Peugeot Closing Plant At Ryton

Workers shouldn’t find out they have been sacked through the media, end of. But what bothers me about cases like Ryton is that local Labour MPs start clamouring for mass retraining packages, “just as we did for Rover,” as Mike O’Brien (Labour, North Warwickshire) has said.

Britain needs a far better retraining/reskilling system, 52 weeks a year, not just when a Ryton or a Longbridge happens.

Take Denmark:

- an unemployment rate of 5%
- for the first four years after being fired, your unemployment benefit can be as high as 90% of your current wage, plus extra training
- however, you risk losing your benefit if you refuse a job within two hours' travel from home … and on the first day after you are fired, you have to register with an employment office

How does Denmark do it? Income taxes as high as 60%.

It works so well that “when the centre-right government tried to cut unemployment benefits for highly skilled workers, it was employers who protested that the plan would upset the social balance that keeps Denmark competitive. So it was quietly shelved.”

Britain has emphasised flexibility and a lower-wage economy … at the expense of security for workers. That’s what leads to Rytons and Longbridges.

Oh, and the number of Danes employed, both directly and indirectly, in wind turbine manufacture increased from 2 900 in 1991 to 21 000 by 2002.

Coventry was the leader in watch making, in bicycle making, then in car manufacture. Why haven’t we become part of the next manufacturing revolution?