Bill Gleeson: Committees with no teeth and little power

Dec 12 2007 by Bill Gleeson, Liverpool Daily Post

I HAVE long suspected that Parliamentary select committees are toothless talking shops.

They spend hours giving often very busy people a terrible grilling only to end up writing a report that nobody reads. Their conclusions seldom make their way into legislation or government policy.

But the current business, enterprise and regulatory reform select committee’s inquiry into Ford’s sale of Jaguar and Land Rover is particularly pointless for two reasons.

Ford isn’t going to take any notice of the select committee’s findings, not because the car maker is disrespectful or doesn’t value the insights of the expert witnesses, but because it can only do one thing: take the best price.

The select committee, like the unions, may feel that the interests of Halewood’s workers, and those at other British factories, are best served by a sale to an established manufacturer such as Tata or Mahindra & Mahindra, but, if the US private equity house that is also in the running offers more money, it will win the day.

The futility of this inquiry is compounded by the fact that the committee won’t publish its report until long after the sale has been completed. It won’t even hear evidence from Ford until after the sale in order to protect the car group’s commercial position. How toothless is that?

When the MPs eventually get around to publishing their findings, Ford will have banked the sale proceeds and the workers will know their fate.

WHEN the flats in the huge converted warehouse at Waterloo dock were first put on the market, they had an asking price in the region of £80,000. That was a little more than 15 years ago at the height of the-then property boom.

The problem was that the optimists who bought at that time quickly found that the market had turned against them. Some of the Waterloo flats fell in value to around the £40,000 mark.

Nearly two decades on, the evidence suggests that urban flat values have also halved in this latest property market downturn. A flat in the Beetham Tower, on Old Hall Street, has sold for less than half the price it fetched two years ago.

There are clearly far too many flats in the market place for the number of buyers prepared to take a punt.

As with Waterloo, the prices are likely to rise again in the longer term. So those who can afford to do so would be well advised to sit on their hands for the time being. For those who can’t, there’s an important lesson to be learned about ignoring the sales hype that usually accompanies the marketing of new developments.

EVER heard of Tayto crisps? I am reliably told that they are Northern Ireland’s best-selling crisp snack.

But do you know where to find them in Liverpool?

The answer is Home Bargains, the discount chain that specialises in cheap perfumes, shampoos and other household items.

The mystery is that the crisps retail at Home Bargains for 15p a packet, when back in Northern Ireland they typically sell for 35p. Clearly, there is some business acumen there.

However they do it, the fact is Home Bargains is a big success story which has seen steady growth over its 30-year life.

If its current growth plans come off, it will reach a size and presence on the high street currently enjoyed by the likes of Matalan and Iceland.

It is therefore great news that this business has decided to locate all of its warehouse and head office facilities in Liverpool.

It is a fine example of a successful local enterprise and badly- needed investment in the Gillmoss area.