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    Not buying things to be criminal offence

    Government to ban publicly-funded bodies from making ethical purchasing decisions.

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/israel-boycott-local-councils-public-bodies-and-student-unions-to-be-banned-from-shunning-israeli-a6874006.html

    Local councils, public bodies and even some university student unions are to be banned by law from boycotting “unethical” companies, as part of a controversial crackdown being announced by the Government.

    Under the plan all publicly funded institutions will lose the freedom to refuse to buy goods and services from companies involved in the arms trade, fossil fuels, tobacco products or Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
    Where to even start?

    #2
    Not buying things to be criminal offence

    I see Jackie Mason has declared that any film star who boycotts Israel should be blacklisted by the Hollywood movie industry.

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      #3
      Not buying things to be criminal offence

      Oy gevalt

      I'm struggling to see how the proposed rule could possibly be enforced.

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        #4
        Not buying things to be criminal offence

        Localism in action.

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          #5
          Not buying things to be criminal offence

          It's enforceable on the level of institutional policy IMO - i.e. that decisions to divest from the arms trade or Israel cannot be formally taken.

          (worth pointing out that Free-Speech-Loving France has imposed even more draconian laws - it's now illegal to even call for BDS. Je Suis Charlie indeed).

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            #6
            Not buying things to be criminal offence

            I think I might start boycotting French goods. Their lurch towards fascism* is fucking horrific, worse than ours.

            The proposed UK measures would have prevented any publicly funded organisation from boycotting apartheid South Africa.

            *Armed 'militias' and police repeatedly attacking refugees in Calais

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              #7
              Not buying things to be criminal offence

              And this to add to the creeping crimimalisation of opposition to apartheid and racist mass murder http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/anti-terror-police-question-schoolboy-for-wearing-pro-palestine-badge-a6873656.html

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                #8
                Not buying things to be criminal offence

                Still, it's not all good news for the far-right

                http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/tommy-robinson-ex-edl-leader-hospitalised-after-attack-outside-essex-nightclub-1543925

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                  #9
                  Not buying things to be criminal offence

                  I'm surprised this flexibility has existed before. Under EU law, all public contracts must be put out to tender and awarded according to a view of overall economic benefit. I wasn't aware "ethics" were allowed into decisions at the moment.

                  I sense an insidious drip into the minds of the left when it comes to the "in-out" vote. "You want ethics? Brussels says no".

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                    #10
                    Not buying things to be criminal offence

                    Bizarre Löw Triangle wrote: It's enforceable on the level of institutional policy IMO - i.e. that decisions to divest from the arms trade or Israel cannot be formally taken.
                    I get it that the whole point is for a body to make the decision formally and get publicity for it, but there's no way the government can stop a council actually divesting if they want to. They'll just saying they want a more balanced portfolio, less exposed to risk etc. How is anybody going to prove that wrong in court?

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                      #11
                      Not buying things to be criminal offence

                      Rogin the Armchair Fan wrote: I'm surprised this flexibility has existed before. Under EU law, all public contracts must be put out to tender and awarded according to a view of overall economic benefit. I wasn't aware "ethics" were allowed into decisions at the moment.

                      I sense an insidious drip into the minds of the left when it comes to the "in-out" vote. "You want ethics? Brussels says no".
                      It's not contracts. It's shareholdings.

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                        #12
                        Not buying things to be criminal offence

                        Anyway, Rogin seems like there's some leeway for social criteria to be included in evaluating bids, provided you make it clear at the outset.

                        Doesn't sound too unreasonable to me.

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                          #13
                          Not buying things to be criminal offence

                          Quite.

                          There is a world of difference between "overall economic benefit" and "lowest bidder".

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                            #14
                            Not buying things to be criminal offence

                            Ah, I see, so this is about where to invest their money, not where to award contracts. No, there's no current dictat about that (although coucillors would be held to account for bad investments, at the ballot box).

                            And yes, "economic benefit" is a much wider assessment than "lowest cost". Hence the distinction.

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                              #15
                              Not buying things to be criminal offence

                              To be fair, I have heard that EU procurement rules are a nuisance to the NHS, and know someone who is voting out on those grounds.

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                                #16
                                Not buying things to be criminal offence

                                Tubby Isaacs wrote: To be fair, I have heard that EU procurement rules are a nuisance to the NHS, and know someone who is voting out on those grounds.
                                I think they are a bit misinformed then. Course this depends where they are. My knowledge of NHS England's financial rules are very low.

                                Back to the OT, thanks for bringing that up BLT. It's very interesting. The next step will be to declare achieving fair trade status illegal or some such.

                                No coincidence most evil companies contribute to the Tory cause, of course. No coincidence at all.

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                                  #17
                                  Not buying things to be criminal offence

                                  He's usually excellent on the NHS. Think it might have been very specific about listing the NHS as a preferred bidder being prevented sometimes.

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                                    #18
                                    Not buying things to be criminal offence

                                    That's a weird one.

                                    The issue there is the break up of the NHS so that parts of the NHS have to bid for work. I can see how you would want to exclude the NHS as a preferred bidder for its own contracts - otherwise other bidders wouldn't get a look in. Although this really just shows what a nonsense the whole process is.

                                    My experience of this is that for some (non-clinical) services the bid from NHS depts is often very poor in comparison to bids from outside.

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                                      #19
                                      Not buying things to be criminal offence

                                      I suppose he'd reply that the cost of making decent bids is a nuisance.

                                      There are some very big estimates about for the cost of the internal market in the English NHS (Wales and Scotland abolished theirs). I wonder if they're accurate though, because surely the English NHS would be falling behind by now because of that alone.

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                                        #20
                                        Not buying things to be criminal offence

                                        When Cameron trumpets "we're spending more than a billion a year more on the NHS ...!" he never actually specifies what they're spending it ON, if you notice.

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                                          #21
                                          Not buying things to be criminal offence

                                          Yeah, it's funny how he likes saying that. I thought it was lefties who banged on about inputs all the time.

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                                            #22
                                            Not buying things to be criminal offence

                                            Similar announcement in October relating to pension funds:

                                            http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f1c2e5d8-9ab0-11e5-a5c1-ca5db4add713.html

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