Business is not the enemy and must win over public opinion if it is to shape government policy over the next few years, the president of the Confederation of British Industry warned today.
Sir Mike Rake claimed that politicians would continue to “play to public opinion” in areas such as energy policy unless there was better understanding between the business world and the general public. “Some of the rhetoric we’ve heard recently suggests that business is somehow the enemy — we are not and this could not be further from the truth,” he told delegates at the CBI conference in London.
“But business is undoubtedly suffering a crisis in public confidence as we have seen in banking, and now in the current debate around energy.
“We have to do more to understand consumer sentiment, and the effect that this has on politicians, and hence on policy.”
Sir Mike said “overly-simplistic statements” on price controls and windfall taxes being made by some politicians were not in the interests of long-term economic growth.
He also called for greater political consensus over Britain’s infrastructure policy, in particular the HS2 rail project and whether a third runway should be built at Heathrow.
“We cannot have every major infrastructure decision continuously re-debated at every turn — as we’re seeing with HS2. Undoubtedly, a better effort should be made to communicate the benefits of high-speed rail, and this must be positioned within an overall long-term strategy of what the country needs across all modes of transport.
“Decisions have to be made, and once they have been made then we should stick to them.”
Sir Mike — who is also the chairman of telecoms giant BT and deputy chairman of Barclays — said the Coalition deserved credit for sticking to its deficit reduction plan. It has also sent a “powerful message at home and abroad” by cutting corporation tax by almost a third.
He also reiterated the CBI’s position on Europe, saying: “Britain can only thrive with strong, productive businesses: large, medium and small; in manufacturing, services and finance; from Stirling to Southampton and Newport to Newry; one United Kingdom as part of a strong EU.”
