The angst over Britain's steel industry. The "Panama Papers". The collapse of the second-biggest merger deal in history. What do they have in common? They show just how big a comeback politics has made in the economic sphere. For a long time the received wisdom was that politics didn't matter. Political gridlock was the best thing that could happen to a country. While politicians squabbled, businesses could get on with making money.
Not now. The British steel industry has huge problems, and each has its roots in one government policy or other. "Green" taxes have driven up UK energy costs. Low interest rates have created a crippling pension deficit (put simply, the lower rates are, the bigger the deficit, because returns are assumed to be lower).
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