Bailing out Flybe is a big mistake

During the election, the Tories shifted to the centre ground, competing with Labour on NHS spending, infrastructure investment and politicised increases to the minimum wage. They also pledged to create a new state aid regime to support struggling businesses with public money. It seemed too interventionist – and out of character – to believe. Countering basic economic sense, the self-proclaimed ‘party of business’ proposed measures in favour of cronyism, offering up a far more protectionist vision for Brexit-Britain than had previously been touted.

But as they say, seeing is believing.

This week, the Government dished out its first big serving of corporate welfare to British airline Flybe, which was on the verge of collapse before it was granted permission to defer over £100 million worth of estimated air passenger duty payments to help keep it afloat.