Andrew Adonis, former transport secretary, has hazarded a guess as to why certain business leaders might be critical of the Labour Party.
He said those who criticised the party might have had their judgement clouded by proposals such as the Mansion Tax and plans to raise the tax rate back to 50p, after the Coalition reduced it to 45p.
He went on to explain that this was despite the fact that those at the forefront of business were in favour of Labour’s plans to invest in infrastructure, create internship and keeping Britain in the EU.
He made these comments at Fabian Conference, where he said:
“On this business about business views of Labour, by the way I of course speak to business leaders the whole time. Let’s be frank: people don’t like paying more tax.
“A lot of it comes down to the fact that business leaders themselves – how can I put this delicately – are not wild about the idea of themselves having to pay a mansion tax and the 50p rate.
“How can I put it – this does somewhat cloud their judgement when it comes to the wider relationship with business. When it does actually come to the public policy issues that matter, training, long term investment, housing, infrastructure, Europe, they’re much closer to us on all these big issues than they are to the Tories.
“But to be frank they’d rather not pay the mansion tax and they’d rather not pay the 50p rate. And what a surprise that is.”
More from LabourList
‘Will Welsh Labour’s new candidates embrace radical change or status quo?’
Welfare reform: List of Labour MPs prepared to rebel against benefit changes
Spring Statement: List of councillors quitting over welfare amid further cuts