Cameron ally says UK’s uncertain EU future under Conservatives could stifle investment and is as big a concern as ‘Miliband’s business bashing’

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of advertising group WPP and often one of David Cameron’s closest corporate allies, has said business-minded voters face “a conundrum” choosing between Labour and the Conservatives at the ballot box in May.

Despite echoing many of the criticisms of Ed Miliband — voiced in recent weeks by Alliance Boots boss Stefano Pessina and a handful of other business leaders — Sorrell said the uncertain future of Britain in Europe under the Conservatives was of equal concern to many companies investing in Britain.

Labour extends lead over Conservatives despite attacks from business Read more

Sorrell said the decision on which party to vote for amounted to “a Hobson’s Choice”— on the one hand Labour is anti-business, while on the other hand a Conservative victory would trigger a referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union.

Sorrell told the Guardian: “From an electoral point of view, Ed Miliband clearly believes bashing business is good for the ballot box and will benefit him.

“It’s a conundrum for business. Labour won’t have a referendum but you might have a regime that is more negative to business, and a referendum makes a Conservative vote that much more difficult.”

Katja Hall, deputy director-general of business lobby group the CBI, agreed that it was a mixed picture. “There are some proposals we like and some we don’t from all of the political parties,” she said.

“We have some concerns about Labour intervening in the banking and energy sectors, but we are encouraged by their work on industrial strategy and reforming the UK education system to produce more rounded and grounded young people.

“We like the Conservatives’ emphasis on maintaining a competitive corporation tax environment, but have concerns around some of the unhelpful rhetoric on immigration.”

Sorrell has previously sat on the prime minister’s business advisory group and, with his wife, has been a guest of the Camerons at Chequers. He had moved WPP’s tax domicile to Ireland in 2008 in response to the then Labour government’s efforts to toughen up tax rules for UK group’s using offshore financing subsidiaries to lower their tax bills. He promptly brought WPP’s headquarters back to the UK after Osborne reversed those measures.

Business lobby groups have repeatedly argued that most companies want Britain to remain in the EU, and that a referendum would cause widespread uncertainty, stifling investment.

Labour has struggled in the past week to attract the public support of senior business figures, as policies such as an energy price freeze, a mansion tax, and the reinstatement of a 50p top rate of tax ruffle feathers in UK boardrooms.

However, Labour’s shadow education secretary Tristrum Hunt became the latest senior party figure to insist that Labour backed business. Hunt told BBC1’s The Andrew Marr Show that Labour was a “furiously, passionately, aggressively pro-business” party.