Politicians don't understand us
Nine in 10 top company executives think British politicians have a poor understanding of business, according to our 2012 Captains of Industry survey.
Regulation
More than half of Britain’s Captains of Industry (57%) think that the level of regulation affecting business in the UK overall has been increasing in the last 12 months according to the Ipsos Captains of Industry survey 2012. This represents little change from the 2011 results where 55% of Captains thought the regulation had increased over the previous year.
However, just over a third (39%) do not think there has been any change in regulation over the last 12 months only 4% think it has been decreasing.
There has been a small decline in the proportion of Captains who agree that the level of regulation on UK businesses is harming the UK economy (83% strongly/tend to agree in 2012).
Simplifying employment legislation (26%) and bureaucracy/red tape (21%) are the key areas where Captains would like to see a reduction in regulation.
Nearly 9 in 10 Captains do not want to be see the regulation of the financial services sector determined at a European rather than a UK level; 56% strongly disagree with this.
Business Culture
Majority of Captains (91%) agree that politicians in this country have a poor understanding of business, and also that public culture in Britain is biased against business (70%). In a recent Ipsos survey of British adults, only 4% selected British business as something that made them proud to be British. Captains identified lack of understanding about business (34%) and bias in the media (26%) as the top reasons for the public’s lack of association between British business and pride in Britain.Director at Ipsos, Matthew Chatterton, said:
“Captains of Industry feel there is a widespread bias against business in this country, which may be reflected in their generally negative opinion of politicians’ understanding of businesses needs and challenges. Their continuing perception that regulation remains too high may well be reinforcing these views.”
