Business confidence drops in blow to LabourStarmer has been dealt a blow by falling business confidence. Starmer and Reeves have frequently pointed to the Lloyds Bank business barometer when speaking about bosses’ confidence in growth plans, with recent examples showing higher confidence levels than other surveys. But the most recent set of data provided by Lloyds Bank showed business confidence dropping across the two main indicators. The score for confidence in people’s own firms fell by three points to 44 per cent in January, the survey showed. Respondents were also less optimistic about the wider UK economy, with sentiment falling by nine points to a reading of 53 per cent.