“NEAR-MISS” voters who rejected Labour at the election overwhelmingly feel the party is too soft on the City and too timid over taxing the rich, a poll revealed yesterday — but it isn’t hostile to aspiration. The survey of 4,669 people blows apart Blairite claims that Labour needs a rightward lurch to become electable, finding that 42 per cent of people polled believe Labour is a soft touch on the City while just 22 per cent think they are “too tough.”

And the margin is even larger among voters who considered, but decided against, voting Labour, at 50 per cent to 10. The GQRR poll comes a day after Labour leadership candidate Yvette Cooper stirred up controversy by claiming Labour lost the election because it “sounded anti-business.”

If elected, Ms Cooper said she would back Tory big business handouts through cuts to corporation tax, which now stands at just 20 per cent — the lowest rate in the G20 forum of major economies.