Labour is back in business: Starmer’s simple statement sends a clear message

The best line to come out of party conference was “Labour is back in business”. This simple truth sent a clear signal to entrepreneurs that our party understands the link between the economy and opportunity. This line was, of course, at the core of Keir Starmer’s speech, delivered at his first full conference since becoming leader.

The group I helped to set up and run, SME4Labour, walks in lockstep with the leader. Keir has sent a positive message to the business community and, with Rachel Reeves’ pledge to scrap business rates and save the high street, showed that Labour is serious about reviving the economy after Covid-19. The leadership also unveiled new policies on home insulation and a green new deal.

As any entrepreneur knows, businesses face a cliff edge in April when a 66% relief on business rates is due to end. The recognition that the business rates system is broken is a victory for SME4Labour, being a policy for which we have long campaigned.

It capped a brilliant conference for us in which we worked with Community Union, Labour Business, the Social Market Foundation, UK Hospitality, Labour Together, Thakeham, 89Up, Opinium, TechUK, Retail NI, Africans for Labour and IPSE, as well as the Centre for Turkey Studies, the Centre for Kurdish Progress, Labour Friends of Bangladesh, Tamils for Labour, the Labour Campaign for Human Rights and the Labour Campaign for International Development.

I am proud that we delivered our largest ever series of conference fringe events with speakers including new party member John Bercow and heavyweight pundit Jonathan Freedland. And, of course, there was also time for some fun amid the heavy lifting on policy. We had a chilled out party on Brighton beach with Labour Together and the Kebab Alliance, which I chair. It was a fantastic event with 400 people tempted to come to try the fresh kebabs cooked by MPs and shadow cabinet ministers.

We returned to our respective corners of Great Britain in an upbeat mood. Yes, Keir and our party have much more to do, but five days in Brighton showed we have the personality, pro-business approach and commitment to fighting inequality necessary to fight the next election.

By contrast, the Tories gathered in Manchester with Boris Johnson looking more out of touch than ever. Aides told The Times he wanted to go “on and on”, in an echo of Margaret Thatcher, but weeks later one of his own backbenchers predicted a winter of discontent borne out of Covid chaos, crises in fuel and energy, shortages in key industries like hospitality and social care and the withdrawal of the £20 Universal Credit uplift, which has been a lifeline for so many families.

The Tories are disloyal and directionless. Labour is working hard and is serious about partnering with business to build an economy that works for everyone.