Ed Miliband tries to thaw Labour’s relations with business
Labour leader Ed Miliband will today attempt to convince UK financial leaders and entrepreneurs that he backs big business.
Miliband will seek to reassure the business leaders at a speech in London that Labour wants to work with, not against them, in a bid to reverse perceptions that the party is anti-corporation.
“The only way we can realise this mission is through your success. The great, dynamic businesses of our country being enabled to build the wealth, create the jobs and make the profits that will help them succeed,” Miliband will say at an event at the Science Museum attended by bosses including John Lewis chair Sir Charlie Mayfield and BAE Systems’ chairman Sir Roger Carr.
He will also use the speech to firm up plans to develop a National Infrastructure Commission.
The speech forms part of a week-long focus on economic policy for Labour and follows pledges from Ed Balls on corporation tax and Lord Adonis on devolving state spending to newly-created city regions.
Speaking in support of Miliband, shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna wrote in an article this morning: “It is of course crucial that we have growth in the first place – we need to grow the pie as well as ensure that everyone is benefiting from it.”