May 2025 – In our latest Membership Organisation and Trade Association Trends Tracker, we asked the CEOs and Directors of Policy to rate their relationship with the Labour Government.
Post last week’s local elections and an intriguing by-election in Runcorn, our Pulse, run in partnership with Pragmatix Advisory, showed 74% of chief executives and heads of policy expressing positivity when describing their working relationship with the Labour government.
Welcome news no doubt given last week’s election results which made our the political world feels far from positive; just see Kemi Badenoch massively talking down Tory chances last month. And this negativity runs hand in hand with UK borrowing for the year coming in at £15 billion, more than anticipated, along with the private sector contracting faster than any other time in the last two years.
Are we seemingly dancing without music? If there is music playing for this Government, you wouldn’t be surprised if it was Jaws.
In this Pulse, the mood music did strike a more sombre tone for some. One Chief Executive saw ‘no strategy for [business] engagement’ from Ministers; and another Policy leader lamented that ‘some decisions have been taken – because of the state of the nation’s finances – which negatively impact our members. ’
The upshot is no one really knows how the land lies at the moment. Business leaders may be generally positive, but that does not mean to say that some are not without concerns. These concerns that are shared throughout the country and there are a lot of factors in play. The outcome will no doubt be decided by behaviour and action and not promises.