Half of business leaders prefer Starmer to Sunak
HALF of business leaders have said they would prefer a Labour government under Sir Keir Starmer to a Conservative one led by Rishi Sunak. The polling, by Opinium, found that a quarter of business leaders who voted for the Tories at the 2019 general election were now backing Sir Keir’s party. The findings come as Labour prepares to hold a business event this week, with 600 executives, investors and ambassadors attending a conference in London on Thursday, indicating that many bosses expect the party to form the next government.
Labour commissioned Opinium to conduct an online survey with a sample of 500 business leaders and senior decision makers, with respondents spread across micro, small, medium and large businesses. Within the sample, 44 per cent said they had backed the Tories in the 2019 election, compared with 27 per cent who had supported Labour.
However, asked for their preferred outcome at the coming general election, the positions had reversed, with 49 per cent preferring “a Labour government led by Keir Starmer” compared with 34 per cent who wanted “a Conservative government led by Rishi Sunak”. Of the 220 business leaders who had backed the Tories in 2019, 55 (25 per cent) said they now wanted a Labour victory.
The polling was similar when the business leaders were asked about Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor, and Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor.
Forty-eight per cent said they would trust Ms Reeves more to manage the economy, compared with 34 per cent who opted for Mr Hunt. The survey found that 69 per cent agreed with the statement that the Tories had “lost the trust of the business community”, compared with 25 per cent who disagreed. Two thirds (66 per cent) also agreed that the Tories were “out of ideas” compared with 28 per cent who disagreed.
Jonathan Reynolds, the shadow business secretary, said the findings showed that “business has given up on the Conservative Party” and “lost faith in them”.
He added: “Business wants stability more than anything.”