Labour drafts revealing policy

Company accounts would have to reveal spending on design, research and development under a Labour government, according to a draft policy document.

This change in management accounting practice is proposed in the innovation, science and technology document, leaked to the Financial Times, as a way of stimulating investment.

With a working title of A New Industrial Future For Britain, the document’s chapter on design and innovation has been drafted by Adam Ingram, chairman of the party’s design and innovation task force (DW 9 February).

Design input into the task force has come from Sir Terence Conran and Design Council design director Sean Blair.

The document will be put to the Labour Party at its October conference after which, if well received, it will become policy.