Extract from second reading debate (Lords) of the National Security and Investment Bill - Feb 4
Friday, 5 February 2021 08:37
Lord Truscott (Ind Lab) [V]:...Our previous attempts to intervene
on grounds of national security have been woefully inadequate,
dating back most recently to the Enterprise Act 2002 and the
limited role of the Competition and Markets Authority. Forget about
hostile state actors, for a moment. Under this legislation, we lost
defence giant GKN and satellite firm Inmarsat. We face losing
British chip giant Arm in a £30 billion takeover and a buyout of
security firm G4S, which is a government...Request free trial
(Ind Lab) [V]:...Our previous attempts to intervene on
grounds of national security have been woefully inadequate, dating
back most recently to the Enterprise Act 2002 and the limited role
of the Competition and Markets Authority. Forget about hostile
state actors, for a moment. Under this legislation, we lost defence
giant GKN and satellite firm Inmarsat. We
face losing British chip giant Arm in a £30 billion takeover and a
buyout of security firm G4S, which is a government contractor at
prisons and nuclear power stations. Another UK defence giant,
Cobham, was sold in January 2020 to US equity firm Advent, despite
security concerns. As noble Lords know, Cobham is a world leader in
air-to-air refuelling. Lady Nadine Cobham, daughter-in-law of the
firm’s founder, rightly said that such a sale would never have been
allowed by the US, France or Japan...
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