the Smith big-wigs will receive huge “golden goodbyes” - all production in England will be phased out and moved abroad - and finally the company will be re-registered in Switzerland where corporation tax is considerably lower than the 28% that the short-sighted British government insists on charging every company that wants to do business here. Everyone in England will suffer as another FTSE 100 company is swallowed up by global capitalists and moved abroad, along with all the revenue and employment it provided. Indeed, a steadily increasing number of British companies have already re-registered in Switzerland, and are saving millions in tax already.

Firstly, we see no sense in foreign companies being allowed to buy out profitable English companies, and English Radical policy would be to limit by law, any and all foreign holdings in English companies to 33%, to prevent these precious assets being stripped away from us. The only possible exception to that rule would be to rescue an English company in severe difficulties - and then only after the workforce had been given the opportunity to buy the company and run it themselves and the Government has considered purchasing a 'Golden Share' to keep the company in business and majority ownership in English hands.

Secondly, the 28% Corporation Tax – a tax on net profits – ensures that British and English companies will always struggle to compete against companies that use cheap labour. So, if you can't  match the labour costs, then you must reduce the tax overhead to attract investment. The English Radicals believe that all taxes on home grown income and profits should be lowered to encourage initiative and productivity (as long as that income and profit stays in England) - whether they be company profits, share dividend payments or worker’s pay -while taxes on consumption should be increased, especially on foreign made goods and services – these twin measures would encourage English production and jobs on the one hand, and encourage people to consume fewer imported products. We've said it before and we'll say it again: England is a massive market of fifty million people – if you want to sell here, make here. You bring the jobs, and we'll buy your products.

Thirdly. why do governments feel the need to charge such high rates of corporation tax in the first place? Because they need revenue like a junkie needs a fix, due to their inefficient, bloated, centralised nature. The “bigger” the government (as in dictatorial and controlling), the bigger the fix has to be. China's corporation tax is 30% - their government controls every aspect of Chinese life, and even in China that level of “big brother” control doesn't come cheap. So, if the British government could get used to the idea of taking a smaller role, and allow local government at county/regional level to take on more responsibilities, they could get by with much less money.

It is also interesting to note that EU aid to Ireland has been conditional on them raising their Corporation Tax rate from 12.5%, one of the lowest in the EU – whilst French, and German (if you add the national and local taxes together) corporation taxes are currently over 30%. Ironic and sad that Ireland fought so hard to gain independence from the chinless British aristocracy, only to have their sovereignty stolen by faceless European bankers a few decades later.

We are no lovers of global capitalism, but we are pro-business – and if we want to attract manufacturing (and therefore wealth creation) back to England, there has to be something in it for the manufacturer. These are our proposals:

Imported products into Britain/England from nations with whom we have large trade deficits to be taxed more heavily than at present. This would limit the present advantage of global capitalists producing in low paid sweatshop economies, and exporting to higher wage economies like our own. We are happy to trade with other nations, but there must be more balance.

Central government to keep 33% of this taxation revenue, the other 67% to be shared out fairly amongst the devolved local county/regional authorities of England.

Foreign owned companies producing in England (eg, Nissan) to pay only 20% CT. (split 50/50 between that local area and national government).

English owned companies producing in England to pay only 10% CT. (split 50/50 between that local area and national government).

English co-operatives producing in England to be exempt from CT altogether.

A tax regime such as the one we propose would once again make it viable for both home grown and foreign companies to set up shop here. Critics may argue that these proposals would result in less corporation tax revenue - but the British government is driving away tax paying businesses altogether, by charging more than it should! Imagine the British government as a landlord whose tenants have discovered cheaper rooms across the road – the Tory's beloved “free market” dictates that in such an event you should drop your rents to compete, or face having no rental income at all.  Which is better - some corporation tax and more employment, or no corporation tax and mass unemployment?
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The Con-Dem Government and their nu- Labour predecessors have argued a lot over taxes and spending. However when taxes are increased and cutbacks made, it is often the poorest in society which are hit the hardest.

When considering cutbacks all the major three parties ignore two areas which definitely need cutting back – these being our membership of the European Union and the present United Kingdom. 

Our membership of the EU is well documented – and England puts more in than it gets in return. Membership makes no sense when trade agreements can be written, joint projects conducted and travel across Europe arranged without membership of the EU. The fact remains membership of the EU only benefits large global corporations who feast from the top table whilse the rest of us scavenge for crumbs.

Membership of the United Kingdom is something else which the taxpayers of England subsidise. Every minute taxes raised in England flow across the sea to Northern Ireland and over the borders into Wales and Scotland to fund their government’s. The fact is the other home nations have devolution and the taxpayers of England pay the bill.

When will the English people wake up to the fact that if we liberated ourselves from Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland AND the EU, not only would we be able to do away with the proposed savage cuts to the English public services, but we would also be free to protect English firms from hostile takeovers (Kraft) and halt the imminent mass immigration from places such as Bulgaria and Rumania (and Turkey if Cameron gets his way). English independence is the logical conclusion of the current EU and devolution mess and the definite solution to the West Lothian question.

 

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We hear a lot of talk of political reform and localism from the Con-Dem government. However do they mean this, or is it yet again all talk and promises, the usual status quo of major party politics.

As English Radicals we seriously doubt whether the ‘ConDemned’ government will have the courage to give local government real power to serve its communities and end the current centralised method of gathering income tax in favour of a local system. By organising the decentralisation of Revenue and Customs and giving control over THEIR citizens taxes to the localities we would see real local democracy in action. Perhaps then, instead of going cap in hand to central government for money to build tramways or schools, local councils would have the revenue base to support borrowing to fund such projects themselves (if their electors so decide). This is the English Radical vision and this is REAL political reform and localism.

The English Radical Alliance challenges Mr Osborne and the Con-Dem government to be truly radical in their cuts to public services, and abolish all government ministries (except Defence and Foreign Office) and hand the power AND the money to local government.  
 

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