Britain Is Pricing Its Factories Into Oblivion

The Take

Jordan Calloway · Government Secrets & FOIA

# THE TAKE: Britain's "Deindustrialization" Myth Needs Better Villains Ted Newson's lament about British manufacturing pricing itself "into oblivion" is nostalgia dressed as analysis. Yes, Sheffield's steel dominance evaporated. But blame the *right* culprits: Thatcher's deliberate 1980s union-crushing, not current energy costs. Here's what Newson conveniently sidesteps—British manufacturers chose financialization over reinvestment for *forty years*. Rolls-Royce offshored jet engine work. Port Talbot steel mills were bled dry by private equity (Tata, 2007 onward), not wage pressure. Energy? German factories face identical North Sea gas prices. They adapted. Britain's manufacturing class surrendered to real-estate speculation instead. The "pricing out" narrative lets responsible parties—decades of underinvestment CEOs, bank-friendly governments—off the hook. Manufacturing didn't die. It was abandoned by people who found finance easier.

What the Documents Show

The disparity stems from policy choices made in Westminster, not market forces. Since 2013, Britain has maintained a carbon price floor—a nationwide tax on emissions—while the United States, Britain's primary industrial competitor, has no equivalent mechanism. This creates a structural disadvantage that policy architects either ignored or accepted as collateral damage. The story the mainstream press downplays is that these soaring costs were supposed to trigger cheaper renewable energy. Britain's industrial sector was sold a promise: embrace green policies, and lower electricity bills through renewables would follow.

Follow the Money

Instead, offshore wind projects forecast by the Climate Change Committee to deliver electricity at £35 per megawatt-hour by 2040 appear increasingly unrealistic. More critically, the report identifies a fatal flaw in the renewable strategy itself: intermittent wind and solar power creates the opposite of stability. When droughts in wind and solar output occur—and they do regularly—firms lack domestic backup generation. Energy-intensive industries then face catastrophic price spikes precisely when they need power most, unable to plan or compete on predictable cost structures. This wasn't always Britain's condition. A decade ago, electricity prices hovered around £31/MWh.

What Else We Know

Even by 1990, manufacturing accounted for one-sixth of GDP and Britain ranked in the global top five for industrial power. Sheffield's steel, Manchester's textiles, West Midlands automotive, Glasgow's shipbuilding—these weren't quaint relics but world-class competitive sectors. They thrived under looser employment regulations and energy security underwritten by North Sea oil and gas reserves. Workers in these communities enjoyed steady skilled employment and wealth distribution beyond London's financial center. The broader implication extends beyond factory closures or relocated production lines. Britain's policy architects have created a scenario where ordinary people face the worst of both worlds: higher energy bills subsidizing green infrastructure that fails to deliver promised savings, while manufacturing jobs migrate to jurisdictions with cheaper power and looser environmental requirements.

Primary Sources

• Source: ZeroHedge
• Category: Government Secrets
• Cross-reference independently — don't take our word for it.

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