All talk and no action: Sunak's 'listening' attitude to business

ONE of Rishi Sunak’s pet phrases is that he is “listening”

- Chris Blackhurst

He said it repeatedly at his Business Connect event last month, billed as the Tories’ re-engagement with business leaders after the dismal Boris Johnson era. The suits, though, are getting rather tired of Sunak’s smile and earnest nodding and assurances. What is the point of saying you’re listening, then doing nothing?

At the gathering of corporate chiefs, Gerry Murphy, chairman of Burberry, said the Government had scored a “spectacular own goal” by scrapping tax breaks for tourists. There’s no question that Murphy is right. It’s obvious to anyone visiting the designer boutiques and department stores of the West End or the luxury shops at the airports that they’re unnaturally quiet. Travellers who would normally be spending their money are saving it for a more taxfriendly destination. This newspaper has long argued it is a nonsense.

It should be, as the City of London Corporation says today, a no-brainer to reverse the policy. It does not raise much and Sunak says he has heard. Yet it remains.