British prime minister seeks to win back corporate confidence with new business council

Reuters

Published Jul 17, 2023 22:32

By Andrew MacAskill

LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will hold the first meeting of his new business council on Tuesday, in a bid to support his pledge to grow the economy and fend off attempts by the opposition Labour Party to win over the business community.

Sunak will hold talks in Downing Street with chief executives and chairman of some of Britain's largest companies including AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN), NatWest (LON:NWG) Group, BAE Systems (LON:BAES), Sainsbury's, Vodafone (LON:VOD), Diageo (LON:DGE), Barclays (LON:BARC), and Shell (LON:RDSa).

"I look forward to hearing first-hand from business leaders about how we can break down the barriers they face and unlock new opportunities for them to thrive," Sunak said in a statement. "The more businesses innovate and invest, the more we grow and create good jobs right across the country."

Sunak, a former investment banker, has made reviving the economy one of his five key priorities after Britain's gross domestic product only regained its pre-pandemic size in February.

International Monetary Fund projections earlier this year put Britain at the bottom of the world's major economies in terms of expected growth in 2023.

Many business leaders were left infuriated by the governing Conservatives' decision to leave the EU's single market and customs union at the end of 2020, and then the economic turmoil during the premierships of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.

The opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer is campaigning to convince companies that the left-wing party would not pose a threat if it returns to power in an election expected next year.