LONDON - Boris Johnson will try to win business leaders to his side Monday , offering them tax cuts as an olive branch for the disruption caused by Brexit.
"You made that clear in 2016, and this body said it louder than any other. But what is also clear is that what you want now - and have wanted for some time - is certainty." Meanwhile, Johnson continues to face questions on a series of issues: There's a report into Russian election interference that his office suppressed; and his American entrepreneur friend Jennifer Arcuri, caught up in a controversy involving the prime minister, has given an interview to ITV saying she wishes Johnson had declared their relationship as a potential conflict of interest when he was London mayor.
At the CBI, aiming to persuade business he has their best interests at heart, Johnson will say a Conservative government victory at the Dec 12 election will mean: a"fundamental review" of business rates, the tax on property an increase in the threshold at which firms start paying employment taxes to 4,000 pounds from 3,000 pounds; an increase in the tax relief on buildings to 3 per cent from 2 per cent; an increase in tax relief on research and development to 13 per cent from 12per...
Carolyn Fairbairn, director-general of the CBI, said on Sunday that Labour's announcement had come as a"bolt from the blue" and left her members worried."I have talked to businesses who are already sitting there thinking maybe we're next," she told Sky News. Corbyn would struggle to portray himself as a friend of the corporate world, but will try to argue that a government he leads can still be an ally.