Weekly survey result: does Labour have a business problem?

It’s been a regularly repeated mantra in the past couple of weeks: Labour are anti-business.

This tired-out tag made a comeback when a number of figures from the business community (a large proportion of them Tory donors and peers) lambasted some of Labour’s policies – among those top of the target list; the Mansion Tax.

So we put the question to LabourList readers – is Labour’s perception as “anti-business” a problem for the party?

It’s a mixed bag but with only 3% saying ‘don’t know’ most look set on their decision.

The majority of people (43%) are relatively optimistic that it isn’t. Perhaps that’s because they see the term ‘business’ as meaning big business. Therefore an anti-business perception might work along the lines of Labour being seen as the ‘party for the people’.

However, 36% are of the mind that it is a problem. This could come down to the fact that being painted anti-business risks losing votes in the business community. But business is also closely tied to the subject of the economy. Labour are often depicted as fiscally irresponsible, this paired with an anti-business attitude, might not make voters look positively on the party as they go to the polls.

Between the ‘yes’ and ‘no’ camps is a relatively small but sizeable proportion of people (23%) who think that Labour aren’t anti-business. That’s doesn’t necessarily mean those who chose another options do think this, just that this 23% believe that the fact they aren’t anti-business is the most important factor to focus on here.

Tony Blair has been in the spotlight of late, both to express concern about Labour’s electoral strategy and then more recently to say he’d be willing to play a role in Labour’s campaign should the party so desire.

We wanted to know what you think about this – should Blair be asked to contribute to the Labour general election campaign?

Again, the results are relatively clear cut – with only 5% saying that don’t know.

A majority of 59% think Blair should keep out of the campaign. It’s likely that a proportion of these people don’t think Blair – who in many ways became synonymous with New Labour – and his legacy would do much to help the party. Particularly when it’s trying to distance itself from the days of New Labour.

Another smaller but not insignificant number of people (36%) would like to see Blair on the campaign trail in some form or another. This could come from the fact the polls are so close and Blair was the last leader of the party to secure a clear victory.

1,078 people voted in this week’s survey. Thankyou to everyone who took part.