Only one thing is certain Work's business plans. We won't fully find out what they are until after the general election.
When the party publishes its manifesto next month, it will contain little depth and few details. That was Keir Starmer's cynical ploy from the day he took over Jeremy Corbyn in 2020, and he has no intention of jeopardizing Labour's 20-point poll lead by setting out his actual policies – especially where they will impact business and the economy.
So it is incomprehensible that 121 business leaders gave him uncritical support this week in a letter praising Labor as the 'party of change'.
Patrick Dardis is the former CEO of Young's Pubs
Strategy
Signatories, including a celebrity chef Tom Kerridge and Mike Soutar (best known as one of Alan Sugar's interviewers from The Apprentice) announced that they are 'looking for a government that will combine fiscal discipline with a long-term growth strategy'.
The 200-word letter continued: 'Labour has shown that it has changed and wants to work with business to realize Britain's full economic potential. We must now give it the opportunity to change the country.'
This is blind and ill-judged optimism that is hopelessly divorced from reality – exactly what Starmer is relying on to bring him to power.
The fact is that no one can know that Labor has 'changed' because the party refuses to say what economic policies it pursues intends to pursue…and when a shadow cabinet minister accidentally drops a hint, the spin machine quickly goes into reverse to cover up the resulting damage.
The letter, consisting of four paragraphs of wishful thinking, is now on Labour's website where anyone wishing to pose as a 'company director' can add their name to it. However, it is telling that almost no names from the top 100 FTSE companies appear.
Instead, the signatories include right-wing entrepreneurs like Paul Lindley, who founded organic baby and toddler food brand Ella's Kitchen, and Chris Slater, the CEO of carbon credit insurance company Oka, which promotes “carbon offset projects that actually have an impact on climate change.” '.
Two surprising names are Sir Malcolm Walker and his son Richard, the founder and executive chairman of Iceland Foods respectively.
This time last year, Richard Walker wrote to the Prime Minister and told him: 'It is my fondest wish that I should succeed in becoming an endorsed candidate for the Conservative Party, and I have… given everything to earn that privilege. '
His father supported his ambition. And now here they are both, a few months later, no doubt expressing their 'ardent desire' to see a Labor government. There is a sharp smell of sour grapes and opportunism in the air.
“It is incomprehensible that 121 business leaders have this week given Keir Starmer their uncritical support in a letter praising Labor as the 'party of change',” Mr Dardis wrote.
I'm reminded of the last time Labor looked who wants to oust the Tories in a landslideat the end of the John Major era in 1997. Richard Branson, one of the most high-profile beneficiaries of Thatcher's economic boom, changed track and – less than a week before the general election – posed with Labor leader Tony Blair in the driver's cabin of a Virgin train.
Branson was duly rewarded with an invitation to Blair's infamous celebrity dinners at Checkers, where he mingled with the likes of Sting, Elton John, Bono, Judi Dench, Helen Mirren and Jeremy Irons.
But in November that year he complained loudly about Labour's broken promises. This time there won't even be any promises to break. The signatories might as well have written a blank check to Labor, based on their own company accounts.
Many of them, I suspect, are trying to gain some credit from the man they assume will inevitably become our next Prime Minister. It will do them little good – and they will waste the respect of those who expect better from real business leaders.
Some indulge in blatant political posturing – the minor celebrities among them simply cannot do anything about it. Others can't resist the cheap temptation of being seen as a sure winner. But businessmen and women must rise above the petty tribalism of party politics, for the sake of both their employees and their shareholders.
There's a more sinister undercurrent here. The party that Starmer inherited from Corbyn was a hardline socialist party with many policies coming from the extremist left-wing ideology. These alarming trends still lurk just beneath the surface of Labour.
To give in
Starmer does pandering to both Labor wings. This week he declared himself a socialist, while Shadow Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner is unapologetic in her socialism – she is a class warrior who believes capitalism is a dirty word.
It is true that shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves refuses to say the same about herself. She promises to be a safe pair of hands for business, who will stimulate growth and not increase taxes.
She is clearly determined not to scare the horses. But if she makes good on her word, these two opposing forces – Reeves and Rayner – will surely tear the party apart once it is in government, and only one will emerge victorious.
Given that she has the backing of the unions, Labour's paymasters, that will undoubtedly be Rayner.
That will obviously be disastrous for Britain. I don't see why any responsible business leader would urge the country to vote for such a scenario.
Rayner has some really dangerous ideas. Last year, on the eve of the party conference, she announced a seven-point plan to strengthen workers' rights and the power of unions.
Signatories, including celebrity chef Tom Kerridge, announced their support for Labor as they 'look for a government that will combine fiscal discipline with a long-term growth strategy'
This includes full employment rights for staff from the day they start work, including sick leave and parental leave – a foolish proposition that can be so easily abused that it will deter employers from hiring new workers.
Anything that stops companies hiring is clearly bad for growth, a fact that Labor cannot understand because it has a deeply held attitude, going back to its Dickensian roots, that all bosses are inherently bad.
Other plans include repealing anti-union legislation, threatening a return to the Wilson era, when endless industrial disputes and strikes were known as 'the British disease'.
Rayner has been pushing this policy for years. In 2021 she called it Labour's 'new deal for working people'.
Earlier this year, she reiterated her commitment to introduce draft labor legislation within 100 days of winning power, new laws that could also require small businesses to conform to “diversity” guidelines.
When business leaders express genuine concerns about Rayner's plans, she simply accuses them of “wheezing.”
I suspect many of the signatories to this week's letter will panic when they discover the full implications of what they have supported. Small businesses with two to three dozen employees need flexibility to survive, invest and grow.
Like I said, “growth” is one of Rachel Reeves' buzzwords. But she's not talking about deregulation or tax breaks, policies that actually give companies the freedom to expand. In fact, it is far from clear how Labor does that expect to see growth. We will not achieve this goal with platitudes and vague promises.
Because Labor has so little explicit policy, we don't do not yet know the full extent of their spending plans. All we can say for sure is that they expect British employers to pay for it.
That means the “business leaders” who signed a blank check this week could soon regret the costs.
Patrick Dardis is the former CEO of Young's Pubs