Of the executives surveyed, 66% said investment conditions are
worse than five years ago, whilst 58% expected the situation to
deteriorate further. The majority (54%) of the sample, however,
still see the UK as an "attractive place to invest."
The CBI commissioned research firm MORI to assess the business
attitudes to the UK as an investment location. MORI surveyed 256
chairmen, CEOs and other senior level directors from UK businesses.
It included organisations with global operations as well as
companies operating solely in the domestic market. The total sample
represented one million employees.
According to the results, although 63% of the respondents
praised the government for macro-economic stability, 66% of them
said the government is less business friendly than five years ago
and 60% expect this to get worse. Also, 70% of the respondents
believe that the government understands only poorly or partially
"how business works."
Moreover, 95% of the company executives surveyed by MORI
observed that regulation has increased over the past five years,
whilst 80% said that this is damaging to their business.
Three-quarters of the sample said the tax burden as a proportion of
turnover has increased and 78% said this has also damaged their
company.
On the other hand, many of the respondents characterised the UK
labour market as "flexible" in working practices and labour
relations as "good."
Finally, according to the survey, 58% of the executives are
likely to invest abroad in the future, compared to only 48% likely
to invest in the UK. More than half of them said they intend to
invest in other EU Member States.
Digby Jones, CBI Director-General, said: "This is a disturbing
vision of the future. When it comes to competitiveness, if we carry
on driving down the wrong road, firms will get out and walk the
other way."
