London: British companies will benefit in the long run from letting some jobs migrate to India and China, Prime Minister Tony Blair has said while calling for defeating the resurgent voices of protectionism.

"British companies will benefit in the long run from letting some jobs migrate to India and China," he told merchant bankers at Goldman Sachs investment bank in London yesterday (Mar 23, 2004).

In his first major economic speech since the election, Blair backed the outsourcing of call centre jobs to the developing world.

Blair pointed to a recent report by the McKinsey management consultancy on outsourcing, which "showed that contrary to every instinctive reaction, such methods are not merely necessary for business to survive, but can increase the provision of jobs if the extra competitive advantage is properly used".

He admitted that he was shocked by the pace of globalisation, including the massive rise in computer and technocratic specialists in the Far East, but claimed Britain had no alternative but to try to compete.

While conceding that not all British people felt comfortable with globalisation, Blair said, "Through this change comes greater possibilities for people - new consumer goods, travel, tastes, experiences, but a deep and abiding insecurity."