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National Enterprise Board
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National Enterprise Board
The National Enterprise Board (NEB) was a United Kingdom government body. It was set up in 1975 by the Labour government of Harold Wilson, to support the government's interventionist approach to industry. In 1981 the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher, combined the NEB with the National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) to form the British Technology Group.
The NEB was the brainchild of the economist Stuart Holland and the Shadow Secretary of State for Industry Tony Benn in the early-1970s. It was modelled on, and hoped to replicate the success of the Italian Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale (IRI), a public holding company, which was seen as having been a major component of the Italian economic miracle after World War II. In Holland's view, nationalisation had gained a bad name in Britain because only run down or declining industries had been nationalised, so public ownership became associated with failure; the IRI on the other hand was a public body which controlled thriving sectors of the Italian economy, an example which Holland wanted to replicate. In its original conception, the NEB was intended to extend public control and ownership of the economy, by taking a stake in the UK's twenty-five leading manufacturing firms, which would then be required to make planning agreements to meet economic targets. This was given impetus by a growing desire amongst Labour's left-wing to fulfil the promise contained in Clause IV of the Party's constitution, for social ownership of the economy.
Although the leadership of the Labour Party did not fully accept these proposals, they appeared in the Labour Party's manifesto for the February 1974 general election and the October 1974 election.
The Labour Party manifesto for the October 1974 general election stated:
We shall set up a National Enterprise Board to administer publicly-owned share-holdings: to extend public ownership into profitable manufacturing industry by acquisitions, partly or wholly, of individual firms; to stimulate investment; to create employment in areas of high unemployment; to encourage industrial democracy; to promote industrial efficiency; to increase exports and reduce our dependence on imports; to combat private monopoly; and to prevent British industries from passing into unacceptable foreign control.
A new and urgent Industry Act will provide for a system of Planning Agreements between the Government and key companies to ensure that the plans of those companies are in harmony with national needs and objectives and that Government financial assistance is deployed where it will be most effectively used. Wherever we give direct aid to a company out of public funds we shall reserve the right to take a proportionate share of the ownership of the company; and wherever possible this public support will be channelled through the Planning Agreements System.
The plans were outlined in the 1974 White Paper The Regeneration of British Industry and the Industry Act 1975 enacted these measures, establishing the NEB.
Its primary role was that of holding a substantial level of equity in major manufacturing companies. In its final form the NEB was watered down from its original proposals, with planning agreements being made voluntary instead of compulsory. It took equity in various companies including British Leyland, Rolls-Royce, Alfred Herbert, Sinclair Radionics, International Computers Limited (ICL) and Ferranti.
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National Enterprise Board
The National Enterprise Board (NEB) was a United Kingdom government body. It was set up in 1975 by the Labour government of Harold Wilson, to support the government's interventionist approach to industry. In 1981 the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher, combined the NEB with the National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) to form the British Technology Group.
The NEB was the brainchild of the economist Stuart Holland and the Shadow Secretary of State for Industry Tony Benn in the early-1970s. It was modelled on, and hoped to replicate the success of the Italian Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale (IRI), a public holding company, which was seen as having been a major component of the Italian economic miracle after World War II. In Holland's view, nationalisation had gained a bad name in Britain because only run down or declining industries had been nationalised, so public ownership became associated with failure; the IRI on the other hand was a public body which controlled thriving sectors of the Italian economy, an example which Holland wanted to replicate. In its original conception, the NEB was intended to extend public control and ownership of the economy, by taking a stake in the UK's twenty-five leading manufacturing firms, which would then be required to make planning agreements to meet economic targets. This was given impetus by a growing desire amongst Labour's left-wing to fulfil the promise contained in Clause IV of the Party's constitution, for social ownership of the economy.
Although the leadership of the Labour Party did not fully accept these proposals, they appeared in the Labour Party's manifesto for the February 1974 general election and the October 1974 election.
The Labour Party manifesto for the October 1974 general election stated:
We shall set up a National Enterprise Board to administer publicly-owned share-holdings: to extend public ownership into profitable manufacturing industry by acquisitions, partly or wholly, of individual firms; to stimulate investment; to create employment in areas of high unemployment; to encourage industrial democracy; to promote industrial efficiency; to increase exports and reduce our dependence on imports; to combat private monopoly; and to prevent British industries from passing into unacceptable foreign control.
A new and urgent Industry Act will provide for a system of Planning Agreements between the Government and key companies to ensure that the plans of those companies are in harmony with national needs and objectives and that Government financial assistance is deployed where it will be most effectively used. Wherever we give direct aid to a company out of public funds we shall reserve the right to take a proportionate share of the ownership of the company; and wherever possible this public support will be channelled through the Planning Agreements System.
The plans were outlined in the 1974 White Paper The Regeneration of British Industry and the Industry Act 1975 enacted these measures, establishing the NEB.
Its primary role was that of holding a substantial level of equity in major manufacturing companies. In its final form the NEB was watered down from its original proposals, with planning agreements being made voluntary instead of compulsory. It took equity in various companies including British Leyland, Rolls-Royce, Alfred Herbert, Sinclair Radionics, International Computers Limited (ICL) and Ferranti.