Why businesses support Labour
Now more than ever we need to bust the myth that the Conservatives are the Party of business.
The truth is that the Conservatives are being exposed for presiding over a weak and wobbly economy, with no credible plans for job creation and shared prosperity in the future.
By contrast, Labour is gaining real gain traction as the Party with better policies for business and the wider economy – which is why our Chair, Hamish Sandison, is calling Labour “the natural party of business”. He has delivered the same message in broadcast interviews with BBC 5 Live, CNBC TV (here and here), and local radio.
To reinforce this message, Labour Business invited business leaders to express their support for Labour’s manifesto in a public letter.
The letter is set out below, followed by nearly 90 signatures of people in businesses – small, medium and large - in all sectors, up and down the country, explaining why they support Labour.
The key is in our manifesto: “Labour understands that wealth creation is a collective endeavour – between workers, entrepreneurs, investors, and government. Each contributes and each must share fairly in the rewards.” For the Many not the Few, at page 8.
So please carry on campaigning until 10pm on June 8th, and don’t forget to explain to voters why more and more businesses are supporting the Labour Party.
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Our letter in support of Labour's Manifesto
We the undersigned are people in businesses who believe that the Labour Party has good policies for the wider economy. Conservative policies put our businesses at risk. The Conservatives have lost credibility because of their policies, their un-costed manifesto and their aggressive Brexit approach of “no deal is better than a bad deal.”
We have wider concerns about the Tories’ failure to tackle underlying problems in the British economy. These include the productivity gap - we lag behind Germany and the USA; our trade deficit; our wage inequality; and our failure to invest enough in infrastructure and skills.
By comparison Labour’s manifesto seems to better capture our aspirations and those of many others in the business community. They have shown that they understand that in a modern economy wealth creation has to be a collective endeavour – between workers, entrepreneurs, investors, and government. We particularly appreciate the industrial strategy Labour are putting forward based on objective measurable missions designed to address the great challenges of our time from climate change to creating a highly skilled workforce, though investment in our infrastructure, supply chains, R&D and people.
We also welcome the following Labour policies:
- A new National Investment Bank and regional development banks to help provide funding for business, including SMEs.
- Reinstatement of the lower small-business corporation tax rate.
- A package of reforms to business rates and a review of the entire business rates system in the longer run.
- Scrapping quarterly tax returns for businesses with a turnover of under £85,000.
- Clamping down on late payments
- Expansion of the Employment Allowance to help support payment of the minimum wage.
Most businesses want what many voters want: better education for a skilled and creative workforce; healthcare which delivers fewer sick days lost; better roads and public transport; better digital infrastructure; lower energy prices.
We understand that our businesses flourish when our employees and our customers flourish. A fairer and more equal society goes hand in hand with a more productive and sustainable economy.
That’s why we support Labour’s approach.
Yours sincerely,
Hamish Sandison, Chair of Labour Business