The recovery created by the Tories rested on two main pillars, both of which are now potentially sources of weakness.
Firstly, the massive internationalisation of British capital in the 1980s enabled British companies to benefit from the upturn in certain sectors of the world economy in the carly 1990s. In particular, British firms have been able to export to the growing Asian economies and to the US, while investments abroad have brought in record amounts of profit.
But this process has also left Britain especially vulnerable to any downturn in economic conditions elsewhere. The rise in the value of the pound has lowered the sterling value of the profits coming in from abroad as well.
The combination of slower growth in Asia and America with continuing recession in Europe is likely to mean that Britain can depend less on world developments for cconomic growth in the coming period.
The second basis of the tory economic project was a relatively high rate of productivity growth in manufacturing over the last five years, and more generally since 1979.
on the March to Amsterdam a Socialist Outlook pull-out on the Euro Marches 97 NATIONAL SOLIDARIT Liverpool dockers are fully supporting the EuroMarches: their fight depends on international solidarity. «We are marching • The right to a decent state