Labour says business critics are Tory 'peers, donors' and backers

Labour accused Ed Miliband's business critics of being self-interested Conservative backers, as the party said a row with some of Britain's most senior executives "plays straight into our hands".

A week that started with Mr Miliband trying to court business leaders with a promise to keep Britain in the EU has quickly reverted to a traditional fight between Labour and its boardroom critics.

While the Labour leader irritated company chiefs on Wednesday by announcing plans to stop "an epidemic" of zero-hour contracts, his allies denounced the 103 business figures who wrote an open letter to The Daily Telegraph warning that a Labour election victory would threaten the economic recovery.

"This was a letter organised and pulled together by the Conservative party, published in a Conservative party newspaper and containing the names of Conservative peers, donors and well-known supporters," said Chuka Umunna, shadow business secretary. "At best, it covers maybe 100 businesses representing 0.002 per cent of the business population."

Mr Umunna singled out Paul Walsh, chairman of caterer Compass Group, saying his decision to sign the letter raised questions about his suitability as the potential next president of the CBI employers' group. "I don't think it is tenable to say you are impartial and then engage in a letter openly supporting the Conservative party campaign," the shadow minister said.

In their letter, the business people - including BP chief Bob Dudley, departing Prudential boss Tidjane Thiam and Nick Robertson, chief executive of Asos - praised the coalition's economic record and said "a change in course will threaten jobs and deter investment".

George Osborne, chancellor, said the leaders of companies employing more than 500,000 people had spoken up, saying they were not a small subset of Tory supporters but leaders of "small firms, large firms" and those with a bright future.

However, one Labour official said: "Some of the policies they oppose are to do with their own personal circumstances, not business circumstances. They don't like things like the bank bonus tax, the 50p top rate of tax, or the mansion tax."

Labour, calculated that about a third of the individuals and companies signed up to the latter had, between them, given more than £9m to the Conservatives, with several also receiving honours, including peerages

But a former Blairite Labour cabinet minister said the leadership had brought the criticism on itself: "Labour [under Miliband] has spent five years kicking business, you can't just turn that around at the start of the election campaign."

Lord Feldman, Conservative party co-chairman and co-ordinator of the original letter, has embarked on a fresh attempt to secure more signatories in an attempt to increase pressure on Mr Miliband.

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