Another thirty senior business leaders back the Conservatives on national insurance
Last week saw 37 leading businessmen backing the Conservative position in opposing Labour's rise in national insurance.
At today's PMQs, David Cameron said that a further 30 business leaders had today added their support to the message that original letter which stated that the rise in NICs was "an additional tax on jobs" and that "stopping the national insurance rise will protect jobs and support the recovery".
It is good to see further momentum gathering behind the position which David Cameron and George Osborne have consistently backed; Transport Secretary Lord Adonis was certainly squirming on the Daily Politics earlier when he was unable to answer Andrew Neil and name one person running a leading FTSE company who backed the Government's position. As PoliticsHome reported, he desperately prayed in aid the name of Labour peer Lord Sugar.
The full list of the latest backers of the Conservative line is as follows:
- Kirby Adams, Chief Executive, Corus
- Surinder Arora, Chairman, Arora International Hotels (Sofitel)
- Stefan Barden, Chief Executive, Northern Foods
- Robert Bensoussan, Executive Chairman, LKBennett
- Simon Blagden, Chairman, Fujitsu Telecommunications (Europe)
- Tony Brown, Chief Executive, Beales
- Chris Dawson, Founder and Managing Director, The Range
- Sir John Egan
- Ralph Findlay, Chief Executive, Marston's plc
- Stephen Goodyear, Chief Executive, Young & Co's Brewery PLC
- Anthony Habgood, Chairman, Reed Elsevier
- Andy Harrison, Chief Executive, easyJet
- Peter Harrison, Chief Executive, Furniture Village
- Grant Hearn, Chief Executive, Travelodge
- Peter Hindle, Chief Executive, Jewson
- Neil Hornby, Chairman, Hornby plc and Umeco plc
- Luke Johnson, Founder of Risk Capital Partners and Chairman of Royal Society of Arts
- John King, Chief Executive, House of Fraser
- Richard Kirk, Chief Executive, The Peacock Group
- Simon Lockett, Chief Executive, Premier Oil Plc
- Rick Medlock, CFO, Inmarsat Plc
- Mike Norris, Chief Executive, Computacenter
- Tony Pidgeley, Group Chairman, Berkeley Group Holdings Plc
- Jamie Ritblat, Chief Executive, Delancey
- Nick Robertson, Chief Executive, ASOS
- Tim Steiner, Chief Executive, Ocado
- Michael Turner, Chief Executive, Fuller, Smith & Turner P.L.C
- Tom Wells, Chairman, Charles Wells Ltd and Muntons plc
- Nick Wheeler, Founder, Charles Tyrwhitt
- Bob Wigley, Chairman of Sovereign Reversions plc
4pm Thursday update:
A further thirteen business leaders have today added their names to the letter.
They are:
- Mark Allen, Chief Executive, Dairy Crest Group plc
- Robert Hiscox, Chairman, Hiscox Ltd
- Mark Robertshaw, Group Chief Executive, The Morgan Crucible Company PLC
- David Tyler, Chairman, Logica plc
- Hossein Yassaie, Chief Executive, Imagination Technologies Group Plc
- Archie Norman, Chairman, Aurigo Management Partners LLP
- Charlie Mullins, Managing Director, Pimlico Plumbers Ltd
- Chrissie Rucker, Founder, The White Company
- Peter Cullum, Executive Chairman, Towergate Partnership
- Richard Baker, Chairman, Virgin Active plc
- James Kilbane, Chairman, Grafton Recruitment
- Stephen Bourne, Chief Executive, Cambridge University Press
- David Cam, Director, Blackpool Pleasure Beach
That now brings the total tally to 81 signatories and comes as Labour have continued to claim - as did the Prime Minister on the Today Programme this morning - that they have been deceived by the Conservative Party, whilst Lord Mandelson dismissed these figures as “metropolitan-based” Chief Executives.
Jonathan Isaby
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