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The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has responded to Jeremy Corbyn’s inaugural speech at the party conference in Brighton.
John Cridland, the organisation’s director-general, said: “We share Labour’s aim of ensuring the benefits of growth are spread more evenly across the UK, but we don’t recognise Mr Corbyn’s characterisation of the economy.
“While there’s still more to do on exports, the recovery is more balanced than Mr Corbyn argues. It is not based on a house price-fuelled asset bubble, but on business investment, which is spurring stronger wage growth and rising living standards.”
Cridland added that far from driving down wages, globalisation has in fact “drawn many people around the world out of poverty”, offering “hope and opportunity”.
The CBI said its areas of “common ground” with Labour include education for every child and housing for every family. But it said a thriving private sector is a necessary component to generate the wealth needed to achieve Corbyn’s objectives.
The CBI has around 190,000 members, including businesses of all sizes and sectors which together employ nearly 7 million people. This accounts for about a third of the private sector-employed workforce.
