Cbi

Monday

Oscar Edmondson

Should Starmer be worried about this petition?

13 min listen

Today is the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) conference, at which Rachel Reeves has laid out her plan to ‘Get Britain Working’ and prove Labour as the party of business … despite what the recent Budget and the employers national insurance increase might suggest. What’s the mood of big business today?  Also on the podcast, a petition has gone viral over the weekend calling for a general election. Various people have signed it, from Nigel Farage to Michael Caine. But should Labour actually be worried? Oscar Edmondson speaks to Katy Balls and Isabel Hardman.  Produced by Oscar Edmondson. 

Monday

Katy Balls

Prime Minister’s rambling speech revives Johnson jitters

After three torrid weeks, Tory MPs were hoping for a better start to this one. Alas, it has got off to a rather bizarre start. The kindest thing that can be said about the Prime Minister’s speech this morning to the Confederation of British Industry is that it was peculiar.  The main thrust of the speech was meant to be about green growth as part of the government’s levelling up agenda — with an announcement that new homes and buildings will require electrical vehicle charging points from next year. But the announcements are not what is leading the coverage. Instead, it’s the Prime Minister’s confused manner as he had to stop and start before going off on a