Billionaire Labour-backer says ‘business unfriendly’ Budget hit growth

A billionaire backer of the Labour party has said the government’s “business unfriendly” policies have hit economic growth following another bleak release of data.

John Caudwell, the founder of Phones 4u, said Labour “really need to change the tune of what they’re doing” to kickstart growth and appeal to businesses.

It follows the latest release from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealing the UK economy shrank 0.1 per cent in October as Brits braced for a tax raid in the Budget the month following.

Economists have pointed to the series of leaks on tax policy on the road to the fiscal statement in 26 November as hampering through growth by disrupting business investment and consumer confidence.

Caudwell was a vocal backer of the Labour party in the 2024 election, citing the “failures” of the Conservative Party under the three prime ministers since 2019 and the “transformation” of Labour under Sir Keir Starmer.

Labour Budget ‘drove people out of UK’

But, speaking to BBC Radio 4 on Friday, the billionaire said Rachel Reeves’ first Autumn Budget was “wealthy people unfriendly” and had driven “a lot of wealthy people out of the UK”.

A study compiled by former Treasury economist Chris Walker in October found that 1,800 non-doms had relocated since the government axed the non-domicile status in its first Budget. The figure was 50 per cent more than last year’s Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) predicitions.

Caudwell also took aim at the Employment Rights Bill, which was a part of the Labour manifesto.

“I guess there was always a hope that it may not transpire,” he said. “That is going to make Britain less competitive.”

The Bill – which was trumpeted by former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner – has been ping-ponged between the Lords and Commons over the last year, with Labour making a number of concessions.

Shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith accused the Liberal Democrats of voting with Labour in the House of Lords on Wednesday night on the basis that the party received five peerages, as also revealed last night.

Despite his discontent with the government’s policies, Caudwell added: “I still support Labour because they’re in power, they’re going to stay in power, and we desperately need them to succeed, but they really need to change the tune of what they’re doing.”