A collective business voice: what that means at the CBI

The general election might not be until next year, but the political parties are already setting out the campaign territory they want to fight on. To make an impact, and to keep the focus on long-term sustainable growth, the business voice needs to be heard now.

There are three big opportunities to land the business message this year: the Autumn Statement, party conference season and the CBI’s General Election Business Manifesto.

Our work on these will be informed by members, the issues most affecting their businesses, and what they think the government of the day can do to support them. It’s why we’re asking them to a series of virtual roundtables in July to share their thoughts and experiences and guide our work.

The theme for each roundtable has already been steered by member feedback, focusing on:

• equipping industry for the future of work (5 July)
• establishing the UK as a leader in innovation and green growth (6 July)
• ensuring the UK is a leading, internationally competitive location for business (10 July)
• and driving sustainable growth across our regions and nations (11 July).

It’s only phase one of our General Election campaign, but an important first step. And it also marks some of our first activity since our EGM, where members gave us a strong mandate to continue our work.

As part of our programme of change, we said we wanted to improve how we work with our members to maximise our impact.

We’ve committed to three guiding principles:

1. We will be transparent in our decision-making, including the campaigns we choose to focus on, areas we submit policy consultation responses to, or issues we speak out on.
2. We will be democratic in defining our positions, through how we gather member insights, feedback and consult.
3. We will be evidence-led in our work, ensuring our advocacy is rigorous, factual and plays to our analytical strengths.

This series of roundtables shows this approach in action.