EU commissioner Viviane Reding has made waves in the news this week, proposing a 40 per cent quota of women on boards for listed companies.

Whilst the directive contains enough holes that it won’t have a huge impact in the UK, it has meant another week of business ethics and corporate governance in the news. Women on boards as an issue has had a significant airing. Action following on from the Davies report we are on track to see 25 per cent of women on FTSE-listed boards by 2015.  This was achieved without the blunt thump of quotas, through campaigning, negotiation and a bit of private arm twisting. The bulk of UK FTSE 100 companies now recognise the business benefits as well as the moral imperative behind having women and men round a boardroom table.

In Tower Hamlets, many of the big businesses based in Canary Wharf and the City of London can be found out and about any day of the week, running classes in schools, clearing up parks, supporting social enterprise.  Many of the links made are based on existing relationships, and are stronger for that. It does seem clear though that as growth continues to stall, unemployment in Tower Hamlets increases and cuts bite, we need a renewed, shared sense of purpose in Tower Hamlets.

One Nation Labour must include a conversation with British business about the values and the ethics we all choose to live by.

Reciprocity is one.  East End docks became a major business and financial centre. That didn’t happen by accident, it happened because of government intervention and resources. While many in Canary Wharf understand the mutuality of their relationship with the communities of Tower Hamlets, if we are more explicit in our conversation about what we owe one another we can have an honest conversation about how we collaborate in future.

Fairness.  Too many young people in Tower Hamlets play by the rules, work hard, pass their exams, maybe go to university, and still can’t get a job.   Their chances in life are hugely affected by an international crisis that had nothing to do with them, as well as an a hopeless Independent Mayor who oversaw an increase in unemployment in Tower Hamlets during the Olympic period when all other Olympic boroughs succeeded in getting people into work. That isn’t fair.  As business leaders in industries such as financial services think about how they rebuild trust, they must consider a sense of fairness to the people who are paying the price for the mistakes of others.

Trickle down economics doesn’t work, and the poor don’t benefit from a badly regulated market.  You don’t have to spend long in Poplar, Mile End or Bethnal Green to understand that.  Bare compliance with new regulations or codes of conduct are not the whole answer.  Compliance with regulations won’t help create jobs, training, apprenticeships or contributions to local economic development.

This conversation must go beyond taxes, although paying your way is important. Canary Wharf and the City are also wealthy in ideas, knowledge and technical expertise. Many  will contribute that to local communities in different ways. A conversation about our shared values, an understanding of our shared challenges and a decision to work together to meet them could achieve so much more.  It will need political and business leadership to make it happen.

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Rachael Saunders is an executive member of the Labour Women’s Network, a Labour councillor for Mile End East in Tower Hamlets, a former Chief Whip and Cabinet member for Adult Health and Wellbeing when Labour was in power, she now chairs the Health Scrutiny committee. She writes in a personal capacity

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