Recent Government warnings about the dangers of foreign ownership of British companies are just another Labour Party election con, the Solidarity trade union has warned.

“Recent statements by Government Ministers that foreign ownership of British firms might not be in our best interests would be welcome if sincerely meant,” said Solidarity General Secretary Patrick Harrington.

Earlier, “Lord” Mandelson stated that the country needed to be “mindful” of the long-term effects of foreign ownership and that foreign ownership could “disadvantage the location” of UK manufacturing plants.

His comments followed City Minister Paul Myners’ complaint that too many British companies were falling into foreign hands because their shares are owned by international funds with little concern for their domestic heritage. Mr Myners told a newspaper that it is “easier to take over a company here than anywhere else in the world.”

Mr Harrington sounded a word of caution on the comments, saying that if the “Government were to about-turn on its policies and actually follow Gordon Brown’s ‘British jobs for British workers’ rhetoric by protecting British industry from foreign takeover, we would be the first to applaud.

“Unfortunately the Government got us into this predicament in the first place by encouraging foreign ownership. As the credit crunch bites (another by-product of Government deregulation) these owners are cutting costs by moving their capital to cheaper wage economies and Britain is now the most vulnerable country in Europe,” Mr Harrington said.

“We fear this is actually another NuLabour spin in the run-up to the General Election in a desperate attempt to get the British workers’ vote by blaming foreign owners for job losses.

“In reality, it is Labour Party policy which has caused the collapsed economy, and nothing else,” Mr Harrington concluded.

* In recent times many household named companies have been sold to foreign owners including BAA — owner of Heathrow airport — ICI, Pilkington, BOC, Marconi, Abbey National, Alliance & Leicester and British Energy.

Visit the Solidarity trade union website by clicking here.