Universal Great Britain

[Doug88]

Their is absolutely no chance a labour government will give tax breaks to big corporations. The whole Idea of labour is to increase taxes.

 

[Altonsky]

Shame they didn’t start this whole thing a year earlier. They’d have gotten more from the tories.

I get Labour want to get Britain building but I am slightly concerned that the tax breaks won’t be as pleasing for Comcast as they’d like them to be.

With the tories I wouldn’t have this concern but labours whole mantra is tax, tax, tax. Tax big business’s more, tax people who earn more even more. And a couple of their decision around project have been rather tight, penny wise pound foolish.

I’m hoping it works out but yeah, I don’t know how Labour are going to approach this. Their two mottos are really at odds when it comes to a project like this

 

[Doug88]

Shame they didn’t start this whole thing a year earlier. They’d have gotten more from the tories.

I get Labour want to get Britain building but I am slightly concerned that the tax breaks won’t be as pleasing for Comcast as they’d like them to be.

With the tories I wouldn’t have this concern but labours whole mantra is tax, tax, tax. Tax big business’s more, tax people who earn more even more. And a couple of their decision around project have been rather tight, penny wise pound foolish.

I’m hoping it works out but yeah, I don’t know how Labour are going to approach this. Their two mottos are really at odds when it comes to a project like this

I thought this would happen then when I read about some of labours policies I changed my mind. It looks like Comcast have the same view and are getting their excuses in early for not going ahead. I predict very soon we will hear they won't go ahead because they can't get incentives.

 

[Altonsky]

I thought this would happen then when I read about some of labours policies such as charging drivers per mile and fining car manufacturers who make petrol and diesel engines I changed my mind.

I’m not quite as pessimistic as you. I’m still confident it will go ahead.

But I also think they’d have gotten a better deal from the tories, they were quite decent with tax breaks, for example they put forward some of the best tax breaks for film production in the world and even improved upon that just a few short months ago. Unbeatable tax breaks!

Obviously these benefit Comcast/Universal/Sky and I’m sure was a factor in their decision making process to come here. I’m curious as to whether these are going to stay in place under a Labour government, or will they be improved on.

 

[Lost Meerkat]

There is nothing new in the FT article. It goes without saying that Comcast would be seeking tax breaks and support for some infrastructure improvements, and none of that should be a surprise to anyone, it is just what would be expected.

The important thing here is confirmation that negotiations are happening. Comcast may not get all they want, or they may get everything. After over two years of prepping, Comcast will have gone in high with their requests and will no doubt anticipate not getting all they want, just a typical negotiation.

I am pleased to know that things are happening and I think the Gov will be keen to make this happen, and present it as a great bit of PR

 

[Altonsky]

I agree with what you’re saying but Labour don’t exactly come across as pro business.

We’ll get a better feel during the next budget. If they start cutting tax breaks for the film production side of our economy and things like that, then we may as well all give up.

And some of their recent decisions are very penny wise pound foolish.

The tories (and I’ve never voted for them) were more pro business than Labour, Comcast as a company would have gotten more out of the tories than they would/will labour.

I hope it happens. I have faith it will but I don’t have any 100% faith in a central Labour administration, before I was convinced. Since they’ve been elected, not so much.

 

[Jake S]

I’m sorry, this is the same Labour government that is continuing with vast austerity politics, right? My opinion on their governance aside, I think y’all are getting way to antsy about how business friendly this government will be. I suspect, not unlike the tories, they’ll be more friendly to businesses than they will be to citizens.

 

[Altonsky]

I’m sorry, this is the same Labour government that is continuing with vast austerity politics, right? My opinion on their governance aside, I think y’all are getting way to antsy about how business friendly this government will be. I suspect, not unlike the tories, they’ll be more friendly to businesses than they will be to citizens.

I’d like to think so but them giving tax breaks to massive corporations goes against their message of taxing business’s to the Nth degree.

I’m hoping it happens. But I think the tories would have rolled over far more than Labour will.

They’ve already cut millions from modernising the armed forces, they’ve cut the winter fuel allowance for pensioners and they’re going to be going in on tax when it comes to high earners and business’s.

I don’t think it’s going to be an easy road. And I think the bosses at universal who are making these decisions were probably (as I would be) hoping they’d been in charge for a few months longer.

 

[Jake S]

They’ve already cut millions from modernising the armed forces, they’ve cut the winter fuel allowance for pensioners and they’re going to be going in on tax when it comes to high earners and business’s.

Aren't both of these things spending cuts? As in, something we generally associate with conservative governance? They may well slash corporate tax benefits and go after high earners (I think they should!) but this is not Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party. It's Keir Starmer's. And they've given every indication that they're going to project "centrist competence," which doesn't exactly scream "go after the rich and powerful" to me.

And, at any rate, all this worry is based on a feeling. We've seen no concrete information that negotiations have stalled or that they're going worse with the new government in place. Let's just see what happens over the coming months rather than fret about the vibes we're placing on the talks.

 

[Altonsky]

Aren't both of these things spending cuts? As in, something we generally associate with conservative governance? They may well slash corporate tax benefits and go after high earners (I think they should!) but this is not Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party. It's Keir Starmer's. And they've given every indication that they're going to project "centrist competence," which doesn't exactly scream "go after the rich and powerful" to me.

And, at any rate, all this worry is based on a feeling. We've seen no concrete information that negotiations have stalled or that they're going worse with the new government in place. Let's just see what happens over the coming months rather than fret about the vibes we're placing on the talks.

They are spending cuts but they’re penny wise pound foolish spending cuts which means it’ll cost us more int he long run.

Labour aren’t going to slash CT. The tories in the whole have been pro business (as far as Comcast is concerned) when it comes to film production tax breaks etc.

Let’s wait and see. But honestly I don’t feel as confident as I did.

 

[xtpower]

We're 6 weeks into their regime, let's give Labour a chance to actually interact with and negotiate with big businesses first before we start labelling them as 'anti business'.

My viewpoint is nothing has really changed, I expect Labour would just be a bit tougher on what they give up than the Tories would've been. I've no doubts Labour will still give up enough for Universal to go ahead with the project - the economical benefits are far too large for Labour to stop it dead because Universal want some tax breaks.

 

[Chessy]

It’s still in the middle of the game and these things take time. I wouldn’t be too concerned, as I’ve said before I wouldn’t even expect to hear anything official until next year.

 

[Doug88]

It’s still in the middle of the game and these things take time. I wouldn’t be too concerned, as I’ve said before I wouldn’t even expect to hear anything official until next year.

HS2 has been going on for about 20 years and still has not been built.

 

[Jake S]

HS2 has been going on for about 20 years and still has not been built.

1) no it hasn't
2) this has nothing to do with the universal project nor the current government
3) give it a rest, dude

 

[rob@rar]

The level of pearl-clutching and hand-wringing in this thread is escalating towards hysteria.

 

[Altonsky]

The level of pearl-clutching and hand-wringing in this thread is escalating towards hysteria.

There’s no pearl clutching, just pointing out it’ll be far more difficult to get what they want from Labour than it was the previous administration.

Love em or hate em the tories were quite good to media companies like Comcast.

I’m sure they’ll give up the goods but I think it’ll be more difficult, and that makes me slightly more pessimistic than I was a couple of months ago.

 

[tielo]

Could we have a political Britain forum so we can keep this focused on actual news about the (hopefully) coming theme park.

 

[Luke Hutchinson]

I don’t suppose it’ll offer up any additional information but the reporter who wrote the initial piece on Universal’s plans for the Bedford Independent will be on Radio 4 at 17:40

 

[rob@rar]

No new info in the R4 piece, the story in yesterday’s FT was all part of the negotiation process I suppose. What I do think we can conclude is that the change of government is a relevant factor, they don’t just sign-off the work done by civil servants. Given that a change in government was always going to happen at some point this year, I guess that Universal had factored this in to their thinking, so this part of the process of getting agreement with a new set of Ministers won’t be a surprise to them.

 

[Mike2024]

But I also think they’d have gotten a better deal from the tories, they were quite decent with tax breaks, for example they put forward some of the best tax breaks for film production in the world and even improved upon that just a few short months ago. Unbeatable tax breaks!

I believe those tax breaks originally started under the previous Labour gov, after the Potter films, made in Britain, were making lots of money, and the Tories first chancellor (Osbourne) since they won in 2010, liked the idea so much he expanded it. I could be wrong though. I'm basing it on what I remember from nearly two decades ago.