Bosses welcome Philip Hammond’s olive branch towards corporate Britain

Pic:Chancellor Philip Hammond is giving a speech to the 2018 Tory conference in Birmingham ( reuters )
Business correspondent(wp/es):

Business leaders on Monday welcomed Chancellor Philip Hammond’s attempt to repair the Conservatives’ battered relationship with corporate Britain in an emollient conference speech.

Senior bosses have voiced mounting frustration with the Government’s attitude to business as Tories remain fixated on Brexit and the threat of Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour. 

Relations reached a nadir this summer with ex-Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson’s reported “f**k business” response to concerns over the UK’s EU exit. 

Hammond’s set-piece, billed as the “f**k ‘f**k business’” speech, instead extended the olive branch to companies, with new commitments on the overhaul of the unpopular apprenticeship levy, which has seen the number of apprentices plummet by nearly a third. The CBI’s director general Carolyn Fairbairn voiced hopes that “the conference can represent a change of tone”. 

Donor and former Tory party treasurer Michael Spencer warned: “The big, medium and small business community are genuinely really upset, disappointed and shocked that whenever the PM talks about business she seems to focus on the bad examples, as opposed to the vast majority who have been successful, invested their own money, paid their taxes and contributed to the economy. They are the economy. without them, the country collapses.

“We really need Theresa May to do a reset on her position and I know my views on this are supported in the party.”

Other senior business figures underlined the message that a change of tack from the Tories towards business was overdue after protracted in-fighting over Brexit.

Chris Grigg, chief executive of landlord British Land, said: “The Conservative party has been quite inwardly focused around Brexit recently, and that has come at the cost of their more traditional focus on business. 

“Whatever you think about Brexit, it is clear that it is going to put pressure on companies which have millions of staff in the UK and a choice over how they invest and allocate resources. But when businesses make those observations they have often come in for significant criticism.”

Ian Sutcliffe, the head of housebuilder Countryside Properties, added: “The thing that business requires is policy and direction and an agenda that focuses on the country, not just Brexit. It is over two years now since we had the referendum and the corridors of Westminster have been obsessed with the Brexit issue.”

Chris Pullen, chief executive of Staffline, the UK’s biggest provider of apprentice levy training, welcomed the overhaul. “It’s good the Government recognises it’s had a slow start and is going to make it more fit for purpose.” 

Helen Brocklebank, boss of luxury goods body Walpole, added: “I find it astonishing that Philip Hammond seems to be the lone pro-business voice in the Brexit wilderness. Business is the only thing that will get us out of the fix we find ourselves in.”

Brent Hoberman, executive chairman of technology investor Founders Factory, said: “I am very much hoping they now see business and entrepreneurship is central to what the country needs. They are Tories after all.”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ADVERTISEMENT***ADVERTISEMENT***ADVERTISEMENT

buy/sell/tolet/penpal/small business or any other advertisement ,page sponser top or down @ £10/£20...for ur advertisement.e-mail us----weastartimes@gmail.com

London bridge sealed off and man arrested after 'suspicious package' found on bus

Crime reporter(wp/es):

A London bridge was sealed off and a man has been arrested on suspicion of making a bomb threat as a suspicious package was found on a bus.

Traffic and pedestrians were blocked from crossing Kew Bridge in west London as police descended on the scene on Monday evening. 

Worried residents took to social media to share dramatic images as officers swarmed on the bridge, in Kew Road, at about 7.30pm.

Penny Burningham wrote on Twitter: “Kew Bridge Closed at 8pm tonight. It looks like a fire under the bridge Kew Side!"

A man was detained near the bridge. He was arrested on suspicion of making a bomb threat and remained in custody overnight.

The package was investigated and found to be non-suspicious, Scotland Yard said.

A Met Police spokesman said: “Officers attended and the package was assessed and deemed non-suspicious.

“A man was detained by police near the scene and arrested on suspicion of making a bomb threat. 

“He is currently in custody at a west London police station.”

Boris Johnson 'would delay Brexit by six months' if topples Theresa May to become leader'

Political reporter(wp/es):

Boris Johnson has said he would delay Brexit by at least six months if he topples Theresa May to become Prime Minister, according to reports last night.

It comes as the former foreign secretary prepares deliver an eagerly-anticipated speech at the Conservative conference that his supporters hope will pave way for a leadership bid.

Mr Johnson told senior Tories of his plans to delay the UK’s exit from the bloc if his bid to be Prime Minister is successful, the Sun reported on Monday.

He reportedly said the pause would be used to reset stalled negotiations with the European Union, according to the newspaper.

In his speech at the Tory conference in Birmingham today, Mr Johnson will call on Mrs May to “chuck Chequers” after he earlier controversially described the plan as “deranged”.

Mr Johnson will also use his speech to issue a clarion call to activists to "believe in Conservative values".

In what will undoubtedly be seen as a pitch to replace Mrs May, he will not only restate his opposition to the Prime Minister's handling of Brexit but call on Tories to focus on law and order, tax cuts and house-building in order to defeat Labour.

His call for Tories to stick to their tax-cutting guns will come as a rebuke to Chancellor Philip Hammond, who has openly admitted taxes will rise to help pay for the £20 billion spending boost promised to the NHS.

The Tory gathering is becoming a grudge match between the former foreign secretary and the Chancellor, who launched a savage assault on Mr Johnson in a series of interviews.

Mr Hammond mocked his former Cabinet colleague by mimicking his style of speaking in an interview with the Daily Mail, in which he predicted that Johnson will never become Prime Minister.

Accusing Mr Johnson of lacking the attention to detail to succeed in "grown-up politics", he dismissed the "super-Canada" Brexit deal favoured by the former foreign secretary as a "fantasy world" plan.

Extracts released ahead of Mr Johnson's speech to a fringe meeting suggest he will present himself as ready to stand up for Tory values and lead a fight against Jeremy Corbyn's Labour.

In what may be seen as a swipe at Mrs May's focus on righting "burning injustices" in society, he will urge the party not to "ape Corbyn" but to "take basic conservative ideas and fit them to the problems of today".

Speaking at a fringe meeting hosted by the ConservativeHome website, Mr Johnson will say: "We must on no account follow Corbyn, and start to treat capitalism as a kind of boo word.

"We can't lose our faith in competition and choice and markets but we should restate the truth that there is simply no other system that is so miraculously successful in satisfying human wants and needs.

"We should set our taxes to stimulate investment and growth. We should be constantly aiming not to increase but to cut taxes.

"It is the conservative approach that gets things done, so let's follow our conservative instincts."

Attacking Mr Corbyn's leader's speech to Labour's conference in Liverpool last week, Mr Johnson will say: "It was astonishing that he had absolutely nothing to say about the wealth-creating sector of the economy - the people who get up at the crack of dawn to prepare their shops, the grafters and the grifters, the innovators, the entrepreneurs - he didn't mention any successes.

"We Conservatives know that it is only a strong private sector economy that can pay for superb public services and that is the central symmetry of our one nation Toryism."

Mr Johnson will pay only a flying one-day visit to a conference which has witnessed open warfare within the Tory party over Brexit, which critics say he has done nothing to calm.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ADVERTISEMENT***ADVERTISEMENT***ADVERTISEMENT

buy/sell/tolet/penpal/small business or any other advertisement ,page sponser top or down @ £10/£20...for ur advertisement.e-mail us----weastartimes@gmail.com