The All-Party Parliamentary Corporate Responsibility Group (APCRG) last week announced the companies shortlisted for its 2016 National Responsible Business Champion award. And Jim Fitzpatrick, Labour MP for Poplar & Limehouse, was delighted that his nomination – of the Canary Wharf Group (CWG) plc – had made it on to the shortlist.
The shortlisting team thanked Jim for drawing their attention to the “deep social investment made in the local community” by Canary Wharf Group plc, highlighting its work to help students with the transition from education to employment, its work to create local supply chains and its support for local charities and community organisations.
According to its own material, CWG’s involvement in the community (its corporate responsibility work) falls into three strands.
•It “develops economies” – CWG points out that local people might end up working in the offices in Canary Wharf, or in some of the businesses that supply them. (It doesn’t mention that local people might have worked for those businesses before they moved to Canary Wharf – so its “responsible business” activity here seems to amount to reducing travel. Fair enough.) It also points out that it offers employment, training and skills development to local people. The borough did have a system of doing that sort of thing before Canary Wharf was built: the system was known as “school” and the “careers service”.
•It “builds communities and relationships” – this bit of “corporate responsibility” includes such activities as working with other businesses to promote the needs of business; setting up a multi-faith chaplaincy (probably not the most difficult task it has attempted); and sponsoring some local sports groups. Obviously, many groups benefit from the sponsorship – and are probably very grateful for it, given the decline in local authority funding since the government adopted an austerity approach (after the global economic crash caused by the activities of the financial sector, many of which work out of Canary Wharf). One relationship CWG does not build is with local protestors, who are not allowed to stage protests on CWG’s territory. Those moved swiftly on in the past include members of Unite who were campaigning for cleaners (mainly women workers) to be paid the living wage.
•It “protects the environment” – CWG points out that it aims to create buildings which enhance the space they occupy. Local residents might feel that council homes which they could rent would enhance the acres of Canary Wharf even more than the office blocks currently there – many of which are occupied by companies which contributed to the global economic crash of 2008. CWG has created its own Biodiversity Action Plan which integrates with the Borough’s Biodiversity Plan – as well it might, given that Canary Wharf is built on what used to be public land.
Many local people would assume that the Canary Wharf Group is just the company that runs Canary Wharf: far from it. The Group does contain one company to run the Canary Wharf estate (including keeping protestors off it). It also includes Canary Wharf Contractors Ltd, which manages the Group’s construction and development projects. CWG’s “investment property portfolio”, including properties currently being built, is worth around £7.51 billion. As well as Canary Wharf, it is building a 37 story building at 20 Fenchurch Street. CWG and Quatari Diar are jointly in charge of the redevelopment of Southbank Place, which will include building another tranche of office blocks. Quatari Diar are international developers whose projects in Europe include the controversial Chelsea Barracks development as well as East Village.
In past decades, there has been an emphasis on getting companies to pay their taxes to the state – and this income has then been spread around public bodies (such as Councils) which have spent the money in accordance with the priorities of their electorates. Nowadays – particularly under the current and previous Governments, which have reduced taxes that businesses pay – there has been more emphasis on persuading businesses to be good to the poor on a voluntary basis, just as they did under Queen Victoria. In this way, businesses get to look generous, while also deciding (unelected though they are) where the social spending goes. Dressing this up as “corporate responsibility” does nothing to hide the fact that the All-Party Parliamentary Group is promoting a system of immense privatisation, in which unelected companies take over functions from elected public bodies.
The winner of the APCRG National Responsible Business Champion 2016 will be chosen by a judging panel consisting of Lord Aberdare, Baroness Greengross, Jonathan Djanogly MP, Flick Drummond MP and Baroness Howe of Idlicote. The Champion will be presented with the award by the Business Secretary, Sajid Javid, on 6 July 2016 at a reception in Parliament.
On that day, thousands of people across Tower Hamlets will be suffering from the lack of public services caused by the Austerity Agenda brought in after that 2008 economic crash. They are paying the price for the promotion of “corporate responsibility”. They are not even represented on the judging panel.
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