Crack down on fat cats – or face disaster

THERESA MAY’S bold call for big business to behave better, which we publish today, is very welcome.

As we show in our investigation of the disgraced Provident Financial boss Peter Crook, the unacceptable face of capitalism is still very much in evidence. Not only has he piled up a vast fortune through years of selling painfully high-interest loans to the needy, he has mismanaged his company, which now faces investigation for mis-selling insurance policies.

If this sort of behaviour is not reined in by a Conservative Government, there is a danger that Jeremy Corbyn’s ultra-Leftist Labour Party will use it as the pretext for a general attack on free enterprise.

That would be a disaster for the country. As Mrs May argues, successful business underpins the welfare state, the heath service and our pensions.

Countries which crush business with state controls very quickly become poor, and can no longer sustain the sort of public services they desire.

So the Prime Minister’s suggestion of ‘a bigger say and a louder voice’ for shareholders and employees is reasonable and timely. So is the implied warning to wouldbe fat cats. Mrs May will face attacks from some in her party. But her critics should beware. If you appear to be heedless about the misdeeds of capitalism, you give ammunition to those whose ideal is at worst Venezuela, or at best the sclerotic, job- destroying over- regulation which France is now trying so hard to escape.

The best way to keep enterprise free is to ensure that the best practices are encouraged, while the worst are discouraged.