The Confederation of British Industry won the support of 93% of members who voted in Tuesday’s poll to decide its future, as the scandal-hit lobby group fights for survival.
The CBI, which was at risk of imminent collapse if it lost the vote, had asked its members to support a reform program aimed at winning back trust following multiple allegations of sexual assault among its staff, including two from women who said they were raped.
After an extraordinary general meeting in London, the CBI said 371 votes were cast. The lobby group has about 1,500 direct members but claims to speak for 190,000 businesses — mostly through trade associations. Dozens of the UK’s largest companies have suspended their membership or quit the CBI entirely in recent weeks.
Even with the support of members that voted Tuesday, the CBI’s future looks uncertain. It has told staff its wage bill will be cut by a third due to falling membership fees and has taken advice from a law firm on potential insolvency.
The CBI “faces a long and tortuous slog back from the brink,” according to Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at retail investment platform AJ Bell Plc. “It’s hemorrhaged fee-paying members forcing it to slash its wage bill and has lost ground to rival bodies like the British Chambers of Commerce,” she said in an emailed statement.
The government declined to say whether it would re-engage with the CBI following the vote, having suspended working relations with the group in April. “Matters at the CBI are for the CBI and for its members to work through,” Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told reporters on a plane to the US Tuesday night.
Read More: Scandal-Hit CBI Locks Horns With Rival Before Crucial Vote
Rain Newton-Smith, director general of the CBI, said after the meeting in a statement that she was “deeply grateful” for the “faith shown in us by our members.”
“We’ve made real progress in implementing the top-to-bottom program of change promised by the board and, while there remains work to do, today’s result represents an important milestone on that journey,” she said.
The meeting was not open to media or companies that had resigned their CBI membership. Members attending the EGM had mixed feelings about the group’s future. Speaking outside the CBI office ahead of the vote, Paul Watts, founder of the mortgage lender Lenuity, said he was planning to vote yes. “There’s nobody else to replace them,” he said.
(Updates with Prime Minister’s comment in sixth paragraph.)
Author: Sabah Meddings, Ali Asad Zulfiqar and Alex Morales
