General Election 2019: Taking care of business

An election might be on but, as always, few can resist the lure of tawdry scandal. Prince Andrew’s bizarre interview concerning his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein has dominated headlines and overshadowed the other major draw attention-wise, the salacious scandal that surrounds Jennifer Arcuri and her recent interviews on her time with Tory leader Boris Johnson.

Arcuri is in Britain giving interviews about her relationship with Johnson. She and Johnson face questions about money awarded to her business while Johnson was London’s mayor. While Arcuri offered nothing new, refusing to confirm or deny rumours of an affair, her interview, which aired on ITV, did offer moments of comedy. Arcuri played the victim scorned bewailing how she has loyally kept Johnson’s secrets only for him to “cast me aside, like I am some … gremlin”. Still it seems unlikely this will shift the needle much. Boris’ alleged tendencies are well-known and likely already priced-in by voters, and there were no shocking new revelations.

Still these two stories will probably eclipse the political events of the next few days in the minds of most voters. Certainly there’s been little coverage of the Sunday evening TV debate of Welsh party leaders, though that might not be just Andrew and Arcuri’s fault…

Still, there have been some important policy announcements today as Johnson, Jeremy Corbyn, and Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson used their speeches to the Confederation of British Industry to set out their respective stalls. The leaders of two main parties faced a tough crowd with business leaders worried both by Brexit and Labour’s lurch to the left. The sudden announcement of plans to nationalise broadband has spooked business undoing much of the quiet wooing done by John McDonnell. The CBI’s Director General opened the conference with chilly remarks about the risks of “extreme political ideology” on both sides of the political spectrum to business.

Both leaders brought their game faces. Johnson’s big promises focused on reducing costs for business raising the allow for small businesses’ national insurance bills from £3,000 to £4,000, tax relief on building or leasing structures, and more tax credits for R&D. These proposals were likely partly aimed to improve the mood that followed his other announcement that plans to cut corporation tax from 19% to 17% in 2020 had been shelved.

Framed as a move that would save £6 billion which could then be pumped back into the NHS it seems a clear response to Labour’s own policy to increase NHS funding by £6 billion. While this might make for good headlines there’s also been criticism with many saying the spending claim simply doesn’t add up.

Meanwhile, Corbyn put on the usual mask of moderation he wears for these occasions. Pushing back on claims he was anti-business he tried to frame his plans for sharp tax hikes and sweeping nationalisations as nothing too radical, simply comparable to how things are done in Europe.

Still other promises which were better received followed including plans to overhaul apprenticeship and vocational training systems, as well as increase their scope with an environmental twist. A planned “climate apprenticeship programme” would train an average of 80,000 people a year, he said. This, of course, ties to the Green New Deal which was also used to tout a planned splurge on infrastructure should Labour gain power.

However, earlier today Labour seemed to be backing off some of its more ambitious promises on the environment. Despite the motion calling for the party to achieve net-zero emissions by 2030 passing overwhelmingly at the party conference Barry Gardiner, the Shadow Secretary for International Trade, indicated the motion will not make it onto the manifesto. The new aim seems to be to instead have 90% of the power sector powered by renewables by 2030.

Finally, Swinson spoke trying to claim the mantle of “the party of business” for the Liberal Democrats based on her rejection of Corbyn’s left-wing radicalism and Brexit. The only other idea of note was the plan to scrap business rates and replace them with a levy on landownership. Still given her party’s scant prospects of gaining power it seems unlikely this will ever come to pass.

Indeed, Liberal Democrat hopes that they might hold the balance of power in the next parliament seem – at this stage, although there are three and a half weeks to go – to be fading. Polling has shown their support being slowly squeezed down. Today’s failure of the legal challenges they and the SNP mounted against their exclusion from the ITV leaders’ debate will likely mean this trend will continue.

Only the Brexit Party faces a more depressing situation as it continues its slide into irrelevance. Nigel Farage tweeted: “While the other party leaders spend the day with big business at the Remainer CBI conference, don’t forget the 5.7 million men and women who run SMEs that would benefit from a clean break with EU rules.” was accompanied by a party ad urging Leavers not to waste their vote. To his undoubted chagrin it seems many voters are taking his advice.