Letter: Held back by the stakeholders

Mr Randhir Singh Bains
Sunday 21 January 1996 19:02 EST
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From Mr Randhir Singh Bains

Sir: Tony Blair's new doctrine of a "stakeholding" economy is a revolutionary idea.

However, in order to function effectively, the "stakeholding" economy, as the East Asian experience has shown, needs to be driven not by the state but by a responsive value-system: a system that places group interests above individual freedom and rights.

Unfortunately, Britain has no such group-oriented value system currently at its disposal. With the atomisation of society in Britain, individualism has taken precedence over communitarianism, thereby adversely affecting the credibility of all social institutions. The undermining of social institutions has consequently increased the role of the state in social and other welfares. It is, therefore, difficult to see how such a highly individualised society can possibly act as a driving force behind MrBlair's "stakeholding" economy.

There is undoubtedly a need to evolve an economic system that involves all people, not just a privileged few. But in the absence of an appropriate value system, the "stakeholding" economic model is likely to impede rather than promote economic growth in this country.

Yours faithfully,

Randhir Singh Bains

Gants Hill,

Essex

21 January

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