Labour no longer ‘sneering at business’ as it calls in City grandees

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City Editor

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Tulip Siddiq has referred herself to the government’s standards watchdog over questions about her use of properties linked to the deposed Bangladeshi leader.
Tulip Siddiq has referred herself to the government’s standards watchdog over questions about her use of properties linked to the deposed Bangladeshi leader.

The Labour party has said it is no longer “sneering at business” as it announced 10 new advisers for the City, including the chief of the London Stock Exchange and former chair of the Financial Conduct Authority.

Labour’s shadow City minister Tulip Siddiq said the new council of grandees would help the party work with the financial services sector rather than introducing a “whole new set of rules,” she writes in Morning Wire this morning.

“People were worried that under the last leadership we had been sneering at business. There was a perception that was still lingering,” she told the Financial Times in a separate interview.

Among the names on the list of advisers are Sir Douglas Flint, chair of Abrdn; Sir Ron Kalifa, independent director at the Bank of England and the mastermind of the Kalifa Review of fintech; Sir John Kingman, chair of Legal & General Group, and Anne Glover, co-founder of Amadeus Capital Partners. 

Others advising Labour include Susan Allen, chief executive of Yorkshire Building Society; Dame Elizabeth Corley, chair of Schroders; Nigel Higgins, group chair of Barclays; Charles Randell, former chair of the Financial Conduct Authority; and David Schwimmer, chief executive of London Stock Exchange Group. 

The advisers will work with Starmer and Rachel Reeves, shadow chancellor, who will launch a review of financial services in Edinburgh today to draw up its new policy platform for the sector.  

Siddiq said Labour would publish the panel’s final report in early 2024, with its findings feeding into the party’s manifesto. The advisers were working in an independent capacity, she added.

“My commitment to you is to drive Labour’s crucial missions: sustained growth, regional development, and a partnership with the private sector to make working people across the UK better off. This review, and our relationship with the sector, is central to Labour unlocking the power of our financial services for everyone’s benefit,” she writes this morning.