ALEX BRUMER: The sale of national commercial law by birth was an unlimited disaster, as holidaymakers learn this Easter weekend
By Alex Brumer for the Daily Mail
Posted: 21:51, 15 April 2022 | Updated: 09:49, 16 April 2022
The inevitable truth about the great Easter getaway is that it begins with tales of woe.
There is an incredible pleasure in reporting to other people queuing on accident-ridden highways, Dover chaos and airport chaos.
But despite the inconvenience of PCR tests, passenger locator shapes and the efforts of green fanatics to disrupt life, there is still unlimited joy and thirst to travel.
One cannot help but think that travel would be less stressful if the owners of infrastructure, ports, ferries and airports give higher priority to the interests of consumers and businesses.
Long queues: The inevitable truth about the great Easter getaway is that it starts with tales of grief
The collision with P&O Ferries, which clogs Kent’s motorways and routes to the Eurotunnel, is an example of this.
Despite Britain’s great legacy, P&O is nothing like that. Dubai-based DP World bought P&O ports back in 2006 for £ 5 billion. P&O Ferries was added for £ 332 million in 2019.
Companies registered in the United Kingdom are making mistakes. But it’s hard to think of such harsh treatment as P&O’s efforts to reduce costs by firing experienced crews and replacing them with low-paid, lower-skilled agency staff who endanger ferry safety.
P & O’s British spirit remains in Dover for security reasons. As a result, the already difficult lives of heavy-duty drivers are becoming more complicated, tense supply chains are becoming more strained and holidaymakers in Europe are having a dark time.
There are no obvious efforts to remove labor legislation at airports. But obscured foreign property provides easy cover for public disgrace.
Heathrow’s most recent chief executive, John Holland-Kay, is in the Spanish construction empire Ferrovial, along with investors from Qatar, China and the United States.
Under Covid’s cover, car parking fees have been raised to astronomical levels, return fees have been introduced and the airport is currently seeking to impose additional landing fees to the horror of carriers and passengers.
The regulator, the Civil Aviation Service, is sitting on his hands.
The chaos in Heathrow cannot be entirely the fault of the owners. The airlines are also to blame.
But while Easyjet and BA have UK investors to respond to, Heathrow has been spared such subtleties.
As a longtime critic of foreign ownership of vital infrastructure (my book Britain For Sale was published in 2012), I find it comforting that British asset manager Schroeders shares this view. A recent analysis by the head of strategic research, Duncan Lamont, found that one in three British companies had disappeared from the London Stock Exchange in the past decade.
Lamont contrasts the UK’s experience with other Western markets. In the United States, most transactions are domestic. In the United Kingdom, 54% of companies, representing 70% of the value, have fallen into foreign hands.
In France and Germany, foreign takeovers account for 30% and 25% of transactions, respectively, most of them from EU partners. The study suggests that overseas transactions have uncertain consequences for UK stock markets and the economy.
As we see in Dover and Heathrow, the loss of command and control has extremely devastating social consequences.
We live in traumatic times with endangered food, energy and national security. The sale of national commercial law by birth was an unlimited disaster, as holidaymakers learned this weekend.
May your Easter and Easter holidays still be a blessing.
Share or comment on this article:
Some of the links in this article may be partnerships. If you click on them, you can earn a small commission. This helps us fund This Is Money and use it for free. We do not write articles to promote products. We do not allow any commercial relations to affect our editorial independence.
Add Comment