Despite strikes, Labour ts still the front-runner for business

Coming together: shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves, Lord Jim O’Neill and Sir Keir Starmer meet in the Labour leader’s office in the Houses of Parliament, ahead of the party’s business conference this month. Meanwhile PM Rishi Sunak, below, has yet to restore the Tories’ ruined reputation for economic competence

- Chris Blackhurst

THINGS were going so well for Sir Keir Starmer and Labour. The Tories’ self-implosion showed, as if the country needed reminding, that they were no longer economically responsible.

Lord Jim O’Neill, himself a former minister in David Cameron’s government, led a review that was quite unlike usual Labour pleas to be taken seriously where business is concerned. Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor who commissioned O’Neill’s study, gathered with Starmer, 350 business leaders in Canary Wharf earlier this month for the unveiling of his report.

These were not the normal also-rans, asked by the chair or CEO to represent them at a Labour event — these were chairs and CEOs. Labour, too, received warm applause from the CBI.

It looked, for a period, as though Labour had usurped the Conservatives as the “party of business”, a slogan that is trotted out repeatedly during general election campaigns, in broadcasts, interviews and on the doorstep. “Trust us,” they’re saying, “we are the most qualified to look after your money.”