Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May reiterated at the Conservative Party conference at the beginning of this month—among much else—her determination to go after big business when it misbehaves. A determination that was signaled with a series of corporate governance reforms set out in the opening speech of her campaign to become party leader. There is little doubt from the phraseology of her speech that she was referring to some specific scandals that have unfurled over the last few years: Sports Direct, the Panama Papers, Google/Starbucks/Amazon’s tax evasion, the growing gap between rich and poor. Yet, there are other, more radical proposals beyond making companies behave. In fact, much of the speech sounded like something you might expect to hear from a Labour Party leader, except for the constant lacing of jingoism.
Her first compliance and governance references came as she applauded the “spirit of citizenship.” “That spirit that means you respect the bonds and obligations that make our society work. That means a commitment to the men and women who live around you, who work for you, who buy the goods and services you sell. That spirit that means recognising the social contract that says you train up local young people before you take on cheap labour from overseas.” Yes, Sports Direct is the most flagrant example of hiring foreign workers at less than the minimum wage, yet the practice is widespread, extraordinarily, given the amount of regulations in place to prevent such practices. While it is a laudable aim, she offered little practical plans to implement such an aim. Simply enforcing current regulations—which will take considerable investment—would be enough, but she would need to commit to such investment. Sports Direct got away with its practices because there were not enough inspectors to detect them.
