The great British sell-off

Is Britain in danger of selling all its crown jewels to foreign buyers?

Has Britain made a mistake allowing so many of its great companies to be sold to foreigners? Alex Brummer, the City Editor of the Daily Mail, argues that it has in a fascinating new book: Britain for Sale: British Companies in Foreign Hands.

Take public services: we tend to believe that energy companies and the like, though mostly privatised, still put the public interest first. Yet, says Brummer, roughly half of all our essential services, from water to bridges and ports, now have overseas owners. These owners are not "as concerned as a British company would be about public opinion". They owe no particular allegiance to Britain; they just want to make fat profits for their shareholders.

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