Ed Miliband has alienated himself from Britain’s blue-chip companies and is risking the recovery by developing irrational and unpredictable policies, senior business figures have warned.
Business leaders are increasingly worried that Ed Balls, the Shadow Chancellor, and Chuka Umunna, the Shadow Business Secretary, do not have sufficient clout with the Labour leader to rein in what they believe is an unrealistic attempt to reshape capitalism. They complain that the senior Labour pair, who are both well regarded in corporate circles and who have been heavily courted over the past year, do not appear to be the main intellectual drivers behind the party’s signature policies. Some are now looking for contacts in the leader’s office.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, one chief executive