The news that David Cameron was meeting the bosses of some of the country’s largest firms, supposedly to discuss their plans to create thousands of new jobs, once again demonstrates the Tories obsession with big business. According to Cameron, the outcome of the meeting would be the "most pro-business, pro-growth, pro-jobs agenda ever unleashed by a government".

However, beneath this glossy surface, in reality what is really on the agenda is expanding the empires of an elite few companies, creating real opportunities for the few, additional profits for the shareholders and a splattering of low paid jobs. It is also likely, especially in the IT sector where we are told there is a shortage of suitably qualified staff that many jobs will actually be offered to migrant workers.

On the surface, the possible creation of 36,500 jobs in various supermarket chains does appear to be a good thing. However this comes with a price and the ‘supermarketisation’ of the country does have a devastating impact on independent traders who will no doubt feel the cost of this expansion.

So how would an English radical government deal with the present situation?

To begin with we believe business should work for the country and not the tail wagging the dog situation we have today. We feel jobs created in this country should remain in this country and not be allowed to drift abroad where labour is cheaper and worker exploitation is currently easier (though Tory legislation is likely to make exploitation easier in this country soon) . This has particular relevance to call centre staff and those employed in the manufacturing and IT industries.

Secondly, if we have skills shortages in certain areas then we should be looking at training people in this country to fill those shortages, instead of continuously relying on migrant labour. We have recently seen an increase in tuition fees and the scrapping of EMA. These policies are both deterring our young people from seeking higher and university education, which in the long term prevents them from acquiring the qualifications to help us plug the skills gap. Even if there is a need for students to contribute in some way towards a university education, surely if we have a skills shortage in certain fields it makes sense to actually provide ‘free courses’ in those subjects.

Finally Mr. Cameron’s meeting with big business leaders:

 As we have mentioned, there is no doubt some positives will come out of this in the creation of a significant number of low paid jobs and increased profits for the businesses concerned. However what if these big businesses were to adopt a distributist approach, by providing opportunities and profits which would be shared by a much wider group of people? Instead of supermarkets strangling the livelihoods of independent traders, why not work in partnership with them, by offering space in their larger stores for independent grocers, butchers, wine merchants, greengrocers etc. This would offer opportunities to people who wish to establish a business as well as providing employment opportunities. Why not work in partnership with smaller stores, offering them the benefits of bulk ordering (thus keeping prices down) but also the benefits of being their own boss. This would help keep our small convenience stores open and our town centres, villages and communities alive.

In addition to this as English Radicals, we feel the government should also be offering opportunities and support for those who wish to create businesses in this country, possibly bringing together similar minded people to work together in launching new business partnerships. Both Labour and the Con-Dem coalition are squandering money we have borrowed rather than investing in the people of this country who could help drive us out of recession. The present government and the opposition seem to prefer paying people to be out of work or allow a company from abroad to step in rather than invest in the people of England.

As well as helping to create and support new independent business ventures, we believe the government should be looking at supporting the creation of co-operatives and stakeholder business schemes, both new ones and in established businesses. If such schemes had been supported we would not have seen the demise in English ownership of companies such as MG Rover, Jaguar, Corus and Cadbury’s and endless other businesses and jobs in England that have been lost.

By taking a distributist approach, it is true there would possibly be slightly less money in the pockets of the big business directors and major shareholders. But in the wider community itself, through the increase of business opportunities, sustainable local economies and the employment created, more money would actually be circulating. It is far more beneficial to the economy of England to have a Joey Blogg type with a few extra quid in his pocket and spending it locally, rather than a Victory Tory-Roll type making a financial killing on his business investment, stashing it in an overseas bank account and avoiding paying tax. Under distributism, Victor Tory-Roll would still have enough money for his Rolls Royce and yacht, but Joey Blogg would also have a much better lifestyle as well.

So what is stopping Cameron or Clegg or Miliband or Farage implementing such strategies? The fact is that each of them is a very willing puppet of big business and is quite content for the tail to continuously keep wagging the dog. Big businesses are opposed to distributist strategies (possibly with the exception of John Lewis which is a successful stakeholder business) as obviously they will make less profit if capital and opportunities are distributed amongst a much wider group of people. And that is where the snag really is. They have the power and the money and they want to keep it as much of it to themselves as possible. And what is even more pitiful, is the fact that all the major parties and the majority of minor ones are very willing to let them carry on in the same manner.

As you can see, the English Radical distributist vision is much different to that of the other parties in this tail wagging the dog nation. We do not seek to knock those that are successful as some on the far left wish to, and we do not seek to restrict opportunities on race, as some on the far right wish to. We seek to encourage opportunities and success for all the people of England. These will not come from centralised state controlled socialism or the greed of capitalism, but from the implementation of modern distributist economic principles.
 


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