Labour’s war on UK bosses

Red Ed’s big guns call tycoons who signed Tory letter ‘tax dodgers’

LABOUR was at war with business again last night as the party lashed out at 120 bosses who warned the economic recovery could be wrecked if it regained power.

Shadow Cabinet ministers branded the industry leaders who signed an open letter backing the Conservative economic plan as members of the ‘1 per cent’.

Lord Prescott, an adviser to Ed Miliband, went further, suggesting the signatories were ‘tax dodgers, Tory donors and non doms’ – even though several were former Labour supporters.

Business spokesman Chuka Umunna raised the stakes, suggesting that one, former Diageo boss Paul Walsh, should no longer take over as the head of the CBI.

Mr Umunna said it would be ‘untenable’ for

‘Investment and job creation’

Mr Walsh to ‘claim to be independent in the light of this’.

In a highly unusual intervention just weeks from the election, 103 corporate leaders yesterday declared that the Government ‘has been good for business and has pursued policies which have supported investment and job creation’.

Throughout the day, 17 more added their names, including the bosses of AstraZeneca, Citi Private Bank and Pirelli.

‘ We believe a change in course will threaten jobs and deter investment. This would send a negative message about Britain and put the recovery at risk,’ they said.

Together, the businesses the executives run employ more than 600,000 people, and include brands such as Primark, Iceland, Pizza Express, Mothercare, Ocado, Moonpig, Ted Baker, Costa Coffee and LK Bennett.

Executives at consumer brands such as Cobra beer, Britvic, Silver Spoon, Kingsmill, Thorntons, Robinsons, Tango and London Pride also put their names to the list.

Labour MPs’ attempts to brand them all fat cats were undermined by the fact that the signatories included 29 heads of firms with fewer than 250 employees. Some had supported Labour at previous elections. George Osborne said Tories were offering ‘business stability’, while Labour’s pledge to raise the main rate of corporation tax to 21p represented ‘a huge risk to the British economy and to British jobs’.

The Chancellor said: ‘Corporation tax is the main tax on business. Increase it and you increase the tax on investment on growth and on jobs. It is as simple as that.’

And he said there were ‘just 36 days left to save Britain’s economic recovery’.

An Ipsos Mori poll of FTSE 100 leaders suggests 86 per cent will back the Conservatives. Under Tony Blair, 55 per cent backed Labour. Veteran Labour MP Barry Sheerman claimed the letter indicated a ‘clear decline in British political life’, accusing the businesspeople of endorsing ‘right-wing policies that benefit them’.

Last night Labour released its own list of names, backing a ‘Labour Government to put working people first’.

It included dozens of workers who are on zero-hours contracts as well as advertising chief Trevor Beattie, fashion designer Wayne Hemingway and former Blue Peter presenter Peter Duncan.