London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Oct 14, 2025

Is Labour really back in business?

Is Labour really back in business?

Labour has made its latest pitch for power to business leaders at Canary Wharf, one of London's financial hubs. Was it enough to convince them the party is a government-in-waiting?

The symbolism was as important as the substance.

On the face of it, Labour's business conference in Canary Wharf was to launch a report promoting and encouraging business start-ups.

But it was also an opportunity for Labour to promote its pro-business credentials and further highlight its distance from the Corbyn era.

Opening the conference, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the party wasn't just pro-business but "proudly pro-business".

But more importantly, was business now more pro-Labour?

Banners were proudly displayed demonstrating backing for the conference from - amongst others - HSBC and energy company SSE.

But neither Sir Keir nor Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, could name a single company which was endorsing the party itself for the first time.

Ms Reeves told me it was difficult for "big businesses - certainly public limited companies - to endorse political parties".

But, she said, there had been "a huge surge in donations" to Labour from business.


On the table


The event was partly open to the press but perhaps in a sign of nervousness, some of what Sir Keir described as "the biggest engagement with businesses in a decade" took place behind closed doors.

A shadow minister was deployed to each table of attendees to discuss the party's plans in greater detail and to listen to concerns.

When he was shadow chancellor three decades ago, Labour's John Smith embarked on a "prawn cocktail" offensive - City lunches to reassure the financial sector that they need not fear a Labour government.

This time, attendees were wooed first by coffee and pastries, then over lunch with a noodle dish and strawberry-and-melon-infused water.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer attempted to woo business leaders in London


Access to the one Labour-supporting business figure told me "this is all about emphasising we are a serious party of government. We have to ram home over and over again that we are serious about business".

A Conservative-supporting attendee was less impressed with the content, but admired the organisation of the event - and said it reminded him of when former Tory Prime Minister David Cameron was on the cusp of power.


Industrial relations


But just how frank is Labour's engagement with business?

I tested the water during the lunchtime break with Ms Reeves.

I asked if the party had been clear that its decision to repeal 2016 trade union legislation - setting thresholds in strike ballots - would make it easier for unions to go on strike.

She said the legislation hadn't "made a blind bit of difference because when working people have had enough, they decide to take industrial action". But she suggested private businesses were likely to be more reasonable than the government.

"The business people who are here today, many of them will recognise trade unions and will work with their workers to resolve disputes," she said.

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said Labour would resolve underlying issues with the unions


Neither she nor Sir Keir would commit to repealing promised - or threatened - Conservative legislation on minimum service levels, stressing that it would do nothing to solve the current disputes.

And now that permission has been given to a coal mine in Cumbria, would a pro-business Labour government really close it down if they come to power?

"There are plenty of ways to get jobs in Cumbria and the north of England," she said. "I don't think [the mine] will be open by the time of the next election. I'd be amazed if it was open."


Getting Brexit done


Exporting businesses are also keen to get tariff-free access to big markets. Labour has ruled out rejoining the EU single market, the biggest market on the UK's doorstep.

Politically, the party does not want to revisit the Brexit divisions of the past at the next election. But was the shadow chancellor - who opposed leaving the EU - really telling businesses that economic growth would be higher outside of the free-trade zone across the Channel?

Her emphasis was to improve the Brexit deal rather than turn back the clock.

"We recognise that the status quo, the Brexit deal that the government secured three years ago, it is not working for business," she said.

She said there were "practical things we can do to improve relations with our nearest neighbours and trading partners and as a government we'd be determined to do that".

Labour insiders know they have an opportunity to convince business that they can provide the stability they crave, though they have no longer been gifted with the contrast of a Liz Truss administration.

Ahead in the polls, Labour is putting emphasis on not putting a foot wrong and creating political hostages to fortune.

Appearing serious and responsible and appealing to new sources of support is seen as far more necessary than generating headlines.


The Labour leader says the appetite to talk to business about the party's plans is “palpable and tangible"



Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
EU Deploys New Biometric Entry/Exit System: What Non-EU Travelers Must Know
Australian Prime Minister’s Private Number Exposed Through AI Contact Scraper
Ex-Microsoft Engineer Confirms Famous Windows XP Key Was Leaked Corporate License, Not a Hack
China’s lesson for the US: it takes more than chips to win the AI race
Australia Faces Demographic Risk as Fertility Falls to Record Low
California County Reinstates Mask Mandate in Health Facilities as Respiratory Illness Risk Rises
Israel and Hamas Agree to First Phase of Trump-Brokered Gaza Truce, Hostages to Be Freed
French Political Turmoil Elevates Marine Le Pen as Rassemblement National Poised for Power
China Unveils Sweeping Rare Earth Export Controls to Shield ‘National Security’
The Davos Set in Decline: Why the World Economic Forum’s Power Must Be Challenged
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
×