Britain’s Labour party has promised to make it more difficult for Indian and other foreign companies to take over British firms by requiring two-thirds of shareholders at the target company to approve a change of ownership, up from the current 50.1 per cent. Releasing the manifesto, Prime Minister Gordon Brown promised a ‘national renewal’, and insisted that Labour was in ‘the future business’.
The party’s manifesto, however, came in for considerable criticism for being bereft of any new ideas, except the one making takeovers by foreign companies difficult. In recent years, several Indian companies such as Tata and United Breweries have taken over major British companies.
However, the recent takeover of Cadbury’s by American chocolate major Kraft has attracted much concern and criticism within Britain.
