Labour's drift towards irrelevance

Labour have had very little to say about enterprise and business since Peter Mandelson's industrial intervention in the death throes of the Brown administration. It was surprising therefore to digest a report recently called Labour's business - why enterprise must be at the heart of Labour's politics in the 21st century put together by Alex Smith and Luke Bozier. 

All political parties need to do this. Enterprise is at the centre of modern life, too often a private sector policy centres on the degree to which a party sucks up to the city, or holds big summits with hand picked business leaders. Usually it's all an exercise in semantics and grandstanding that Gordon Brown excelled at. Yet help for start-ups, simplifying taxation, access to finance and addressing abuse of monopoly position in supply chains are critical for small businesses.

This report has some good analysis in it and some useful ideas. 

Luke Bozier today resigned from the Labour party and is joining the Conservatives. His statement is here.