Douglas Carswell's Blog

Both feet need to kick corporatism

I've a guest piece on Left Foot Forward this morning on the theme of defence procurement.  Having big corporate interests hijacking public policy is not in the interests of either the centre left or right. 

Yet I fear that corporatism is back in vogue - in Whitehall, in domestic policy and, of course, in foreign affairs.  

Both left and right often make the mistake of assuming that Big Business and free markets are the same thing.  They are not.  Corporate interests can be as hostile to the free market as any other vested interest.

While the left needs to wake up to the threat corporatism poses to democracy (Who lobbied for Libya?), the centre right needs to appreciate that corporatism is a threat to economic dynamism, not a recipe for growth. 

Back to all posts