Will Miliband's Attack On Boots Boss Win Votes?

Is Labour anti-business? Is business anti-Labour?

Those are the two key questions raised by the intervention of Boots chief Stefano Pessina, who warned Ed Miliband would be a “catastrophe” for Britain.

The Labour leader gave a strongly worded and very personal response at the Sky News Stand Up Be Counted event on Monday in which he attacked the business leader as a tax avoider. It was both considered and deliberate.

He had two days to perfect it. Labour clearly believes that in this case the best response is to fight fire with fire, in the hope that voters will see it as a robust attack against a vested interest.

When Lord Rose, the former chief executive of Marks and Spencer and Tory peer, added to the row, they were quick to dismiss him.

But who wins in this ugly spat?

Clearly it is bad for Labour to be seen in anyway as anti-business. Tony Blair won a series of elections on the back of a New Labour mantra in which he reached out to the top of industry.

Labour now has a new message – to take on what Mr Miliband calls the “vested interests” through state intervention in, what he argues, are uncompetitive markets.

I have no doubt that this argument makes a lot of business leaders nervous. I’ve met people on Mr Pessina’s level who have privately expressed a similar level of distaste at the Labour message.

But senior insiders in the party would argue that it was always thus. For all Tony Blair’s wooing, they would point out that none of the FTSE 100 chief executives came out in support of New Labour in 1997.

And they insist they have positive policies for business too. Certainly a conversation with a CBI spokesman is telling. He was careful not to be partisan in any way, but happy to put forward opinions on party policy.

The truth is there are pros and cons with both Labour and the Tories.

The CBI has strongly welcomed corporation tax cuts, for example, but are openly critical of the Conservative policy of an immigration cap.

On the other hand, it is nervous about Labour’s talk of state intervention, but “loves” Tuesday’s announcement of a national infrastructure commission to make recommendations on the country’s infrastructure needs.

So it is more complex than a black-and-white picture. One thing is clear: Labour has made a political calculation that attacking Mr Pessina as a tax avoider will help them with voters.

The answer to that question will only come from polls that have yet to be carried out.

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Will Miliband's Attack On Boots Boss Win Votes?