Mr Brightside: Where Do We Go From Here? 

 

“He had a nasty reputation as a cruel dude 

They said he was ruthless, they said he was crude” 

 
In  last weeks, “Heaven Know’s I’m Miserable Now”, I wrote about the people and how traditionally Labour had been the party of the working man, designed to support those in need. 

This week we continue the theme of “people”. People constitute the country, it is people who elect the government, it is people that the government serves. Unfortunately, for too long government has failed to serve the people, as a result the people have lost faith, not just in government, but in politicians of either side to deliver what is required. 

An example of this continuing failure is the series of ongoing scandals, the PO “Horizon”, infected blood, now there is the Grenfell enquiry. All are met with much handwringing, profuse apologies, “it must never happen again”, but it does. All of this amounts to nothing; nothing is ever done. The PO victims are still owed much in compensation, so are the blood scandal victims, as Grenfell, well, I wouldn’t hold your breath! 
 

‘government has failed to serve the people, as a result the people have lost faith, not just in government, but in politicians of either side’

 
Sir Martin Moore-Bick’s can be summed up thus; chronicles failures in the construction industry, the council, regulators and central government. “The simple truth is the deaths that occurred were all avoidable.”  

The cladding materials and insulation in the walls of the tower proved to be highly flammable. Of the key companies involved – Arconic, Celotex, and Kingspan – the report said that each had engaged in “deliberate and sustained strategies to manipulate the testing processes, misrepresent test data and mislead the market”. 

Of Arconic, Moore-Bick said that senior executives knew that the cladding in use could be highly flammable and did not meet safety standards. But instead of distributing warnings or withdrawing it from market, the company was “determined to exploit what it saw as weak regulatory regimes in certain countries including the UK”. 

Kingspan, which made about 5% of the combustible foam insulation used at Grenfell, knowingly made false claims about its ability to withstand fire. Kingspan had “long-running internal discussions about what it could get away with”. When questions were raised about safety, a senior manager said that critics could “go fuck themselves”. 

Celotex, which made most of the insulation, tried to break into the market by “dishonest means” after it found it could not meet building regulations with its own rival to Kingspan’s product. And it presented its insulation as safe “although it knew that was not the case”. 
 

“The simple truth is the deaths that occurred were all avoidable”  

 
In terms of government, “The report is clear that this goes back decades. It’s not just the Conservative government that he’s pointing the finger at. But it is clear that in the Cameron years, this drive to cut red tape dominated decision making, and that the policy dominated the thinking in Pickles’ department. Fire safety was ignored.” 

Tony Blair’s government did not heed the warnings of a crucial select committee; David Cameron’s government launched an unthinking deregulation drive, of which the then then housing secretary, Eric Pickles, was only too keen to drive forward, and whose evidence disclaiming knowledge of the impact of what he was doing was dismissed by the report as “flatly contradicted” by departmental documents. 

As for the regulators, the British Board of Agrément (BBA) certificates construction products as safe, is described as “incompetent” and guilty of “an inappropriate desire to please its customers”, even accepting their suggestions on wording for certificates. The National House Building Council, meanwhile, “was also unwilling to upset its own customers and the wider construction industry by revealing the extent of the problems”.  

As for the he landlord, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the tenant management organisation (TMO) that administered the tower on its behalf and ran a £10m refurbishment showed a “persistent indifference to fire safety, particularly the safety of vulnerable people”, the report says. 

In summary, 72-people died because of a catalogue of “don’t care”,  corporate greed, and a general apathy towards safety. 

Once again, we call upon the wisdom of Alfie Solomons, “big fucks small”. (1) 

Nothing will ever change in this country, and nothing will ever be done to right the wrongs, simply because those with the power to do so prefer to avoid anything that looks like confrontation. 
 

72-people died because of a catalogue of “don’t care”,  corporate greed, and a general apathy towards safety

 
Instead we are told that all 58 recommendations would be considered, but nothing could be promised before 6-months. Which isn’t bad when you consider the police warning that it could be another 18-months before any charges were brought. 

Some of the recommendations are simple to implement; a single regulator for the construction industry, a fire and rescue college, and all responsibilities for safety brought into one department.  

As to the police, well…….I suppose as the inquiry itself taking 7-years they are being prestissimo! 

Of course, this isn’t an isolated situation, there are flats all round the country with cladding, and all are the next Grenfell. 

Someone needs to take responsibility, say this is what’s to be done, and it needs to be done now. 

Health and Safety Executive sponsoring department is, for some strange reason, the Department for Work and Pensions, needs to lead but it will need Treasury support.  
 

‘Once again, we call upon the wisdom of Alfie Solomons, “big fucks small”’

 
In June the country turned away from Tory government, tired of its austerity and obsession with deregulation and tax cuts. Equally, the Starmer government is cogniscnt of how much the Tory dogma of deregulation and austerity has damaged Britain. By attacking “red tape” at the same time as cutting public investment, the Conservatives degraded services and enabled profiteers, a fact laid bare by the Grenfell inquiry. Builders are underregulated, thanks in part to their lobbying efforts stretching back years. But they are not alone.  

One of the inquiry’s recommendations was for a new construction industry regulator, and a college of fire and rescue to promote good practice. This sounds great, however, if we take the example of the water companies, and Ofwat, to see that a regulator does not guarantee a well-functioning industry, which reasonably balances the interests of shareholders and the public. 

As we have seen with the water industry, the Starmer government is resistant to nationalising the water supply, or empowering local government to build homes (rather than business). This means that strong regulation and enforcement are the only ways forward. With this reliance on markets to drive the economic growth which the government has pinned all our hopes on, we can only hope that this can be balanced with values of care, respect for life and a sense of responsibility in those with power over others. 

Staying with markets as the driver of economic growth, last week saw the release of The Capital Markets of Tomorrow report, led by the City veteran and former boss of Legal & General Sir Nigel Wilson. The report  said that in order to achieve at least 3% annual growth, the UK would have to attract around £100bn of investment per year, divided between key sectors, £1tn of fresh investment over the next decade. 

That includes £20bn-£30bn towards the UK’s housing stock, £50bn for the energy sector, and £8bn for water projects. It also calls for £20bn-£30bn worth of venture capital for growing companies that are beyond the startup stage and need more sustainable funding to expand. 

The report said the challenge was to make the UK “a competitive market in which to invest”. While many initiatives to boost investment in British infrastructure and companies were already under way, it stressed that the government and regulators needed to focus on creative opportunities and providing incentives for investors.  

“There has never been such a large amount of money globally available and seeking investment opportunities,” Wilson said. 

 

“Capital pools include domestic and international capital sources, such as sovereign wealth funds, retail investment, private equity ‘dry powder’, and the UK is fortunate in that we have £6tn of long-term capital within our pension and insurance industries. In other words, the supply of capital for growth is available.” 

That includes creating new investment funds through an existing long-term investment for tech and life sciences (Lifts) initiative to attract private cash, and ensuring that the £60bn-£70bn per year of tax breaks for annual pension funds is applied in a way that encourages investment in UK companies, the report said. It also called for the reintroduction of tax credits on dividends received from UK companies, which was scrapped in 1997.  
 

‘Aggg, that bloody  £22bn blackhole, again! Everyone must be tired of hearing about this and their daunting inheritance’

 
The report was produced for the UK Capital Markets Industry Taskforce (“CMIT”), an influential body headed by the London Stock Exchange chief executive, Dame Julia Hoggett, alongside senior City figures including the bosses of the asset manager Schroders, the pharmaceuticals company GSK, the pension savings provider Phoenix Group and the venture capital firm Lakestar. 

Since its founding in 2022, CMIT has been pushing for changes to regulations that it believes have stifled investment, and have ultimately left the UK lagging behind the US in terms of developing capital markets and economic growth. 

The group has also been sounding the alarm over the growing number of companies that have been leaving or snubbing the London stock exchange for overseas rivals, including the US. 
 

‘Labour  were elected on the promise of “change”, not as a tribute act fixated on “austerity lite”’

 
A Treasury spokesperson said: “The chancellor has been clear that difficult decisions lie ahead on spending, welfare and tax to fix the foundations of our economy and address the £22bn hole in the public finances inherited by the government. Decisions on how to do that will be taken at the budget in the round.” 

Aggg, that bloody  £22bn blackhole, again! Everyone must be tired of hearing about this and their daunting inheritance. Labour  were elected on the promise of “change”, not as a tribute act fixated on “austerity lite” while they try and meet impossible legacy spending targets that were set as a political trap.  

Deep down we wont be in the fast lane with 3%+ growth, we will just chug along with 1% and 1.something, celebrating 2 like it’s VE Day. Its just what we do….  
 

“Little Joe never once gave it away 

Everybody had to pay and pay” 

 
Notes: 
 

1. “Big fucks small always, actually. There is a fight going on out there between big and small. Big will fuck small”. Alfie Solomons, Peaky Blinders, Series 4: The Company 

 

‘This is a continuation of disappointment. Starmer et al have the opportunity to do so much, to be truly transformative. Instead, we are seeing a Tory tribute act for Cameron and Osborne read Starmer and Reeves.

I have tried to understand Starmer, and have concluded that he doesn’t know what he stands for.

When he ran for the Labour leadership in 2020 he made a series of pledges, the majority of which, for one reason or another, he has reversed:

·       Deciding not to scrap private schools’ charitable status

·       Refusing to end the two-child limit

·       Scrapping tuition fees

·       Increasing income tax for the top five per cent of earners

·       Nationalisation of public services

·       (EU) Freedom of movement

·       A £28 billion ‘green prosperity plan’

·       No new North sea oil and gas

·       The abolition of Universal Credit

·       Abolishing the House of Lords

Source: https://www.bigissue.com/news/politics/keir-starmer-broken-promises-tuition-fees-nationalisation-u-turn/

An alternative theory is that he does really know what he stands for, and he is just tell’s people what they want to hear to get elected.

Lyrically, as I clearly mis-named Starmer when choosing to name this column, I thought we would pick an equally inappropriate opening lyric. We start with the Eagles and “Life in the Fast Lane”, we won’t get there but we can dream.

We finish by paying tribute to Herbie Flowers’ the great bass player. His back catalogue is vast including working with  Elton John (Tumbleweed Connection, Madman Across the Water), David Bowie (Space Oddity, Diamond Dogs), and Lou Reed’s Transformer. From that album, the basslines of “Walk on the Wild Side” are the stuff of legend and we end with that. Kind of appropriate for Starmer, don’t you think…

Enjoy!

Philip.’

 @coldwarsteve
 

 

Philip Gilbert is a city-based corporate financier, and former investment banker.

Philip is a great believer in meritocracy, and in the belief that if you want something enough you can make it happen. These beliefs were formed in his formative years, of the late 1970s and 80s

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