LONDON, Feb 19 (Reuters) - British opposition leader Ed Miliband has so alarmed business executives with his talk of 'asset strippers' and 'tax dodgers' that many want a Conservative win at the election, even if it carries the risk of an exit from Europe. Representatives of some of Britain's biggest firms accuse the Labour party leader of demonising big business as a way to align himself with ordinary voters before the May 7 election.
Pledges from the 45-year-old to set energy prices, reform banks and lift the minimum wage have been followed by several uncomfortable meetings with the heads of companies.
As a result, executives are backing David Cameron's Conservatives, even though that entails a referendum on Europe before the end of 2017, potentially deterring companies from
investing in Britain and, if there is a vote to leave, disrupting trade with the 500 million-strong EU.
In return, they would like the in/out vote brought forward. "On the one hand we have Labour ... that seems to believe that bashing business will be good business at the ballot box, but you don't have a referendum," Martin Sorrell, CEO of the world's largest advertising agency WPP and an employer of 179,000 people, told Reuters. "On the other you have the Conservatives who tend to be more attuned to business but have a commitment to a referendum."
British business has long aligned itself with the centre-right Conservatives, but that changed under Tony Blair, Labour's most successful leader, who embarked on a "prawn cocktail offensive" to build relations with Britain's boardrooms before winning three elections starting in 1997.
One Blair aide declared that Labour was "intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich".
But 18 years on and with the Conservatives still blaming Labour for the economic crash, Miliband has sought a different tone.
Elected to lead Labour largely with the backing of unions, he set out his stall towards business in 2011 when he described some firms as predators and asset strippers. His pledge in 2013 to cap household energy prices tapped into the frustration of voters tired of constant increases. And he has since painted himself as the man to take on the vested interests of business and the London-centric elite.
"A lot of the meetings between my clients and Ed Miliband have been very unsatisfactory," said Charles Lewington, managing director of lobbyists Hanover, who counts 25 global firms among
his 75 clients. "For five minutes he says tell me what your concerns are, and then for 55 minutes he says this is how I think business should operate in a world of austerity where ordinary people are not earning enough." Nearly all Hanover clients back the Conservatives, he said. A recent poll of executives said the same. "PRAWN COCKTAIL OFFENSIVE"
Meetings between senior executives of another FTSE-100company and Ed Balls, Miliband's finance spokesman, were much more constructive, one source said, and other execs noted that politicians often change their tone once in power. A source familiar with Labour said the party was also being
punished for its plans to tax the rich more, which include a "mansion tax" on expensive properties as well as a higher rate of income tax for the top earners.
REUTERS
