Tomorrow's Business Today
Corporate Britain thought of Burnhamism years before he did
The papers are awash with sniffy remarks about Andy Burnham’s plans for devolution – to shift power away from London.
The London press doesn’t like that idea much.
David Smith in The Times says this has all been tried before, and it’s never worked.
Well, when Nissan first invested in Sunderland in 1986, there were loads of snooty remarks from London media types.
There was no point trying to save the unsavable Sunderland. And the staff were all militants who would be on strike all of the time, went the narrative.
Actually, some recent difficulties aside, Nissan in Sunderland has been an extraordinary success. There hasn’t been any industrial action in all that time.
The funny thing is, over in the corporate world they are already giving devolution a shot.
BT and Verizon are merging their international arms so they can have a closer look at the home businesses, and hand more responsibility to the regional folk.
Comcast has spun off Sky in the believe that will help local managers make better, more entrepreneurial decisions.
Lex in the FT notes that Burnham’s devolution plan fits the corporate zeitgeist.
It notes: “Burnham is hardly suggesting giving parish councils control over the defence budget; given that the UK is currently the most fiscally centralised country in the G7, there is plenty of scope to loosen central control without overdoing it.”
So to those complaining that he is not giving enough attention or credit to London – well some of the very biggest London businesses have been thinking the same way for years.
JP Morgan is building a giant new Canary Wharf HQ. It is also big in Dublin and Bournemouth. Good for Bournemouth.
HSBC is massive in Birmingham.
AstraZeneca’s HQ is in Cambridge. BAE is in Hampshire. The Co-op is in Manchester (obligatory hurray!)
JD Sports is in Bury, Greater Manchester (hurray). Asda is in Leeds.
No one thinks any of these companies are being unpatriotic, or unfair to London by having their main operations somewhere else.
So Burnham isn’t even the first to think of Burnhamism – UK plc beat him to it.
Rolls Royce – based in Derby – was on to it ages ago.
So the press is in the odd position of decrying Burnham for doing what the big businesses it champions have already done.
Burnham’s people might point this out.
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Press release of the day
Men save 31% more each month than women says Raisin UK, which thinks this is down to a “confidence gap” rather than income.
Men are more confident with financial products, so make more use of them, goes the argument.
Robyn Demming at Raisin UK says: “If people find it difficult to compare products or understand financial language, they may be less likely to take action that could help their money work harder.”
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