In a 24 July 2026 Downing Street press release, Prime Minister Andy Burnham used his first formal calls with business representative organisations to set out what No 10 described as a new offer to employers. The message came as part of the government’s first week in office after Burnham became Prime Minister on 20 July 2026, and it was issued as a press release rather than a policy paper, draft Bill or industrial strategy document. (gov.uk) The core presentation was political but clear. Government said it wants a stronger working relationship with firms to support investment, job creation and economic growth, while also making the case that many businesses have felt overlooked by previous administrations. (gov.uk)
The calls included the CBI, British Chambers of Commerce, Federation of Small Businesses, Make UK, Small Business Britain and Startup Coalition. Downing Street’s notes to editors also listed the Institute of Directors, Trades Union Congress, Citizens Advice, Co-operatives UK, Family Business UK, Enterprise Nation and Social Enterprise UK, showing that ministers want this opening conversation to extend beyond large corporate interests alone. (gov.uk) For Policy Wire readers, that breadth matters. It suggests the government is trying to frame business policy through a wider public-interest lens, with employers, workers, consumers and social enterprise groups all present in the same initial engagement round. (gov.uk)
The offer itself was built around four themes: greater certainty, clearer long-term direction, faster decision-making and a stronger business voice in policy-making. According to Downing Street, those are the conditions the government believes firms need in order to plan, invest and expand at a time of international volatility. (gov.uk) What was missing is as important as what was said. The 24 July statement did not publish a timetable for regulatory change, a formal mechanism for business input, or any measurable target for speeding up government decisions. At this stage, the announcement sets direction and expectations, but leaves delivery detail for later policy work. (gov.uk)
The announcement sits alongside a machinery-of-government change. Jonathan Reynolds was appointed Secretary of State for the new Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade on 20 July 2026, and the department said on 22 July that it would bring science, innovation and trade more directly into the government’s growth programme. Downing Street added on 24 July that Reynolds and the AI Minister had already engaged more than 200 business leaders and senior figures from business, science and technology organisations. (gov.uk) That institutional point is central to the rewrite of this story. The government is not only promising a new tone with employers; it is also trying to show that business engagement will be channelled through a department built to connect investment, innovation and trade with economic policy, rather than treating those briefs separately. (gov.uk)
Burnham also tied the business offer to devolution. The 24 July press release said more decisions should be taken closer to communities, employers and investors, while a separate 23 July No10 North announcement said the Prime Minister would work regularly from Manchester and revive the National Economic Council with regional mayors involved in economic decision-making. (gov.uk) For combined authorities, councils and local growth bodies, that signals a possible change in how economic policy is organised. The practical effect will depend on whether spending control, planning decisions and investment approvals are genuinely shifted out of Whitehall, but ministers are plainly presenting devolution as an economic delivery tool rather than only a constitutional reform. (gov.uk)
The most concrete business measure linked to the announcement had already been published a day earlier. On 23 July 2026, No 10, HM Treasury and the business department said pubs, social clubs and live music venues in England would receive a 20 per cent business rates cut from April 2027. The government said nearly 32,000 venues would benefit and that the typical pub would save about £1,100 in the next financial year. (gov.uk) That matters because it gives one part of the government’s opening business pitch an exact implementation point. By contrast, the wider promise to reform business rates was repeated in Burnham’s 24 July statement without new policy detail, suggesting the broader shape of reform is still being held back for a later Budget or fiscal event. (gov.uk)
The press release also set out a more interventionist account of the state. Government said it would act more directly where markets or regulators are not delivering for working people, naming energy, water and other essential services. At the same time, ministers said they want to reduce the frictions that make it harder to do business and hire staff, placing the new offer between market reform and regulatory tightening. (gov.uk) On labour market policy, ministers linked the business message to workers’ rights reforms already under way. A government timeline updated on 16 July 2026 says measures under the Employment Rights Act 2025 are being phased through 2026 and 2027, with trade union changes already in force from 18 February 2026 and further changes, including day-one leave and Statutory Sick Pay reforms, taking effect on 6 April 2026. For employers, the significance is straightforward: the partnership language sits alongside a live compliance timetable. (gov.uk)
Burnham used the calls to ask employers to work with government on youth unemployment, skills shortages and living standards, describing entry into work for young people as a key test of the new settlement with business. But the 24 July press release did not set out a funding package, a delivery scheme or a numerical target for youth employment, so that part of the offer remains an invitation to shape policy rather than a fully announced programme. (gov.uk) The same is true of procurement and trade. Downing Street said public procurement would be used to back British business by default, and it linked the wider message to active trade engagement. On 24 July 2026, the government separately said its Economic Prosperity Deal with the United States remained in place despite new US tariffs, with zero tariffs for UK whisky and medical technology from that date. For exporters and suppliers, the immediate picture is one of political direction and a small number of concrete gains, while the operating rules for procurement and wider market access are still to come. (gov.uk)
Taken together, Burnham’s first business outreach amounts to an opening framework for the government’s economic relationship with firms. The commitments are clearest on tone, institutional structure, devolution and one targeted rates intervention. They are less developed on statutory change, administrative process and performance measures. (gov.uk) For policy professionals, the next tests are likely to be any formal business rates proposals, procurement guidance, further detail on how No10 North will operate in practice, and evidence that the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade can turn early access into usable policy decisions. Until then, the government has offered a broad bargain: more certainty and quicker decisions from the state in exchange for investment, better employment practice and stronger local growth outcomes. (gov.uk)