Hello and welcome to the latest edition of Off to Lunch…
Ahh politics. We’re in the midst of a constant firestorm of coverage as we build to the general election on 4 July. Whether it’s the revival of national service (or natty serves as the kids call it) or VAT on private schools, every move the leaders of the major parties make is devoured by a 24-hour news cycle. However, when you see that more than 120 prominent business leaders are backing a party, it’s time to start really taking notice.
Business Leader expert Steven Swinford reports that The Times has received a letter backing Labour signed by 121 executives. These include Wikipedia founder Sir Jimmy Wales, restaurateur Tom Kerridge and current and former execs from JP Morgan, Aston Martin, The Founders Forum Group and WPP.
In the letter, the group says:
We are looking for a government that will partner fiscal discipline with a long-term growth strategy, working in partnership with the private sector to drive innovation and investment to build digital and physical capital and fix our skills system.
Labour has shown it has changed and wants to work with business to achieve the UK’s full economic potential. We should now give it the chance to change the country and lead Britain into the future.
We are in urgent need of a new outlook to break free from the stagnation of the past decade and we hope by taking this public stand we might persuade others of that need too.
Elsewhere, Sir Keir Starmer’s rebranded workers’ rights package was slammed over the weekend. Unite, one of the country’s most prominent unions, say the deal has “more holes in it than Swiss cheese“. These comments come as shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves says that Labour will be both "pro-worker and pro-business" should the party come out on top in a little over five weeks’ time. Reeves also promises the most “pro-growth” Treasury in UK history.
But as Charles de Gaulle once said: “Politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.”
We want to hear from you…
Which party do you think has the best chance of helping the economy and your business grow? Email josh.dornbrack@businessleader.co.uk to join the conversation.
Other stories that matter…
1. Shop price rises are back to normal levels, according to the British Retail Consortium. The UK retail industry body’s chief exec Helen Dickinson says that the level “is helped by slowing food inflation, with fresh food inflation falling to its lowest level since November 2021“. You can read more here.
2. The Times has taken a deep dive into the private equity firm that oversaw the collapse of The Body Shop and it doesn’t make for pretty reading. The firm has dismantled or pushed six other UK businesses into insolvency relatively soon after acquisition. You can read the full piece here and our analysis of the retailer’s demise here.
3. Starling Bank could reach a valuation of £10bn within the next few years. The claim comes from the bank’s second-biggest investor Chrysalis. The investment trust points to revenues from Starling’s software-as-a-service unit Engine as the cause for the valuation boost. You can read more here.
4. Elon Musk’s AI start-up is making serious waves. xAI confirmed that it had raised $6bn, giving it an estimated valuation of $24bn. Musk founded the company in 2023, five years after leaving OpenAI’s board. At the time, Musk said that he “didn’t agree with some of what [the] OpenAI team wanted to do”. You can read more here.
5. Deloitte estimates that 70 per cent of executives consider quitting their jobs in part due to feelings of loneliness and poor well-being. Fortune looks into the problem and how to combat it, saying: “A CEO’s influence is a privilege, and how they combat loneliness is integral to improving their well-being and the health of an organisation.“ You can read more here.
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And finally…
The results of the Off to Lunch Fantasy Premier League mini-league are in. Yes, our editor-in-chief Graham Ruddick came out on top, so we need some more competition to knock him off the top spot next season. Congrats to James Rollinson and Luke Hildyard for taking the other podium spots.
We will be sharing details of how to join the league before the start of the next Premier League season.
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