Prime Minister Andy Burnham has been warned not to target an already ‘battered and bruised’ business sector if he wants to grow the economy.

That was the stark warning from Frank McKenna on the Northern Spin podcast ahead of Burnham’s eagerly-awaited speech at the Labour Party conference on Tuesday.

Government borrowing hit £18.3bn in August – £3.5bn above the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast – while CPI inflation rose to 3.1 per cent, with higher motor fuel prices helping drive the increase.

McKenna, chief executive and group chairman of Downtown in Business, told co-host Chris Maguire, executive editor of BusinessCloud, that it would be a ‘disaster’ to penalise business rather than focus on cutting welfare spending.

He said: “Businesses are feeling battered and bruised at the moment and you are not going to be able to grow your economy, which is their (Labour’s) stated ambition, without the help of the private sector.

“My view on Capital Gains Tax (CGT) and any additional taxes on enterprise and entrepreneurship, is it would be a signal to business that we do have an anti-business government when actually what Andy Burnham and the government needs to be saying is ‘we’re pro-business, we’re pro-enterprise.”

Labour’s 2024 general election manifesto pledged not to increase taxes on ‘working people’, prompting speculation over whether businesses could face further tax rises.

The latest episode of Northern Spin, sponsored by Manchester-headquartered real estate lender Sancus Lending UK, also discusses devolution, October’s Budget, Reform’s latest donations row and who’s on manoeuvres.

Get on with it

Ahead of Burnham’s speech in Liverpool on Tuesday, McKenna said: “He still says he wants to produce this 10-year plan. My advice to him is he needs to get on with that.

“Let’s get the conference and budget out the way but he does need to roll his sleeves up and get some flesh on the bone.”

McKenna said the mood under Burnham compared with Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership was like ‘night and day’, with a genuine feeling of optimism.

“We’ve got a prime minister who is going to dedicate himself to domestic over international affairs and in most people’s eyes (that) would be welcome.”

You can listen to the latest episode of The Northern Spin podcast here