Warnings that Labour proposals could result in fuel shortages and capital flight
Business groups have slammed Labour leader Ed Miliband's speech as laying out an irresponsible approach to British business. CBI director-general John Cridland has said that the proposals are a "setback for Labour's pro-enterprise credentials".
Cridland says that suggestions that business rates should be frozen with revenues from higher corporation tax rates are "divisive" and that "the success of many smaller firms goes hand-in-hand with that of larger firms through supply chains and it's important to remember that large firms employ ten million people".
The Institute of Director's director general Simon Walker says that the corporation tax move is "better politics than it is economics" and Labour threatens the UK's "business-friendly environment in this way".
Angela Knight, Energy UK's chief executive, warns that while Miliband's proposal to freeze fuel bills for 20 months is "superficially attractive", the move would also "freeze the money to build and renew power stations, freeze the jobs and livelihoods of the 600,000 plus people dependent on the energy industry and make the prospect of energy shortages a reality, pushing up the prices for everyone".
Energy comapny SSE says that the actual energy customers use makes up jsut half the cost of a dual fuel energy bill – government policies have led to significant bill increases. SSE says that the proposed ban on price increases would "lead to unsustainable loss-making retail businesses".