banjodeano Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 Has Mr Clegg done a u turn.? it looks like it to me..i think he is trying to buy some friends in Sheffield :suspect: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5gmYOLoxxVz1ha889GjqU38jhGKJw?docId=N0371361320058859136A Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeadingNorth Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 He hasn't done a U turn, unless he goes back in time and approves the original £80 millon loan, has he? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGuy Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 I see this as positive; sure it could be more, a lot more, but its better than nothing given the financial circumstances. When one day the country is back on its feet, Labour and the Conservatives need to ditch the class warfare mentality and work together to build Sheffield up to being an industrial powerhouse again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sccsux Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 He hasn't done a U turn, unless he goes back in time and approves the original £80 millon loan, has he? From loan -> cancelled load -> granted loan is pretty much a political U-turn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L00b Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 Firstly, it seems a bit daft to call a decision to grant a (whether £80m or £36m, fairly small) loan to a company or not, a policy. A 'policy' is e.g. whether to loan to private industry or not, and/or which type of industry to loan to (manufacturing, heavy industry, biotech, services, etc.) and/or why (job creation, export and/or expertise development, etc.). Unless I am mistaken, and feel free to object. Mr Clegg said the original £80m had been for a specialist forge to make parts for the civil nuclear industry, adding that Forgemasters' management had told him their priorities in this area had changed in the wake of the Japanese nuclear disaster and decisions taken in Europe in its wake.In hindsight, looks like it was a smart move not to grant the £80m loan in the first place, irrespective of the original reasons (no money in the pot). At the end of the day, only idiots never change their minds, and I have yet to see or hear of a politician brave enough to go back on a decision (after a fashion, since this new loan is unconnected to the refused one) in the manner Mr Clegg appears to be going. Especially considering his current approval ratings. More kudos to him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emma royd Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 Has Mr Clegg done a u turn.? it looks like it to me..i think he is trying to buy some friends in Sheffield :suspect: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5gmYOLoxxVz1ha889GjqU38jhGKJw?docId=N0371361320058859136A Do you really think that Clegg as a pretty junior partner in a coalition government has influence over such matters? If he does it would be very good news indeed for our region. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wednesday1 Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 Firstly, it seems a bit idiotic to call a decision to grant a (whether £80m or £36m, fairly small) loan to a company a 'policy'. A 'policy' is e.g. whether to loan to private industry or not, and/or which type of industry to loan to (manufacturing, heavy industry, biotech, services, etc.) and/or why (job creation, export and/or expertise development, etc.). Unless I am istaken, and feel free to object. Sounds like it was a smart move not to grant the £80m loan in the first place, irrespective of the original reasons (no money in the pot). At the end of the day, only idiots never change their minds, and I have yet to see or hear of a politician brave enough to go back on a decision in the manner Mr Clegg appears to be going. Especially considering his current approval ratings. More kudos to him. But this is a double u-turn! having originally said that he supported the loan leading upto the election, once 'in power' he and the Cons refused the loan (in fact it was the LibDems who had the casting vote on the loan). Now 18 months on and facing a collapsing economy and electoral oblivion they have now decided to grant the loan. Remember as well, during the original fiasco he had to apologise to Dr Graham Honeyman and was accused of mis-leading Parliament after he said : "Do I think it is the role of government to help out owners of companies who do not want to dilute their shareholdings? No, I do not." thus indicating Dr Honeyman had not sought private funding because it would have resulted in the dilution of the boards' shareholdings, when this was not the case as private funding had been originally sort. As for kudos he looks weaker and sicklier by the day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L00b Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 having originally said that he supported the loan leading upto the election, once 'in power' he and the Cons refused the loanThe reasons have been explained. It's your prerogative to refuse to accept them. I'm happy enough with them, particularly since hindsight is vindicating the Gvt's original decision quite nicely, looks like a win for the taxpayers from where I'm standing. Now 18 months on and facing a collapsing economy and electoral oblivion they have now decided to grant the loan.This new loan is for a different purpose, no doubt there will be -accordingly- different Gvt strings attached to it. Particularly in terms of how many new jobs created (since at least part of the new loan is specifically for apprenticeships). Are you now objecting to the Gvt helping fund new job opportunities in Sheffield? Is it because they is LibCons? Remember as well, during the original fiasco he had to apologise to Dr Graham Honeyman and was accused of mis-leading Parliament after he said : "Do I think it is the role of government to help out owners of companies who do not want to dilute their shareholdings? No, I do not." thus indicating Dr Honeyman had not sought private funding because it would have resulted in the dilution of the boards' shareholdings, when this was not the case as private funding had been originally sort.This conversation has been had on here. Why did Forgemasters not go for private funding after the Gvt refused the loan? Could it be that, since the "free" money (or money with less strings attached, at any rate) was not forthcoming, the business development case fell on its @rse? Some investment opportunity that would have been for the Gvt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Confudler Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 Saw on the news last night that the government have decided that Forgemasters deserve a nice big grant. Felt a bit strange seeing as not so long ago they cancelled a significant loan to the same company. Clearly FM can't impartially comment on this, but it seems like particularly poor decision-making on the government's part. I think the grant value is about 1/2 that of the cancelled loan (with a load of guff about it bringing 6* the value in private finance). Anyone care to speculate as to whether this is a better or worse deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alchresearch Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 The money has come from two different sources. The original £80million promised by Labour wasn't there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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