Criticism of Rishi Sunak's New Council of Private Sector Advisers by the Federation of Small Businesses

The FSB, which represents 160,000 small businesses, questioned how effective a panel consisting solely of major company bosses could be.

The FSB's comments come as Mr Sunak seeks to win support for his economic strategy ahead of the next election, even as high rates of inflation continue to wreak havoc across many sectors.

On Monday, Downing Street announced the creation of the new council, which includes more than a dozen FTSE-100 chairs and CEOs, such as Dame Alison Rose, the NatWest Group chief executive; Amanda Blanc, the Aviva CEO; Charles Woodburn, the BAE Systems chief; and Simon Roberts, CEO of J Sainsbury.

All but one of the members run companies in London's blue-chip share index, with the only exception being Demis Hassabis, the boss of Google DeepMind.

The FSB's external affairs chief, Craig Beaumont, criticized the lack of diversity in the council, stating that it failed to reflect the "diversity among the UK's brilliant 5.5 million-strong business community".

He added that the FSB had been told that the group had been formed after complaints that corporate Britain wasn't getting a hearing.

Mr Beaumont suggested that the council could be made more effective by including smaller businesses and start-ups, which could bring disruptive new ideas from the economy into public policy thinking.

In response to the criticism, a senior Downing Street official said that the council members' businesses collectively employ around 330,000 people across the country and that the PM's ability to point to a sharp fall in inflation over the next 12 months is likely to be a key factor in the Tories' performance at the ballot box.

The official also pointed out that Mr Sunak had previously met with representatives from smaller businesses as part of his efforts to understand the concerns of the business community.

The strongly worded comments come as Mr Sunak seeks to win support for his economic strategy ahead of the next election.

The FSB's criticism highlights the