Labor is speeding up meetings with the heads of Britain’s biggest companies as it steps up efforts to win over the city after the Conservative Party’s meager budget led to economic turmoil.
The diary of Keir Starmer, the shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, and the shadow business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, has been filled with coffee meetings and dinners in recent weeks, with executives scrambling to make contact with the Labor frontbench.
The move has been described as “Prawn Cocktail Offensive 2.0”, a nod to Tony Blair and Gordon Brown’s efforts to secure Britain’s financial sector during the opposition and the landslide victory of 1997.
The next large-scale engagement between the Labor leader and the top economic group and executives will take place in London in early December, when the party will hold its next “Labor Business” event, featuring panel discussions and lunches.
The event comes hot on the heels of Liverpool’s welcoming of executives and entrepreneurs at the Lab Conference, for which tickets sold out in record time. Starmer and Reeves were among the top politicians to address an audience of more than 600 business leaders and international guests at the event.
Labour’s September conference in Liverpool attracted the largest turnout of companies since 2010, including a company owned by a major Tory donor.
Since the conference, Labor has increased its lead in the polls, following market turmoil, a fall in the value of the pound and increased government borrowing costs from a small budget sickened by Lease Trust and Kwasi Kwarteng.
Relations between the Conservatives and business leaders have struggled to recover during Boris Johnson’s premiership after he reportedly made “fuck business” comments to employers about a hard Brexit.
The Tory party’s infighting and the Trust’s resignation have exacerbated the situation, with the party changing its stance from its former self-styled business party.
Labor sources say contact with business leaders has increased significantly in recent weeks as the party’s strained relationship with the City changes under Jeremy Corbyn.
The Guardian understands that Labor expects to achieve its target of hiring CEOs from the UK’s 250 largest listed companies by early next year.
Banks HSBC and NatWest are among the companies holding meetings with staff, along with professional services firm EY and multinationals such as Siemens and Nissan.
The country’s biggest retailers and major employers, including Tesco and Sainsbury’s, have been in touch with Labor’s top team in recent weeks.
Reynolds described Business as “an essential partner in building the fairer and greener Britain we all want to see”.
“We’re unabashedly pro-business, pro-labor, and it’s been great talking to all kinds of businesses,” Reynolds said. “I am very grateful for the understanding and support of the organizations we spoke to. When it comes to economic growth, business leaders know only the labor on the ground.
It is understood that the worker is increasing the relationship with the small companies at the national level of regional chambers of commerce. He is looking forward to holding more meetings with small businesses before Small Business Saturday in early December.
Labor sources say the party and business don’t always agree, but the recent wave of participation from companies feels they are now considered a “credible alternative” by the city.
