Vince Cable cuts automotive industry adrift
Business secretary Vince Cable has this evening cut adrift the UK automotive industry with a suggestion that state aid for the sector has come to an end. This is an unwelcome reminder of forthcoming cutbacks in the UK government budget although it has to be said that previous assistance offered by Gordon Brown and his Labour government did prove very successful and did put the sector back on a more even keel.
It will be interesting to see how the government reacts to a direct request from General Motors for a government grant to produce one of its more popular electric cars in the UK. There is speculation the government will turn down this appeal for a grant although this would leave David Cameron and especially Vince Cable as the pariah of the car industry and be contrary to the government's intention to increase the attractions of the UK to the worldwide marketplace. This comes only days after the UK government rubberstamped a similar successful appeal from Nissan to produce a variety of its own electric car brands in the UK.
When you consider the billions upon billions of pounds which were invested into the UK financial sector it is a crying shame that other areas of the UK economy are not attracting the same kind of interest and the same kind of assistance during their times of need.
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