Should business respond to the Chancellor’s call?

This week George Osborne used a speech to encourage businesses to speak out on the need for taxes to be lowered. His argument was that politicians needed business to help make the case in order to make it easier for politicians to act.

I completely agree with him as time and again “grass roots” campaigning, whether from business, consumers or pressure groups plays a demonstrable role in influencing political decision making.

But the other part of the equation is trickier. In the current climate where business bashing has become a national pastime, would I really advise my corporate clients to put their head above the parapet and speak out for tax cuts right now? I wish the answer was yes, but at the moment, I think it would be no.

Austerity, a double-dip recession, mistrust of the “establishment” and the historic British anti-business mindset have combined to create something of a perfect storm in which it would be all too easy for any corporate to become a lightening conductor for the business community if they were to speak now. And with the media, and parts of the wider world who now have a much more explicit direct voice through social media, ready to jump in with often heavy handed criticism, can you blame businesses for staying quiet?

However, there are ways around this. Firstly the bodies who represent businesses large and small can take the lead on some of these issues – there is safety in numbers after all. The other approach is more long term and is one which works across many issues. And that is for businesses to be part of facilitating an open discussion and dialogue on these issues, rather than taking the old school top down approach of simply telling the world what they think. Bringing many of those with an interest in business success and tax together for a genuinely open dialogue, focused on finding the win-wins we all need to get the UK back into growth mode, could be a great approach for corporate to take. Round tables, workshops, blogs and many social media channels can all provide great routes to delivering this.

So, hopefully there are ways for businesses to respond to the Chancellor's call without finding themselves as poster boys for big bad business.

This article first appeared on Gorkana.