New business lobby group launched as CBI faces crucial vote

A new business lobby group backed by big companies including BP and Drax has been launched, a day before a key vote that will determine the future of the embattled Confederation of British Industry.

The Business Council, launched by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), aims to bring together business leaders “who are looking for a different kind of representation”.

The new body, which counts Heathrow and IHG Hotels & Resorts as founding members, said its aim was to “design and drive the future of the British economy”. It will convene a day before the CBI holds an extraordinary meeting of its members, who will vote on its future.

The CBI, which faces job losses as it fights for survival amid a crisis prompted by sexual misconduct allegations, needs at least half of its members to back the proposals for change put forward by its new director general, Rain Newton-Smith.

The group has received backing from 13 companies, including the manufacturing firm Siemens and Microsoft, while a string of businesses, including John Lewis and BMW, have cut ties.

“Over the past few months we have been talking to the nation’s largest corporates and it has become clear to us that they are looking for a different kind of representation,” said Shevaun Haviland, the director general of the BCC.

Haviland and Martha Lane Fox, the BCC president, will meet business leaders on Monday to discuss the work of its new council and what it can offer.

“These businesses want to be part of a framework that is rooted in their local communities, but with the ability to shape the national and international debate,” Haviland said.

Newton-Smith, who has described Tuesday’s vote as “critical” to the CBI’s future, has called on the membership to back her agenda for change.

“I hope we are emerging from what has been a really deep and painful crisis for us as an organisation,” she told the BBC. “I came back as a female leader to lead the organisation because I really believe in the people we have. I’ve seen just how effective we are when we have a collective voice of business.”