The financial crisis of 2008, exorbitant pay deals for bankers and business executives and high energy bills have all contributed to a collapse in the public’s trust of big business.
Lord Digby Jones, former head of the employers’ organisation the CBI and then a trade minister in the last government, examines whether the relationship between business, government and society has been fractured beyond repair. He asks if the answer might be a “Business Covenant” – a deal outlining business’s obligations to society and what business can expect from Government in return.
Through interviews with business leaders and politicians he examines the case for a formalised deal for business. Could that restore trust in the companies that create the wealth on which the country depends?