Exit of Aviva and others points to debate over whether lobby group has a useful role for business
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If one big company quits, there’ll be an avalanche. So said one senior business figure at the start of this week about the crisis engulfing the CBI. The prediction was accurate. Aviva, a big insurer, was first to resign from the lobby group on Friday morning. Phoenix, a fellow FTSE 100 insurer, quickly followed. By mid-afternoon, it was hard to keep up.
Not all stances took the form of a straightforward Aviva-style resignation “with immediate effect”. Some involved a “suspension” or “pausing” of activities with the CBI, leaving the door open for a return. Even within the latter category, however, one could detect weakening loyalty. The big four auditing firm PwC said it saw value in an organisation that represented UK business, and the issues that mattered most to business as a whole – but did not say specifically that the organisation had to be the CBI.
