In the first major poll of its kind since the Tory goverment’s loss of a parliamentary majority last week, the Institute of Directors has charted an abrupt collapse in business confidence, reports BDN financial editor Roger Willis.
Of 628 leading company bosses questioned, the IoD found that 76% said uncertainties generated by the indecisive general election result threatened their own business prospects. And 92% thought there would be an adverse impact on the economy as a whole.
Only 20% of the sample remained upbeat about UK economic performance during the next 12 months. Some 57% were pessimistic. Comparing the 37-point difference between these figures with a three-point gap produced by the IoD’s similar survey carried out a month earlier signalled a dramatic 34-point confidence decline.
Commenting on these findings, IoD director general Stephen Martin said: “The needs of business and discussion of the economy were largely absent from the campaign. But this crash in confidence shows how urgently that must change in the new government.”