British Airways lost ￡292111 ($465111) in the six months to the end of September and its pension fund has a ￡3.7 billion deficit. Its cabin crew responded by voting to strike over the Christmas period, alienating the millions of customers that payrntheir wages and fund those pensions. Similarly, London now risks losing its reputation as a hub of international finance, driving away mobile capital and taxpayers at a time when the government's deficit is above 10% of gdp. There will be no immediate exodus. But the impression that tax policy is now designed to maximise the number of Labour votes rather than the state's revenue should worry Britons as well as financiers.
展开▼
