Of the executives surveyed, 66% said investment conditions are worse than five years ago, whilst 58% expected the situation to deteriorate further. The majority (54%) of the sample, however, still see the UK as an "attractive place to invest."
The CBI commissioned research firm MORI to assess the business attitudes to the UK as an investment location. MORI surveyed 256 chairmen, CEOs and other senior level directors from UK businesses. It included organisations with global operations as well as companies operating solely in the domestic market. The total sample represented one million employees.
According to the results, although 63% of the respondents praised the government for macro-economic stability, 66% of them said the government is less business friendly than five years ago and 60% expect this to get worse. Also, 70% of the respondents believe that the government understands only poorly or partially "how business works."
Moreover, 95% of the company executives surveyed by MORI observed that regulation has increased over the past five years, whilst 80% said that this is damaging to their business. Three-quarters of the sample said the tax burden as a proportion of turnover has increased and 78% said this has also damaged their company.
On the other hand, many of the respondents characterised the UK labour market as "flexible" in working practices and labour relations as "good."
Finally, according to the survey, 58% of the executives are likely to invest abroad in the future, compared to only 48% likely to invest in the UK. More than half of them said they intend to invest in other EU Member States.
Digby Jones, CBI Director-General, said: "This is a disturbing vision of the future. When it comes to competitiveness, if we carry on driving down the wrong road, firms will get out and walk the other way."