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General election: 121 business bosses sign letter supporting the Labor Party
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- Author, Faisal Islam
- Function, Economy editor
- Twitter, @faisalislam
- May 27, 2024, 9:22 pm BST
Updated 36 minutes ago
Dozens of business leaders have signed a letter endorsing the Labor Party’s economic plans ahead of the 4 July general election, saying it is “time for change”.
In a letter published in Tuesday’s Times newspaper, 121 founders, CEOs and former leaders of a range of financial services, retail and industrial companies say the Labor Party has changed and “wants to work with businesses” on long-term growth.
It turns out that Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves is due to give her first big speech of the election campaign to business supporters, including some former Tory supporters in the East Midlands later.
She is expected to say she will lead the “most pro-growth Treasury in our country’s history.”
Labor is using the Conservative playbook to get business leaders to support its economic plans.
Before the 2015 election, 100 business leaders supported the Conservatives.
One of them, Malcolm Walker – the founder of supermarket chain Iceland – will now support the Labor Party.
Other former signatories to the Conservative business letter told BBC News they will stick to their advice amid disappointment over Liz Truss’s mini-budget, the Brexit deal and a general expectation of a change of government.
Among those who signed the letter in the Times are TV chef and restaurateur Tom Kerridge, some CEOs of smaller companies, former Heathrow Airport chief executive John Holland-Kaye, JD Sports chairman Andrew Higginson , and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales.
The CEOs of the UK’s biggest FTSE 100 companies tend to avoid taking sides in elections, which they didn’t do today.
It is also unclear to what extent this group of Labor supporters is representative of businesses in general and their sectors in particular.
But Ms Reeves believes this public show of support for the Labor Party will demonstrate its credibility with the public.
Some conservative business figures said there has been no effort similar to the one in 2015 to organize a conservative business endorsement letter.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s advisers are understood to be warning businesses about what they see as a French-style shift to workers’ rights if Labor wins.
Some major retailers have expressed concerns about the plan, including the repeal of Conservative anti-strike laws.
Treasury Chief Secretary Laura Trott said: “Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives have a clear plan that businesses can trust.
“We took bold action to deliver the largest corporate tax cut in modern history.”
The Liberal Democrats told BBC News that businesses are “crying out for stability and certainty after years of chaos and Tory mismanagement”.
“The Liberal Democrats would launch an industrial strategy to boost investment and reform the broken business rates system to support our high streets,” a spokesperson said.
The Green Party of England and Wales told the BBC it would “invest in the technologies needed to ensure a sustainable and secure future”.
“We need to ensure our economy functions in a way that protects our climate and allows nature to flourish,” said co-leader Adrian Ramsay.
The Scottish National Party’s Drew Hendry accused Labor of “ignoring the most fundamental reason for the UK’s economic decline – Britain is broken and Brexit broke it”, adding: “Only the SNP will fight for a future back to the heart of the European Union.”
Plaid Cymru Treasury spokesman Ben Lake said Wales needed “economic plans to break the cycle of economic destruction we are in” and that his party would “invest in the Welsh economy to boost growth and reduce inequality.”