Transcription
Welcome everyone. Thank you so much for joining me.
Britain is now facing a grim new title. The first nation to completely de-industrialize. What began in the mills of Manchester and the shipyards of Glasgow is now ending in silence in shuttered factories, empty plants, and towns that are stripped of their industries.
The Telegraph published a very insightful, very revealing article titled, "British industry is now in terminal decline. Killed by expensive energy, Britain looks set to become not just the first nation to industrialize, but the first to completely de-industrialize."
The UK economy is now facing significant challenges, including low growth, high inflation, and rising debt. Rachel Reeves is now facing a 20 billion pound budget hole as UK productivity downgraded. Let's take a look.
The government is facing a bigger than expected hole in the public finances as it prepares for next month's budget. A downgrade to the UK's productivity performance from the government's official forecaster could lead to the chancellor facing a 20 billion pound gap in meeting her tax and spending rules. The BBC understands Rachel Reeves has confirmed that both tax rises and spending cuts are options in next month's budget.
So it is very much on the same path that Germany is when Germany is effectively cutting social spending in favor of increasing militarization. Just 70 years ago, Britain was still a manufacturing giant 70 years ago. Today, production has fallen all the way to the same post-war levels, and in some sectors, it's even lower than that.
Remember about 6 months ago, I uploaded several videos discussing Germany's de-industrialization in great, great detail. Germany is Europe's biggest economy. Now, several months later, the UK is next. We're not talking about the UK. The UK banned imports of Russian LG as of January 1st, 2023. So just like Germany, it gave up cost-effective energy sources. And since these are Europe's biggest economies, the heavyweights, if you will, what do you expect from others?
This is an undeniable downward spiral. The EU is in decline and it is declining fast. It is not a surprise because cutting yourself off of the very thing that fueled your prosperity, cheap Russian energy that is, that would do it to you. That would upend your economies, create even more social unrest within your countries. And of course, it would create more political instability. And we see those things in Germany, in the UK, in France, and in other European countries. This is a vicious, vicious cycle, unfortunately.
The Telegraph writes, "Car production in Britain dropped by 35% last month, hitting a 73-year low. Jaguar Land Rover's cyber attack may have sparked the latest fall, but the trend has been long in the making. Salmon production too has slumped to 1950s levels. Pirelli has temporarily shut two tire factories in Staffordshire and in Cumbria, though everyone knows that temporary shutdowns often become permanent. And Wedgewood, one of the country's most storied names in ceramics, halted production for 90 days, for three months, and each week brings new casualties. Factories that survived wars, that survived recessions, and even Thatcher's reforms are now closing their doors forever."
Of course, this is not just about businesses. Primarily, this is about people. People are the victims. Tens of thousands of employees who are being laid off or let go completely. And where do they seek employment when the UK economy is spiraling out of control? What do these people do?
Britain's borrowing costs are skyrocketing. Borrowing costs just hit a 27-year high, the highest level since 1998. And to fix that, Rachel Reeves may reform property taxes. Since the government needs more cash, it needs more tax revenues. Or she's also proposing to freeze income tax thresholds, which will also result in higher taxes over time.
So, what happened to British industry? Well, the reasons are not hard to find. Britain's fixation on net zero has turned energy effectively into a luxury. Industrial energy prices are now twice as high as France's and four times the cost faced by American competitors. Add to that the government's endless barrage of taxes such as higher national insurance for employers, carbon levies, and landfill charges that hit manufacturers the hardest. And the result is very predictable. Building new plants is almost impossible under the current planning regime. The UK has simply made itself an impossible place to make anything, to have a business, to run a business, to prosper.
Factories that endured the war, the oil crisis, and the deep recessions of the past century are now actually giving up. and not because of competition but because of policy failure. Energy costs, red tape and climate taxes have done what war and inflation could not. They have broken British industries back. And at the same time, the political class seems almost indifferent to its domestic struggles with no real plan to cut energy costs or to revive production. Even as factories shut down and workers lose their jobs, there is really no sense of urgency, we don't see that. No recognition that this is a national emergency in the making.
Once a factory closes, it rarely reopens again because skilled workers have to move on. Supply chains dissolve, they disappear, suppliers move on too, and markets are lost forever. What's very curious is that while the UK government has no tangible plan to address the country's complete de-industrialization that hurts consumers and businesses in the UK, it boasts sending billions of dollars to Zilinsk's regime to keep the proxy war in Russia going.
If we take a quick look at the official UK government site here, take a look. In total, the UK has committed up to 21.8 billion pounds for Ukraine, 13 billion pounds in military support, up to 5.3 billion pounds in non-military support, and 3.5 billion pounds cover limit in export finance. At the same time, there are no tangible plans to stop the proxy conflict, just pumping more billions of pounds into it every single month, every single day.
The rest of the world, by the way, is not waiting for Britain to recover. China continues to expand its manufacturing dominance. And India and Vietnam and many other countries are becoming industrial powerhouses, they are industrializing. While Britain is walking willingly into a decline. So, if and when British manufacturing starts to recover, if and when, it will likely face an incredibly tough competition from foreign companies.
If Britain wants to save what remains of its industrial base, it must treat this as the national crisis that it is, which requires affordable energy prices for its manufacturing to restart. And it also requires sound policies that are based on domestic issues first instead of fueling war and death abroad.
Let me know what you think about this topic. I would love to hear your thoughts. Thank you so much for watching. I appreciate you joining me. I hope that you consider supporting my work. Become a subscriber on YouTube, on Substack, and Patreon. I would love to see you on my alternative platforms. You will find them linked in the description below. Have a wonderful rest of your day, and I will see you back here tomorrow. Bye for now.