How big business is cosying up to Corbyn

More firms sponsor conference despite his tax threat

DOZENS of big companies are cosying up to Labour ahead of its conference next week – despite the party’s threat of higher taxes.

Many firms had avoided links to Labour after it moved to the Left under Jeremy Corbyn.

But there has been a surge in interest from big business following June’s shock general election result, where Labour’s vote surged and denied Theresa May a majority.

Many more large companies are sponsoring events at this year’s conference. Firms such as BT, insurer Aviva and energy provider E.On are paying for fringe events at the party’s annual gathering in Brighton, which starts tomorrow.

Barclays, NatWest, the London Stock Exchange and accountants KPMG are also sponsoring the meetings, which take place outside the main conference hall and are attended by senior Labour figures. Others to sign up include Mastercard, Centrica and Hitachi.

BP and the Royal Mail have joined Microsoft and Google in paying for stalls in the conference exhibition centre.

Among the other firms sponsoring events are Comparethemarket.com, mining firm Anglo American, ScottishPower, Heathrow and defence firm Raytheon. The number of corporate delegates is up 50 per cent on last year, when Labour looked like electoral no-hopers.

In 2016 there were 1,832 business delegates at Labour’s conference. So far this year a total of 2,757 have signed up. Already, 25 per cent of stands at next year’s conference have been booked.

As well as reacting to the election result, many business leaders like the party’s softer stance on Brexit because they want to maintain a supply of cheap labour from overseas.

Iain Anderson, managing director at Cicero Group, an advisory group, said that until the election many firms had no desire to attend the conference, leaving the job to their trade bodies.

‘The level of interest to be at Labour has gone up considerably, particularly since their recalibration of their stance over Brexit and customs union,’ he added.

Firms have booked out an official forum at the annual conference next week, where they will hope to find out what life for them may be like under a Labour government.

The forum includes breakfast and a lunch, seats at certain speeches and attendance at a formal gathering with Shadow Cabinet members.

A Labour spokesman told the Financial Times: ‘We have smashed our sales targets for the exhibition. Many more businesses are attending party conference this year because they know that Labour is a government in waiting.’

The interest from big firms comes despite continuing anti-business rhetoric from the party under Mr Corbyn. Labour’s manifesto pledged to cancel the Tories’ planned cuts to corporation tax, saying large businesses should pay more, as well as to increase income tax on the rich.

It pledged to bring energy, rail and water companies back into public ownership, and introduce a maximum ratio of 20 to one between the pay of the highest and lowest-paid staff in the public sector.

And earlier this year Mr Corbyn’s key ally, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, called for large firms to publish their corporate tax returns.

‘We want to get a system that is fair, so the corporations and the rich pay their way more,’ Mr McDonnell said.

But in recent weeks Mr McDonnell has embarked on what he describes as a ‘tea offensive’ to charm business leaders, telling them only a Labour government would make infrastructure spending the country needs.