Channel leaders air Labour pains

Industry players are voicing concern about the effect on their businesses of a Labour government

IT industry leaders have raised fears that a change in government could impact on their businesses, as there would be uncertainty over legislative changes.

The main areas of concern if Labour were to win the general election on 1 May are that the party will raise taxes, move Britain directly into the European social chapter and upset the current stability in the UK economy.

While labour laws make it easy for employers to hire and fire workers, commitment to Europe would mean the in- troduction of new terms of employment.

Paul Mountford, managing director of Cisco, said: ?We would have the same restrictive practices as they have in France and Germany. In a business such as IT, that grows and fluctuates quickly, you?ll get a lot more contracting.?

Mountford said he suspected it would be the business community that would end up footing the bill for Labour?s promised investments in the NHS, education and job creation.

He said that under the Tories, the business world is now ?fresh, fit and ready to grow?, while the occasional mutter of ?brother and comrade? from less prominent Labour MPs made business people think back to the dark days of the 70s.

Wayne Channon, chairman of Persona Group, was equally fearful of the increase of corporate taxes and the possible move into Europe. ?The cost of business in France, Holland and Germany is enormous. They are very expensive countries to run, which discourages foreign investment. Britain is now the best country I know in Europe to invest in,? he said.

But the company secretary of Leeds-based Serif Systems, Fabian Hamilton, who is also standing as a Labour candidate, said that channel players had nothing to fear from a Labour government, and that things would not change dramatically.

He added that small businesses with less than 10 employees had historically always done better under Labour.

?Enterprise and investment will be so much better under Labour. We are not putting up corporation tax. The fact that more and more larger businesses are donating money shows they have confidence in us,? he said.