News Today The approach of business to general elections is not what it was.

Not that long ago, it was common for big corporates to make donations to political parties, including big FTSE 100 names such as SmithKline Beecham, United Biscuits, General Accident and Whitbread.

Most of these donations would go to the Conservatives but there were some companies, such as Marks & Spencer and Pearson, which also made donations to other parties.

Some, such as Hanson - whose founder Lord Hanson was a loyal supporter of Margaret Thatcher - continued to do so even after the 1992 Cadbury Report recommended companies stop making contributions to political parties.

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Even after the political contributions dried up, FTSE 100 chief executives were not shy about endorsing or criticising politicians at election time.

In 1997, a number of well-known business people including Robert Ayling of British Airways, Bob Bauman of the old British Aerospace (now BAE Systems) and George Simpson of GEC endorsed Tony Blair's Labour ahead of that year's election, while John Major's Conservatives also had plenty of backers.

Business people were also happy to speak out about particular policies.

Ahead of the 1997 election, BT's chairman, Sir Iain Vallance, lashed out at Labour's proposals for a windfall tax on the privatised utilities while Brian Stewart, chief executive of the pubs and brewing giant Scottish & Newcastle, criticised Labour's plans to create a Scottish Parliament with tax-raising powers.

None of that happens any more. Most CEOs, while having their own political opinions like the rest of us, prefer to keep them to themselves.

The more astute, realising that it makes sense to speak to politicians, are careful to ensure they are seen to be behaving even-handedly and not expressing a preference for one side or the other.

Business wish-lists

That does not mean businesses do not have their own wish-lists of policies.

This is particularly true of small businesses. Their wish-list has not changed in the last couple of decades and is topped by wanting a change in the law to enforce prompt payments from larger businesses to their suppliers and the reform of business rates, which is also a bugbear for larger companies in sectors such as retail and News Today hospitality.