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October 2010 | Paul Snell
Lord Sugar has criticised big business and the government for failing to
purchase British products and support UK companies.
In a series of posts on Twitteryesterday the peer laid into a perceived lack of support for British suppliers. He said
Britain did not have a “culture” of support and that “most people in UK don’t
think about buying/supporting British [companies]”.
He argued if large companies and the government awarded contracts to British
vendors it would support economic growth. “It's simple if big [companies] and
UK [government] buy UK IT equipment then [companies] like Viglen [Sugar’s own computer
manufacturer] will employ more people,” he posted. “I wish some of these brain
surgeon economist[s] would explain to me the virtues of anti protectionism.”
He said when he raised the issue in the House of Lords “the matter… fell on
deaf ears”.
He was particularly critical of government purchasing policy, claiming
government offices are “littered” with IT equipment provided by foreign-owned
firms. “No one cares that’s [the] problem, no one instils buying or supporting
UK [companies] in Whitehall, buyers bombarded by cocktail parties.”
Returning to the topic this morning when the messages were picked up by the
media, he repeated his views. “The Telegraph has picked up my buy British
campaign today, key decision makers in [government]/big orgs should do same and
get the UK backing UK again”.
