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		The CBI wakes up and smells the coffee Lincolnshire Echo - November 28 2002 I've just come back from the Confederation of British Industry's annual Conference in Manchester, and I've seen the wind of change sweeping through the organisation. I was there with half a dozen Conservative MEP colleagues, and apart from a flying visit by one Labour MEP, we were the only European parliamentarians who bothered to come. When New Labour were trying to get elected in 1997, they launched their highly successful "prawn cocktail offensive", designed to convince industry that Labour had changed, that it could be trusted with the economy, that it was now business-friendly. And like the British people, industry decided to give Labour the benefit of the doubt. For several years now, we've seen the CBI cosying up to the government, giving it support and encouragement. Even as taxes rose, and red tape piled up, the CBI kept its fingers crossed and hoped for the best. Perhaps the first sign of change was when Gordon Brown introduced his increase in National Insurance. Labour had promised not to increase income tax rates -- so they decided to put a penny on income tax and call it something else. We'll see how the public like it when it hits their pay packets in April next year. Or perhaps it was when industry realised the full impact of the so-called Climate Change Levy, which will do nothing for the environment, but will increase business costs. The measure is riddled with anomalies, which create perverse incentives and unintended consequences. Whatever the trigger, the mood has changed dramatically. The CBI's main man, Digby Jones, savaged the government on taxes. According to the CBI, this Labour government has hit industry with £47 billion in new taxes since 1997. And for the first time in years, taxes in Britain are higher than Germany. Does it matter to you? You bet it does. Massive new taxes mean slower growth, fewer jobs, less inward investment. And the CBI's other gripe is regulation. Industry is drowning in red tape. Entrepreneurs are wasting time form-filling instead of wealth-creating. The CBI published a list of their top ten regulatory headaches, and guess what -- surprise, surprise -- seven out of ten came straight from Brussels. One of the others was the regionalisation agenda, which Labour tells us is home-grown, but in fact is part of the EU's plan for a Europe of Regions, governed from Brussels. Labour talks tough but does nothing on regulation. British MEPs were asked by the Labour government to vote against the new Working Time Directive, which looks set to cost 10,000 jobs here in the East Midlands. We Tories voted against it -- not because Labour asked us, but because we believe the Directive is bad. But Labour MEPs voted for it. Perhaps Labour MEPs Mel Read and Philip Whitehead would like to tell us exactly why they did so. In another blow for Tony Blair's pet project, the CBI under its new President Sir John Egan has switched its stance on the euro from pro to neutral. There are just too many CBI members who've looked at the damage the euro is doing -- four million unemployed in Germany, unsustainable inflationary pressures in several euro-zone states -- and decided they agree with Gordon Brown. We're better off keeping control of our own monetary policy. For years now the CBI has managed to believe the impossible -- that Labour is good for business. But finally reality has broken through. For the CBI, it's time to wake up and smell the coffee. Britain, with its low taxes and flexible labour markets, used to be the most attractive place in Europe to do business -- which is why we dominated the EU in terms of inward investment for years. Now Labour is frittering away that competitive advantage. If we don't change course soon, we and our children will all be poorer than we need be.