One of the major UK oligopolies is the concentration of auditing in the 'Big Four';
After the semi-neutering of the Competition & Marketing Authority it will come as no surprise to your that ministers are 'exploring' weakening proposed legal requirements for the Big Four to share their work with smaller auditors....
yes, its become clear that Labour think oligopolies spur growth.
But, of course if that was true the UK would not actually have a growth 'problem'
#oligopoly #economics
h/t FT
Even the most right wing of traditional #Laɓour people used to think very differently - notably #hughgaitskell and his supporters.
Sadly, the idea that a market controlled by a few corporations is not either a good thing, nor supportive of economic success, seems to have been comprehensively dismissed by the corporate lobby & their useful idiots
It is worth recalling that #tradeunions and #socialistsocieties set up the #labourparty so as to exercise countervailing power within the political system. There was a real risk during the #blair years that it would be captured by those very corporate lobbies and their useful idiots - set out at the time by #colincrouch who described it as 'post democracy'. I had thought that danger had gone but that may be premature in the light of stories about #morganmcsweeny and #waheedalli !
yes, I'd agree... corporatisation seems already under way.... mind you its quite some time since anyone in the Labour Party's hierarchy will have uttered the term 'countervailing power' (which I always associate with JK Galbraith, incidentally)
Specifically the blocking of proposals to tighten the rules about political funding in the run up to #ukgeneralelection2024 was designed to entrench the influence of a small number of rich donors - whether corporate or individual - within the #uk political system and of course keep the door open for future interventions by various bad actors.
Within #Laɓour those donors are often but not always associated with #labourtogether - which means among others #morganmcsweeny . However there is still space within the #labourparty for around 300k members and for #tradesunions so there is a certain degree of countervailing power also.
although they seem to be trying to shake that off....
Emeritus Prof Christopher May
Donald Roy