UK may nationalize Rolls Royce's nuclear submarine business

Citing concerns that the company's management lacks substantial experience in dealing with hostile takeovers, the UK government is considering nationalizing the nuclear submarine business of Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC, which powers it's Trident missile deterrent system. It's all a matter of national security . . .

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-rolls-royce-hldg-deals-idUSKBN0TW0W520151213
Representatives of the UK government, Rolls Royce and BAE Systems could not be reached immediately for comment outside regular business hours.

 

This is interesting, because the UK government came under fierce criticism earlier this year for selling off - or privatizing - its nuclear fuel industry. Many of the criticisms were made of the basis that to give such a strategic and sensitive industry over to the Chinese would threaten national security. I suppose they made an exception in this case...

 

I think if this is true then the UK government will face some sort of backlash as they're continuing to sell off parts of British industry, but nothing seems to be being done about it.

How long are the British people going to stand by and watch this happen?

 

Privatization of our national assets has been going on since Margaret Thatcher was in power. There is a very strong strand of neo-liberalism among our politicians, and it seems that the populace is quite content with what is going on.

Personally, I would much more prefer to see our strategic industries under state control, and in fact I'd like to see the state hold control of many less important industries too. I think the world will be entering some very unpredictable waters over the next few years, and the more we as a nation are able to dictate our own destiny, the safer we'll be able to sail those waters.

 

Funny that a bunch of bureaucrats can steal a business because they feel the management isn't good enough in one particular field.
Hostile takeovers are very interesting though, anyone watch barbarians at the gate?

 

To be honest neither option is particularly favourable, and while selling off British industry to the highest bidder isn't something that people want to see, what's the alternative? Sit back and watch the government strip it of its assests, run it on a shoestring budget in order to cream off the profits and let it eventually fold. What a choice we have...

 

It's understandable and pretty much mandatory that the government keeps some eyes on their weapons industry. However I see that BAE systems is involved and they have are obviously a big player in the defence industry and the government is happy to have them in charge of multiple high tech systems. There will probably be some sort of an agreement where BAE buys out Rolls Royce from this particular business venture, or at least buys a large part of the shares so that the problem disappears.

 

That's true. Governments don't always have the best track record on managing companies when they are in fact in charge of them.

One side note here: the UK has also just sold off its stake in the Eurotunnel, which is bizarre considering it was the only asset in its portfolio that was consistently making money - and a lot of money at that. I'm not entirely sure that a lot of this isn't graft, and the politicians get a blow-back of cash somewhere along the line....

 

I have no doubt that the politicians will benefit from that in some way further down the line. As I've said before they don't have the best interest in the nation they're supposed to serve, being a politician is just a way of feathering their own nests.

 

Of course they will!
I always think it's funny when a politician wins an election and it shows them all happy and excited.
This shows how self-centered they are and where their interests are.

Because if they actually cared about doing a good job, helping the citizens, ect ect they would probably look stressed as all hell!
That's how I would feel If i inherited rule of a country racked with debt and problems with difficult solutions.