One nitpick, maybe it shows I'm an unrealistic left-winger at heart, but I would say that protecting national champions is not always a bad thing. Renault is a success now in part due to the aid and protection it received in the past when the car market was undergoing some enormous flux.

Without that protection it may well have ended up like Rover. When a champion is sold to foreign interests, in the end it moves production away. When it does so the manufacturing base (light engineering and technology) can suffer dramatically. I believe this is part of the decline of the UK in every sphere other than financial services...