英國政府不應拘泥於意識形態教條

The decision by Tata’s board to sell off its British steel business is a nightmare for the UK government. The Conservatives are ideologically hostile to industrial intervention, as the business secretary Sajid Javid has made clear. The priority that George Osborne, the chancellor, accords to deficit reduction places severe constraints on spending. Yet the likelihood is that without substantial intervention and spending, basic steelmaking will disappear from the UK.

對英國政府來說，塔塔(Tata)董事會出售旗下英國鋼鐵業務的決定是個噩夢。就如商業大臣薩吉德•賈偉德(Sajid Javid)已經清楚表明的，保守黨在意識形態上反對行業干預。財相喬治•奧斯本(George Osborne)將削減赤字作爲優先事項，這使支出嚴重受限。然而如果沒有實質性的干預和支出，基礎鋼鐵製造可能會從英國消失。

The steel crisis has two interacting causes. There is a long-term problem of competitiveness. British steelmaking operates in old industrial sites, and although Tata invested in a major new blast furnace at Port Talbot , its UK operations are not as productive as, for example, its Dutch plant, let alone the competitor operations in the Far East. British unions have been co-operative and the UK plants produce high quality steel, but that has not been enough to cancel out the effects of neglected investment by state and private owners.

英國鋼鐵危機有兩個相互作用的原因。競爭力不足是一個長期問題。英國的鋼鐵製造業都位於老工業基地，儘管塔塔在塔爾伯特港(Port Talbot)投資了一個大型新高爐，但其在英國的鋼鐵業務不如其他地方，比如其荷蘭鋼鐵廠生產率高，更不必說塔塔在遠東地區的競爭對手的鋼鐵廠。英國的工會一直很合作，英國的鋼鐵廠生產的鋼鐵質量很高，但這些還不足以抵消政府和私營業主忽視對該行業進行投資的影響。

To add to the competitiveness problem, governments have allowed relatively high energy costs to accumulate. In the coalition government, I worked with Conservative ministers to obtain state aid approval for compensation payments to energy-intensive industries. The process was time-consuming, but we secured agreement and payments are now being made.

使競爭力問題雪上加霜的是，政府沒有阻止相對高昂的能源成本逐漸增加。在聯合政府中，我曾與保守黨的部長們一起努力，力爭獲得歐盟(EU)批准，發放國家補貼，向能源密集型行業支付補償金。這個過程非常耗時，但我們獲得了同意，現在支付已經開始。

The steel industry also suffered from Britain’s relatively open economy and an industrial culture that disdains long-term relationships. The industrial strategy adopted by the coalition was beginning to have an impact, but I now sense a lack of commitment.

鋼鐵業也因爲英國相對開放的經濟和輕視長期關係的行業文化而受到困擾。英國上一屆聯合政府採用的行業策略已經開始產生效果，但我現在感覺還欠缺決心。

These long-term structural factors were significant, but were being addressed. The new factor has been the global glut of steel caused by the slowdown in the Chinese economy and China’s switch away from investment to consumption. The collapse in steel prices has made profitable plants marginal and marginal plants unviable. The first casualty last year was the SSI plant in Redcar. Over the past 12 months, the losses have piled up at Tata Steel, too.

這些長期結構性問題非常突出，但已經在應對中。新問題是中國經濟放緩以及中國從依賴投資向依賴消費轉型所導致的全球鋼鐵過剩。鋼價暴跌讓原本有利潤的鋼廠只能勉強過活，讓原本勉強過活的鋼廠無法繼續經營。去年第一個倒下的是泰國偉成發鋼鐵工業(SSI)在英格蘭雷德卡(Redcar)的工廠。過去12個月中，塔塔鋼鐵的虧損也逐漸升高。

This global problem is often described as “dumping” by China. The Chinese steel industry is certainly selling many products at marginal cost and the opaque accounting of its semi-nationalised companies means that losses can be hidden and carried in a way that is not the case for western (or, in this case, Indian) groups. The US has taken aggressive anti-dumping action with very high tariffs and the EU has adopted more modest levies. One mystery is why the British government opposed US-style action in the case of Tata.

這個全球性問題常常被說成是中國“傾銷”。中國的鋼鐵行業確實以邊際成本賣出了很多產品，其半國有化企業不透明的賬目也意味着，虧損可能以一種不同於西方企業（或是本例中的印度企業）的方式被隱藏和承擔。美國採取了較爲激進的反傾銷舉措，實施極高的關稅，而歐盟的徵稅則更加溫和。令人費解的一個問題是，英國政府爲何反對在塔塔的問題上採用美國式舉措。

The decision to sell by Tata Steel is a desperate throw. A year ago it had adopted a strategy of consolidating its basic steel production in Port Talbot and selling the less profitable long products business. There was not much interest then, other than from asset-strippers and subsidy-hunters. The position now is worse.

賣出塔塔鋼鐵(Tata Steel)的決定是絕望之下的無奈之舉。一年前，塔塔採用了整合其在塔爾伯特港(Port Talbot)的基本鋼產能、賣出利潤較低的長材業務的策略。當時除了資產倒賣者和補貼尋求者，有興趣的買家不多。現在形勢就更糟了。

What can be done? Tata has other assets in the UK, notably Jaguar Land Rover, and will not want to spoil its reputation as a responsible long-term investor. So it will almost certainly manage its sale carefully, and the government has a crucial role in easing this process. It is possible that a temporary period of public ownership may be necessary as part of the transition, and ideological dogma must not get in the way.

能做什麼？塔塔在英國還有其他資產，尤其是捷豹路虎(Jaguar Land Rover)。塔塔大概不會想要損害其作爲負責任的長期投資者的聲譽。因此塔塔幾乎必定會謹慎處理出售塔塔鋼鐵英國公司的事宜，在保證這一過程的平穩進行方面，政府可以扮演關鍵性的角色。在過渡過程中，可能有必要暫時將其收歸國有，意識形態教條不應成爲阻礙。

Whether or not a buyer can be found, the crisis is going to prove expensive for the Treasury. Closure, if it happened, would not only be painful, but would come with a hefty price tag for retraining and community support. The Treasury should perhaps reflect that its foot-dragging over compensation payments and refusal to contemplate business rate reform for industry may eventually cost the taxpayer far more — another penny-wise, pound-foolish feature of the chancellor’s deficit-reduction plan.

不管能否找到買家，事實都將證明這場危機對英國財政部而言代價高昂。該廠關閉（如果這種情況發生的話）不僅將造成痛苦局面，在再培訓和社區支持方面還將帶來高昂的成本。英國財政部或許應該反思，拖延補償支付和拒絕考慮行業營業稅改革的做法，可能最終會讓納稅人付出更高的代價——這是財相的赤字削減計劃又一個因小失大的地方。