Stock market ‘performs better with Tories’

SHARES have performed nearly twice as well under Conservative governments than under Labour over the past 45 years, according to figures published today.

Stock market returns have averaged 16 per cent a year under the Tories compared to just less than 9 per cent with Labour governments and just over 9 per cent under the Coalition.

The figures, in analysis for the Daily Mail by investment company Hargreaves Lansdown, are a further boost for David Cameron and George Osborne ahead of the General Election on May 7. Ed Miliband is struggling to win over businessmen as well as investors who are worried about Labour’s Left-wing attitudes to enterprise.

A survey of FTSE 100 bosses this weekend showed that 70 per cent believe a Labour government under Mr Miliband would be a ‘catastrophe’ for the economy. Now the analysis by Hargreaves Lansdown shows that investors – including millions of workers saving for a pension – have traditionally fared better under a Conservative government.

Hargreaves Lansdown senior analyst Laith Khalaf said: ‘The stock market has performed twice as well under a Conservative government as it has under Labour, according to performance statistics dating back to 1970.’

The analysis also shows that companies have had better performance under Tory governments with profits up by an average of 11 per cent a year under the Conservatives and 6 per cent under Labour.

Writing in the Mail, Mr Khalaf added that events on the global stage ‘are far more important to the UK stock market than the next resident of Number Ten’.

A report by BlackRock, the world’s largest fund manager, said ‘a soothing outcome for the markets is hard to imagine’ given Labour’s anti-business policies and Tory plans for a referendum on EU membership.

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