Burnham courts business at Labour conference as firms await Budget answers

Prime Minister Andy Burnham met business leaders at Labour's conference in Liverpool as Chancellor John Healey promised fiscal discipline ahead of the 28 October Budget. The meetings offered firms a chance to put rising costs directly to ministers, but business representatives said the Budget will show whether the government's assurances lead to practical relief.

At a private reception on Monday night hosted by the Confederation of British Industry, HSBC and National Grid, Healey told executives the government would do “our bit” to support firms struggling with costs, The Guardian reported. He said fiscal discipline would be central to the Budget. The CBI subsequently welcomed that commitment while arguing that companies need room to invest and hire.

Access to ministers, with judgment reserved

The Guardian reported that executives attended a business breakfast hosted by Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds, followed by a discussion with Burnham. Delegates told the newspaper that fewer top bosses appeared to attend this year's business day than in earlier years. Even so, companies including Mastercard, HSBC and Heathrow sponsored conference events, and senior business figures attended Healey's speech.

Business representatives described more opportunities to speak with ministers. According to The Guardian, lobbyists saw an effort to connect business leaders with ministers responsible for their sectors. An external affairs chief at a FTSE 250 retailer, whom the newspaper did not name, described a greater willingness to listen to business concerns. Those accounts describe participants' impressions; they do not establish how widely that view is shared.

What the business groups want

CBI chief executive Rain Newton-Smith said Healey's speech recognised that rising costs leave firms with less capacity to invest, hire and grow. In the CBI's response, she welcomed his emphasis on fiscal discipline but said the Budget must turn the speech's signals into action. The group called for lower business costs, protection for long-term investment and action on planning, infrastructure and regulatory barriers.

The British Chambers of Commerce also welcomed Healey's recognition of business's role in creating wealth. Its director general, Shevaun Haviland, said his support for using public procurement to back British capability could help regional growth. She cautioned that smaller firms need a fair chance to win contracts and said proposed projects, including £6bn for British shipyards, would have to be delivered with clear pipelines for suppliers.

Haviland said firms face rising employment, energy and business-rates costs even as they are asked to invest. The chambers group said a typical small or medium-sized enterprise's policy-related operating costs had increased by more than 70% over 10 years. That is the group's figure, rather than a measure independently established by this article. It urged Healey to avoid further tax rises and reduce some of those costs.

The group set out specific requests: lower employer National Insurance contributions for workers under 25, a 75% cut to the Renewables Obligation to reduce firms' energy bills, and lower business-rates multipliers. These are proposals from the chambers group, not measures announced by the government. Haviland also welcomed an expansion of apprenticeships while saying employers should have a say in how the scheme works.

The Budget test

The Guardian reported that some businesses welcomed Burnham's tax cut for pubs and clubs, while executives were still trying to understand what his wider approach would mean for companies across the UK. The newspaper also reported concern about possible tax rises next month. Neither the conference meetings nor the business groups' responses establish which tax decisions Healey will make.

For firms, the immediate question is whether the Budget on 28 October addresses the costs they identified without adding to their tax burden. Newton-Smith said the CBI wanted the government's message translated into conditions that would encourage investment and hiring. Rigby said the Budget would reveal whether ministers had acted on what they heard. Until those decisions are announced, their effect on business costs remains unknown.