Bennett on Business: The CBI must demonstrate value for money
When it was founded in 1965, the Confederation of British Industry was intended to disrupt the cosy dialogue between the Wilson Government and the Trades Unions. Back then the Unions called the shots – they were invited into Number 10 to discuss industrial and economic policy, leaving assorted company leaders out in the cold.
As a result, it quickly became known as “the bosses’ union”. It is not a moniker it has attracted for a long time now – since if it was indeed a union, it has not been doing a very good job for its members. At all.
In my experience, business leaders really only want two things from Government; lower taxes and less regulation. A grant or two would be nice but, on the whole, businesses would prefer to keep their money, rather than hand it to a government who drip feeds it back and expects gratitude to boot.
On these two measures, the CBI has singularly failed. Businesses are groaning under a mountain of regulation, which grows higher every year, and the main rate of corporation tax has risen to 25%, up by a third and the largest single increase in living memory.
(By contrast the trades unions have been performing very well for their members – witness the number of large pay deals both Unite and Unison have secured for them in the past year.)
Several hundred barrels of ink have already been consumed predicting the imminent demise of the CBI, following the sacking of its director-general Tony Danker and the BBC has even been asking its large members whether they are thinking of quitting.
I don’t buy into that – most CBI members will give it the benefit of the doubt for now. But the new director-general, Rain Newton-Smith urgently needs to return the organisation to its core purpose. She should significantly reduce its bloated 250-strong staff (and reduce membership fees), abolish many of its committees and hold the Government to account on the key issues of regulation and business tax policy. In short, she needs to give her members value for money, which is something they should all understand.
Bermuda Short
I spent a few days last week in Bermuda, visiting insurance clients. Hamilton, the capital, is a boom town. While much of the City of London is languishing, Bermuda’s insurance and reinsurance sectors are sunning themselves in one of the best markets they’ve seen in decades – with premiums up 20 or even 30 per cent.
The Bermudian authorities have been clever by not being content to be a mere brass plate destination. Instead, they have built a fully fledged insurance industry there, which has brought wealth and stability to the island. Britain either ignores its remaining Crown Dependencies or takes them for granted. As an alternative we could learn a few things from Bermuda’s success in building one of the world’s largest insurance markets on a foundation of sound regulation and low tax.
Lord Mayor’s Parade
Cheerfully, the current Lord Mayor has been doing his bit for the City of London, even when others won’t or can’t. Too often in the past the Lord Mayor (chosen by some arcane system amongst the Guilds) has been an anonymous greengrocer from Enfield or somesuch, who has done little or nothing to further the Square Mile’s interests.
By contrast Nicholas Lyons came to the job last November with real gravitas, and had to take a sabbatical as Chairman of Phoenix Group to take on the role. True to form he has tackled the job with real energy, banging the drum for all that we have to offer to the world. Too bad that he only has a one-year term that expires in November. Perhaps like Dick Whittington he can be persuaded to do it again.
Can I quote you on that?
“How could you see that hateful content?… Sir, you don’t know what you’re talking about. You can’t even give me a single example.”
Elon Musk rips into an ill-prepared BBC reporter in one of the most entertaining business interviews in years.
An evening in the stalls
Following the recent success of The Lehman Trilogy, another business/political drama is coming back to the West End, this time after starting in the Almeida in Islington. Patriots is the story of the rise and fall of Boris Berezovsky, original oligarch and Putin’s kingmaker. It stars Tom Hollander, who is brilliant in everything he does and I will be queueing up for an early ticket
Neil Bennett is global co-ceo of H/Advisors, the global comms and strategic advisory firm, and a former City editor
