Pre-budget howls from big business beasts go deeper than the usual tax grumbles
It might be tempting, if you are sitting in Downing Street, to dismiss the current pre-budget howls from big business beasts as standard stuff from usual suspects.Archie Norman, the Marks & Spencer chair who told the Telegraph the government’s workers’ rights proposals were “a political indulgence that the country cannot afford”, is a former Tory MP.Stuart Rose, who told the Times that he believed “we’re genuinely at the edge of a crisis”, is a Tory peer.Rain Newton-Smith, the boss of the CBI, is the country’s top business lobbyist.It should not be remotely surprising that she’s pleading for business to be spared more taxes in the budget, even if her argument in the Guardian also carried the provocative advice to the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, to rethink Labour’s manifesto pledges on tax.
The problem, though, is that these grumbles plainly go deeper – well beyond the employment rights package.Talk privately to FTSE 100 and 250 executives and you’ll hear consistent themes: that ministers, despite their pre-election schmoozing to woo the business vote, don’t “get” business; that the government has stopped listening; and that key decisions are fluffed, or take too long.Exhibit A on the last front was the collapse in January of AstraZeneca’s intended £450m investment in a vaccine factory in Speke near Liverpool.“Several factors have influenced this decision, including the timing and reduction of the final offer compared to the previous government’s proposal,” said the company at the time.The Treasury may dispute the account, but the business world (not just a pharmaceutical industry in the middle of a separate quarrel over the prices the NHS pays for prescription medicines) was amazed that a flagship deal could fall apart at the stage of haggling over details.
The government, remember, is still aiming to make the UK a “life sciences superpower”.Over in retail-land, a specific grumble is not simply that reform of business rates is taking ages (it always does) but that a simple-sounding proposal to shift some receipts from bricks-and-mortar shops to online premises has morphed into a complicated scrap over the size of premises to be captured by a higher rate.“We still haven’t got a clue where the government is going to end up,” says one executive who met officials in the last month.The “not listening” accusation is echoed even among those with longstanding government contacts.Here’s the chair of one FTSE 100 company: “It feels like they are not even talking to anyone.
They’re in a bunker,What you need for growth is some level of confidence in what is about to happen,”The danger, says another executive, is that the government is flying blind: “In the government’s shoes, you’ve got to know which policy ideas on tax will be genuinely damaging and which will cause a fuss but would be stomached,” An increase in levies on banks would fall in the latter category, he suggests, if Reeves is compelled to change some corporate taxes,Sign up to Business TodayGet set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morningafter newsletter promotionThe government gets praise from business on some fronts, it should be said.
The overseas trade deals, Reeves’s Mansion House compact, the Treasury’s intervention in the car finance row and the pressure on regulators to be “pro-growth” have gone down well – as you’d expect.Jonathan Reynolds, the business minister until last week, also tended to be viewed positively; so, too, Varun Chandra, Keir Starmer’s business adviser.Yet lack of urgency and lack of coordination across government is a consistent message.“We’ve had the ‘five missions’, the ‘plan for change’ and the ‘three priorities’.It’s just confusing,” says one executive.
The turning point in the business mood was, of course, last November’s £40bn tax-raising budget and its increase in employers’ national insurance.That was never going to win applause in boardrooms, as Reeves surely knew at the time.But it is also true that efforts to repair relations with business afterwards have dribbled into the sand.Some level of tension between government and business is normal (and too much cosiness is worse), but the current level of distrust feels genuinely unhealthy for investment.Now comes No 10’s creation of a “budget board”, seemingly intended to avoid another bust-up with business in November.
That’s a start, even if nobody pretends there are easy answers when economic forecasts are deteriorating.But a shift in the vibes with business has become urgent.Come 2029, it would be useful to have a few big business figures calling out Reform UK’s fantasy economics.
How to turn a single egg and rescued berries into a classic British dessert
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Cracker Barrel suspends remodeling plans after backlash over logo change
Cracker Barrel announced on Tuesday that it’s suspending plans to remodel its restaurants just weeks after reversing a logo change that ignited a political firestorm.The 56-year-old restaurant chain, known for southern-style cooking and country-store aesthetic, faced intense backlash last month after unveiling a rebranding effort aimed at modernizing its image. The company rolled out a new minimalist logo and plans for more contemporary interiors, and it updated menu items.The new logo replaced the brand’s image of an old man in overalls leaning against a wooden barrel with a simplified gold background and the words “Cracker Barrel” in minimalist lettering.The change was immediately met with intense outrage online from conservatives and far-right influencers who accused the company of going “woke”
Australian supermarket sausage rolls taste test: from ‘perfect, flaky casing’ to ‘bland’ and ‘mushy’
With six friends and multiple kids in tow, Sarah Ayoub tests 10 brands of frozen sausage rolls to find the ones with crisp exteriors and convincingly meaty flavoursIf you value our independent journalism, we hope you’ll consider supporting us todayWith spring picnics and footy finals on the horizon, sausage rolls – one of the pinnacles of frozen celebration foods – are in order. But with up to a dozen varieties in your local supermarket freezer, it’s hard to make an informed choice.I rounded up six friends (plus a couple of kids) with discerning frozen-food palates: people who love a sausage roll and see it as a culinary staple, whether it comes from the servo or a bakery, and parents used to baking them in a pinch for dinner or for a crowd at birthday parties.We agreed that a good sausage roll is all about a flaky and crispy exterior; a soft, meaty interior; and a decent meat-to-pastry ratio. With those qualities in mind, we then set about taste-testing 10 varieties from Coles, Woolworths, Aldi and independent grocers
Beyond the bacon sandwich: the many uses of brown sauce
I like my bacon sandwich with brown sauce, but that means keeping a bottle for a long time. What else can I do with it? Will, via emailIn the early 1980s, Tom Harris, co-owner and chef at the Marksman in east London, made a beer mat from penny coins for his dad (and in the quest to secure a Blue Peter badge): “The instructions said to put the dirty coins in brown sauce overnight,” he recalls. “The next morning, they were all shiny and looked brand new, so there’s another use for it right there!”Brown sauce is “an absolute marvel”, agrees Sabrina Ghayour, author of the recently published Persiana Easy, and not just for its cleaning prowess: “If you break it down, the sauce is packed with some pretty interesting ingredients, including my beloved tamarind.” It’s worth exploring your bottle options beyond HP, too, not least because there was much controversy back in 2011 when the brand gave its recipe, which had remained unchanged for more than a century, a tweak. “They reduced the salt [from 2
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This time of year has to be one of my favourites for British produce – all the joys of late summer sweetness with early autumn favourites just around the corner. I’m happy to keep the summer party going, though, with tomato salads, crisp sundowners and crab sarnies. Despite never having visited Cornwall as a kid, there isn’t much better than sitting by the beach and devouring a Cornish crab sandwich. This is the slightly elevated version I make once the holidays are over to keep some sunshine in my life.Prep 20 min Makes 2150g mixed crab meat, picked through for bits of shell 70g mayonnaise 1 green chilli, pith and seeds removed, flesh finely chopped Sea salt and white pepper½ lime1 small handful flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked and finely chopped¼ cucumber, trimmed½ little gem, finely shredded1 tbsp olive oil 40g salted butter, at room temperature4 slices fresh white or wholemeal breadPut the crab meat, mayonnaise and chopped chilli in a large bowl and season well with salt and ground white pepper
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Eggs in a basket are a treat. The easiest way to make the necessary holes in your sliced bread is with a round pastry cutter – or a heart-shaped one for fun. Break the eggs into their bread ‘baskets’, then fry up their “hats” to go alongside. To make this a grownup rather than a nursery dinner, serve with lemon-and-paprika-spiked chard, or spinach or kale, if that’s what you have; I am growing a surfeit of chard, so I always need new ways to use it up.Prep 10 min Cook 10 min Serves 2 (but scale up if you’re hungry)2 tbsp olive oil 1 garlic clove, peeled and finely sliced150g rainbow chard, roughly chopped1 tsp hot smoked paprika 1 tsp flaky sea salt Juice of ½ lemon2 large slices good white bread or sourdough2 medium eggs50g Greek yoghurt, to servePut a tablespoon of the oil in a large frying pan on a medium heat, add the garlic and fry for 30 seconds
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