In response to today's news that Vuaxhall is to be sold by GM to Canadian firm Magna, the Trade Unions have been quick to express concern for the future of jobs in Britain's car manufacturing industry. Unite, for example, released a statement saying
"The uncertainty surrounding the ownership of Vauxhall is now over, but the uncertainty surrounding the long-term future of Britain's plants will continue."
That's all fair enough - and of course we should always be thinking of ways to set policies that promote job creation and encourage enterprise. But it is a remarkable piece of hypocrisy for the Unions to talk about the importance of protecting the car manufacturing industry when they have been actively promoting policies that are doing it immense harm.
In their enthusiasm for "green" taxation, the trade union movement has consistently supporter higher and higher fuel duty, and punitive levels of Vehicle Excise Duty. The former is a tax intended to deter people from using their cars, and the latter is intended to put people off buying a car in the first place.
More broadly, the host of green policies and taxes on energy that the Trade Unions have also been pushing through Westminster and Brussels now make up 21% of the average business's energy bills. In an energy intensive industry like manufacturing motor vehicles, that extra burden is hugely damaging.
So, while the Trade Unions shoot out press releases aimed at their members calling for jobs to be protected, their actions are in fact destroying those very same jobs.
