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Labour has postponed a £5,000-a-head conference for executives and lobbyists just weeks before it was due to take place, with business advisers reporting low demand for the event in central London.
The UK’s ruling party issued invitations last month to a corporate engagement event on June 23, with speakers including chancellor Rachel Reeves and business and trade secretary Jonathan Reynolds.
The invites billed the conference as the beginning of a “first of its kind” series of events that would provide business leaders a “unique opportunity to engage with Labour’s plan to kick-start economic growth”.
But the June event has now been pulled, according to two people familiar with the matter. A Labour party spokesperson confirmed the event was “postponed” but did not say when it would be rescheduled.
Several lobbyists said they had not been planning to attend in part because of the cost at a time when public affairs budgets are being trimmed back.
One head of public affairs at a FTSE 100 company said “none of our team is going”. Another lobbyist said executives were sceptical about the access they would have to ministers at the event: “We had no clients planning to attend”. A third said businesses were “getting stricter about what they spend on”.
The postponement of the event comes as Labour continues its efforts to persuade companies of its pro-growth agenda, despite business worries over potential future tax rises after Reeves increased employer national insurance contributions and business rates.
“The Labour party regularly engages with a wide range of stakeholders and events are frequently scheduled throughout the year which receive a high level of interest,” the Labour party spokesperson said.
One invitation for the June event sent in late May stated that the series had been launched because Labour’s regular business leaders’ summit at its party conference in September had sold out.
In March the party raised the price of the summit from £3,000 to £5,000.
The June event is the second Labour has pulled in recent months. In early March, Labour cancelled a planned audience with Reeves in Merseyside a fortnight before it was due to take place. Tickets had been offered at £1,500, according to one person who received an invitation. At the time the party confirmed the event had been cancelled but did not explain why.
Labour has been criticised for charging large sums for access to events with ministers. Late last year the party offered breakfast with Reynolds in exchange for £30,000 in sponsorship, an episode labelled “cash for croissants”. Reynolds said at the time that he had no knowledge of the event.
Labour said it “always make any necessary declarations in line with Electoral Commission rules”.
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