The Department of Trade and Industry has kept control of business support services, and skills training has been kept by the Department for Education and Employment.

ECONOMIST: An England of regions | The

And given the importance of maintaining American support for talks to liberalise trade in financial services, to expand the North American Free-Trade Agreement and to bring China into the World Trade Organisation, an upsurge of Japan-bashing and anti-import rhetoric in Washington would quickly affect the rest of the world.

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Last year Shropshire Council set up a company to trade services such as legal, finance and IT support, primarily to other public bodies.

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Margaret Beckett, president of the Board of Trade, refused to give up control of the industrial aid and business support services run by her ministry.

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You might argue, for instance, that in many countries rising incomes and structural economic change have created a new and larger middle class, weakening support for public services (which the middle class pays for) and undermining trade unions (which tend to be anti-liberal).

ECONOMIST: Economics focus