Miliband calls for 'end to cosy cartels'

Labour leader Ed Miliband vowed to “end the cosy cartels” that determine pay for senior executives in a keynote speech to the Labour party conference that called for more regulation on “asset stripping” businesses.

Miliband said this would be enforced by ensuring pay committees include an employee on the board.

He said a Labour government would introduce reforms to ensure that “predatory” businesses that were only interested in “taking the fast buck” would face more regulation and tax, while “wealth creating” firms would keep a competitive tax and regulatory environment.He said: “We’ve got to put an end to the idea that those at the top can take whatever they can, regardless of what they give back.

“It’s why we must end the cosy cartels of the way top pay is set in our economy. So every pay committee should have an employee on the board.”

He also said that all major government contracts would include requirements to train new workers through apprenticeships, and implied they would favour UK businesses. He insisted his reforms would be pro-business.

Miliband also hinted at a shift in the way social housing is distributed, saying that “the person who contributes to their community” shouldn’t be treated the same as the person that doesn’t.

He highlighted care home provider Southern Cross as an example of the kind of “asset stripping” business that needed to face tougher regulation. “They may not have sold their own grandmothers for a fast buck. But they certainly sold yours.

“We must learn that growth is built on sand if it comes from our predators and not our producers.

“For years as a country we have been neutral in that battle. They’ve been taxed the same, regulated, treated the same, celebrated the same. They won’t be by me.

“When I am prime minister, how we tax, what the government buys, how we regulate, what we celebrate, will be in the service of Britain’s producers.

“Don’t let anyone tell you this is an anti-business choice. It’s the pro-business choice. Pro-business on the side of the small businesses who can’t get a loan. Pro-business on the side of the British company losing out to its competitors abroad when their government steps in and our government stands aside.”