A shadow minister has declared Labour is “the party of business” as it continues to make a clean break from the Jeremy Corbyn era.
Bill Esterson told HuffPost UK it was possible to be the party of entrepreneurs as well as the party of workers.
The shadow business minister said: “If we want Britain to be successful, we’ve got to be entrepreneurial.
“We’ve got to support our businesses and that’s where Keir Starmer, Rachel Reeves and the shadow business team are going.”
He said a Labour government would create an “entrepreneurial society” and should be “encouraging, welcoming and celebrating” success.
His comments will be viewed as more evidence of Labour moving further to the centre in an attempt to woo Conservative voters.
Labour’s shadow business team is regularly meeting with British manufacturers as they hammer home their core message that: “Labour means business.”
“If you don’t support businesses, you’re not supporting workers.”
- Bill Esterson
The MP for Sefton Central since 2010, Esterson originally trained as an accountant and went on to set up two businesses with his wife - first in soft furnishings and then learning development.
This background, he says, gives him credibility in his role as the shadow minister for business and industry.
He previously served under Corbyn as shadow minister for small business and even managed to stay on the frontbench despite supporting Owen Smith’s failed challenge to Corbyn’s leadership in 2016.
Esterson went on to serve as the shadow international trade minister before Starmer appointed him in his current role during November’s reshuffle.
He said: “Today’s start-up, today’s self-employed person, today’s small businesses is tomorrow’s large employer and tomorrow’s source of prosperity.”
Under Corbyn’s leadership, Labour vowed to go after the super rich with higher taxes.
Hundreds of the UK’s wealthiest entrepreneurs were even threatening to leave the country if Labour won the 2019 election.
In a clear shift in tone, Esterson said: “You’ve got to be pro-business if you want to be pro-worker. You’ve got to be pro-responsible business and businesses that play by the rule, pay their suppliers, that pay the living wage, that have a good diverse recruitment policy, treat their staff fairly and that have good environmental standards.”
He said a Labour government’s job would be to create the “level playing field” for businesses to thrive: “So they can make the money to pay people well, to create new jobs and to contribute to communities and to make the kind of profits needed to raise tax revenues for better public services too.
“Yes, we are the party of business. We are the party of successful, sustainable and progressive business.”
Esterson said businesses were now “really worried” about the Conservatives.
Referring to Boris Johnson saying “f*** business” during the Brexit negotiations, he said: “When the guiding philosophy of the prime minister begins with ‘F’ towards business, it’s no wonder.
“But it isn’t just him swearing at them, his whole approach has undermined them. The only businesses that seem to have any support are their mates in the VIP lane who got given preferential terms.”
Esterson said Labour would help businesses by cutting VAT on energy bills, adding: “Business contracts in energy are not protected by the price cap. So you’re looking at a four-fold increase, at least, for businesses.
“Our alternative offer included £600 million contingency fund, funded by the one-off windfall tax on North Sea oil and gas.
“Those things are part of the kind of pro-business agenda and policy making we’re looking at - because we understand if you don’t support businesses, you’re not supporting workers.
“So, yes, Labour’s the party of the worker, but if you don’t support the people who employ those workers, you’re not helping anybody.”
A Labour government would work with employers and unions so “all businesses” had access to government procurement, he said, before adding: “Not just for a VIP lane for a few mates of the Tory party as we saw through throughout Covid with PPE and test-and-trace.”
“You’ve got to be pro-business if you want to be pro-worker.”
- Bill Esterson
One issue that has divided some in his party is whether or not they would nationalise the six big energy companies. Last year, Starmer ruled it out but Ed Miliband, then shadow business secretary, was said to be keen to keep it on the table to aid the economy’s transition to net zero.
A senior Labour source recently told City A.M. that Starmer was expected to ditch further such pledges to nationalise industries as he seeks to “slaughter the sacred cows of Corbynism”.
Asked about nationalising energy, Esterson replied: “The priority is to get energy prices down. Keir has talked about the importance of public ownership and it has its place but that’s not the first priority.”
He stressed energy efficiency measures such as insulating homes and moving away from our reliance on fossil fuels, adding: “I think it’s very likely that there’s a massive role for government in how it is delivered.
“The exact detail is something that will come out and as we develop the [industrial] strategy. I think that’s the honest answer about ownership as well as about investment.”
The interview came at a potentially fortuitous time for the Labour Party as the Tories take a hammering in the polls over partygate, lobbying scandals and No10 chaos.
Asked if Starmer could win the next election and how he was feeling about Labour’s election prospects, Esterson replied: “I’m feeling cautiously optimistic. I think we’ve made enormous progress.
“The doors that I am knocking on...people are turning away from the Conservatives in significant numbers very reminiscent of what it was like in about 1993 when they went off John Major.
“But, as I know from my experience, them having had enough of the Conservatives is not a guarantee they’ll vote for us.
“So we’ve now got to set our stall and that’s what Keir’s doing right now. And I think it’s increasingly encouraging that people are responding. And actually our energy plan is starting to cut through - and the idea that we are offering people a decent future, the theme of security, prosperity and respect does resonate.
“We have to spend our time making sure people know it’s our plan, and that we put the detail on it of exactly how people are going to be better off with a Labour government and that’s the work of the coming months.”