Nokia denies threat to leave Finland

It's difficult in the UK to appreciate quite how important Nokia is to Finland. It is responsible for around a third of the market cap of the country's stock exchange, and is a massively important employer.

However, according to reports, Nokia threatened to leave Finland in protest at its employee privacy laws - not quite the most honourable way to walk out, but there you go. Worth noting at this point: the story is being denied by both Nokia and the Finnish government.

If the Helsingin Sanomat story is true, Nokia lobbied politicians to change a law - that now looks set to be changed - which prohibits employers from spying on their employees' emails. The company allegedly did so after it suspected that an employee had passed on trade secrets to rival manufacturer Huawei, and started rootling around people's email accounts.

I suspect this is one of those stories that will always remain uncertain, unless some government-unseating evidence were to come to light. So, we just don't know. But, if Nokia were to leave Finland, the effect would likely be devastating.