Business leaders prefer Labour figures, particularly Starmer and Rayner, over their Tory counterparts, new polling has found.
Business heads are twice as likely to pick Angela Rayner (34 per cent) than Oliver Dowden (17 per cent) as their deputy prime minister, according to Savanta Business Tracker polling.
The research, which surveyed 1,000 business decision makers, also found that Starmer is the City’s preferred choice to enter No10, with 42 per cent of respondents preferring the Labour leader to Rishi Sunak (27 per cent).
Overall, the Labour party is more popular than the Conservatives for half of business heads, while the Tories are only preferred by 28 per cent of UK market leaders.
Rachel Reeves, shadow Chancellor, is less popular in comparison to her opposite number. A third of business heads gave the would-be Labour chancellor the nod, just five more points than Jeremy Hunt, who has been the Conservative Chancellor since 2022.
Hunt, who risks losing his “knife edge” seat in Godalming and Ash on Thursday, has seen GDP rise slightly higher than expected during his tenure. The Chancellor has defended Liz Truss’ economic policy, while Rishi Sunak has sought to distance himself from the former Downing Street resident.
While the Conservatives have pledged tax cuts, Rachel Reeves has promised to charge VAT for private schools but has ruled out increasing income tax, national insurance, or bringing in wider VAT rises.
Jonathan Reynolds, Labour’s business secretary who recently said that revisiting EU membership risks instability for UK firms, is rated as preferable to his opposite number, Kemi Badenoch, by seven points.
David Cameron, however, is UK business’ preferred home secretary, and the only Tory figure to be preferred to their Labour counterpart. 34 per cent of business figures surveyed prefer the former Prime Minister, while only 25 per cent would choose the opposition’s David Lammy.
If Labour take a widely-predicted majority, business leaders will be most concerned about taxation among their policies, Survation found. 69 per cent of City heads are worried about Labour’s tax plans, while the wider economy (67 per cent) and immigration (61 per cent) also rated highly among the City’s concerns for a Labour government.
The Conservatives have accused Labour of making unfunded spending commitments, but the party has strongly rebutted the Tories’ claim that the taxpayer will face a £2,000 hike, and has claimed families could see a £4,800 mortgage rise if they are re-elected.
Labour’s workers’ rights and equality, diversity, and inclusion agendas rank the lowest among business heads’ concerns, causing concern to 51 and 46 per cent respectively.
It announced a flagship workers’ rights overhaul earlier this year which was signed off by key unions, but some have criticised the party’s alleged failure to fully criminalise zero-hours contracts.
Chris Hopkins, political research director at Savanta, said: “Head-to-head, business decision makers prefer Labour figures over most of their Conservative counterparts by a pretty convincing margin.”
Hopkins says that Rayner’s popularity is “surprising” considering her “strong policy platform on improved worker’s rights”.
“Our research suggests business leaders are more concerned about what impact a Labour government might have on fundamentals such as the economy and taxation, rather than more controversial topics such as workers’ rights and EDI policy – implying the Conservatives don’t necessarily understand the needs of a usually receptive key audience,” the research chief said.
Labour’s clear lead in the City is a “legacy” left behind by Liz Truss, Hopkins said, and which “Sunak has failed to recover, and that may take a long time to reverse”.