A message to our prime minister

I’ve been reflecting on the Prime Minister's speech at the CBI conference today. I was also in the audience for a similar speech from him at the face to face conference two years ago, and several things strike me (now as then) under the overarching theme of ‘it's not good enough’.

As a business leader, if I'd have got up today, and made a speech like that, in front of my partners, my members, my suppliers, my customers or any of my key stakeholders, I would have been shot down in flames for being unprepared, irrelevant, flippant and literally lacking in strategy, commercialism, empathy, and not having a plan. I have less of a problem with #peppapigworldgate to be honest (as odd as it was) but more the lack of substance and respect generally. In his role, not be able to speak coherently for 20 minutes to business leaders about policy and vision for how we need to work together to drive UK plc forwards, is staggering.?

It is simply not good enough. We have to demand more. The Prime Minister quite rightly, in my opinion, is challenging business to be the solution to fixing some of the issues we have across the economy, society and the world. As a business leader, I'm willing to stand up and help fix some of those problems. But I want to do it alongside the respect, vision and integrity shown to us by the person who should be role modelling leadership. It's fine for you to challenge us to lead the way but then you need to support us in business in doing so.?

I would ask for three things from you.?

The first one is?words and actions. There are a lot of words out there; actions are slow to follow. An example - the seed corn investment scheme. Free that up. Take away the barriers to women and other startup entrepreneurs to enable more of them to be able to thrive using it. It's a fantastic scheme. It's not being used enough. Another example - if you look at some of the levelling up funds (eg the Community Renewal Fund) that were promised last spring. Big words and rhetoric and six, seven months later, thousands of small businesses that are absolutely relying on that do not have the cash flowing through from the local authorities to drive that forwards due to holdups at Whitehall and bureaucracy creeping back in. Small businesses are the backbone of we will get this economy going. So speed up the cash, the investment and the capital coming through to support them.?

Secondly, be prepared to?admit when you are wrong and rethink plans WITH US. I have no problem with some of the backtracking on HS2 if you would now just come clean and say we got it wrong and there's a better idea. I welcome some of the changes that are going to happen more quickly as a result of some of the changes you've made this week. But stop the pretence. Stop the bluster. Stop the rhetoric and just say we got this wrong, it cost too much. We've got a better idea and that plan is going to drive economic growth and real levelling up more quickly. Let's also stop focusing on the long term physical infrastructure and be more strategic, visionary and agile. We need the digital infrastructure to overtake the physical infrastructure and fast. Both are vital, but let's not pretend its about trains. The the biggest single thing we can do to level up is to sort out the digital highways and the broadband speeds across this whole country. Let's make that absolutely the top of the list rather than living in an outdated view of the post pandemic world. The levelling up agenda has been given the biggest potential step forwards by the pandemic – location and attitudes towards it have changed – don’t try and take us backwards into large cites and the rail connections to London.?

So the first thing is put your words and actions together. The second thing is admit when you're wrong. Just tell the truth. Just be straightforward with us, work with us and treat us like adults.?

And the third thing is?join the dots WITH US. Don't pretend on one hand that we have a green economy and a green recovery and then do ridiculous things like actually change the tax on domestic flights. We need proper incentives which will drive business to take action right here right now. And you need to get on with it and make it simple and accessible and flow through the system. There are schemes out there but they are impenetrable. They're not accessible. Find a way to link together large and small business with the universities and other community based organisations are trying to join together to improve their places – put in simple, big investment incentives NOW which can enable this without control and the ecosystem will start to thrive in its own right. Put your money where your mouth is make it accessible, and incentivise business to do exactly what you are asking us to do. We will do it.

I wrote an article just before the budget in March calling for ‘the economics of &’. This set out how the government can help us join things but by doing the same with fiscal policy and incentives and most importantly collaborating over the solutions rather than treating us as adversaries.

“I wonder if we have the possibly of fostering a new age of economics, The economics of?&; where every intervention and action targets at least two outcomes; where we stop thinking of the markets as either/or choices; where key players in the economy collaborate to deliver results; where ‘&’ makes the sum greater than the whole of the parts so we all gain by growing UK PLC through coopetition rather than fighting for our own share”

We are ready; we are willing; we are able, but you need to step up too. You need to make it straightforward and you need to give us the incentives to invest in rebuilding this country.?

When we were in the height of the pandemic you found a way to do this without the red tape – don’t reset back now – keep that pace and can-do mentality. We'll join you on this fight. We'll work with you whether we agree with the platform we've been handed by the Brexit decision or not. We will drive and we'll make it work. But for God's sake, make it easier for us and show us some respect, be prepared, act as a professional and come to the table as an equal. And listen.?

If we'd have behaved the way you behave today, and quite frankly, the way you were two years ago when I saw you in person at the CBI conference, we would be out of a job. If you want to stay in this game, I suggest you raise your game because otherwise we'll play it without you.