Business leaders give their demands for new Labour government – London Business News | Londonlovesbusiness.com

The country has voted for “change” and as such the Labour Party has won a landslide victory on Friday.

The Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said the country has “spoken” and “change begins now.”

With a Labour majority now confirmed, Keir Starmer must “grab the bull by the horns” and get behind the self-employed, says Qdos – an insurance provider for the self-employed.

After releasing an underwhelming manifesto where the self-employed are concerned, the new government have been urged to urgently address the key tax issues facing the UK’s 4.2m population of freelancers, contractors and self-employed workers – who will be crucial to achieving economic growth.

PR company MakeMoreNoise has compiled what business leaders are wanting from Labour to help businesses grow after 14-years of Conservative rule.

Tom Johnson, the Founder and Director of the Hernshead Group, which he founded in 2019 with British business magnate and media personality, Sir Alan Sugar.

Johnson said, “While it feels like the result has been known for a while today saw a labour government led by Sir Kier Starmer confirmed after winning the election by a landslide and offers an opportunity for change and a reset of UK politics.

“Now the hard work begins for him to demonstrate that he can support and help grow UK businesses and encourage the entrepreneurs and small businesses that are the backbone of the UK.  In addition while the introduction of a genuine living wage, irrelevant of age, is a positive overall they must ensure they balance this against helping and encouraging Small businesses to grow, who have already faced a serious of increases in costs, taxation and supply chain issues in recent years.

Hopefully we’ll see inflation continue to fall easing financial pressures across the country while continuing to compete as a country on the global stage. It will also be interesting to see the effect of the defeat on the conservatives as they regroup as the opposition while deciding what the party will stand for.

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McKenzie said, “Following the recent UK election, the Labour Party’s win is not a surprise and a rude awakening for the Tories.

“We support Labour’s commitment in addressing vital issues affecting small businesses, advancing towards granting rights and protections for the self-employed, including those on zero-hour contracts.

“The issue surrounding increased taxes is of great concern for business owners and needs to be at the forefront of Labour’s proposed change in policies. The government can still benefit from greater UK employment via PAYE taxes and VAT on internal services, which could be achieved by raising wages and increasing the size of local work forces. Any tax reviews raised by the party must consider the significant impact that will be placed on small businesses and the self-employed.”

Charlie Coode, the CEO and founder of Culture15, which provides a framework for organisations such as Volkswagen, The Cabinet Office, British Army, Concurrent, London Energy, and Quilter, to reliably measure and manage their culture.

Coode said, “The overriding response to today’s election response appears to be relief rather than elation.

“Relief that the mercifully short campaign is over and resignation over the tough times ahead. For business, the most prominent source of optimism is the size of Labour’s majority.

“Since the Brexit vote in 2016 (has it really been 8 years?), Britain’s economy has suffered from a lack of attractiveness for investment, holding back innovation, job creation and general dynamism (this culminated at Liz Truss’s disastrous ‘mini-budget’ last year, which permanently damaged the Conservatives reputation for competence).

“The size of Labour’s majority, coupled with relative political instability in Europe’s other major economies (e.g. France and Germany) should play well for a period of stability, predictability and therefore investment and business growth.

“Labour’s policies on strengthening worker rights are less welcome for businesses. High inflation, coupled with a cost-of-living crisis has squeezed profits for businesses, so the last thing businesses need is further employment costs and reduced flexibility.

“This will likely lead to a reduction in appetite to take on full-time employees, greater use of contractors and more flexible working arrangements – the opposite effect to the one intended by these policies. A closer look at the detail in the Labour manifesto hints that these might not be as extreme as the headlines indicate, but we shall see.

“Keir Starmer said this morning “Walk into the morning – the bright sunlight of hope …”. It was in fact pouring with rain, which pretty much says it all.”