My plan to save big business and bring back public trust When the CBI conducted focus groups on why people distrust corporate Britain, it expected complaints about bonuses or work standards in poor countries. Some of these were an issue, of course, but the main gripe was the way the public feel taken for granted as consumers. Big companies need to undergo a cultural revolution. They must learn to do their own job better, focus on simpler products, explicitly and loudly apologise for past failings and move on. If necessary, consumer bodies such as Which? should be enlisted for advice. The second big change is that business lobby groups must reject corporatism and re-embrace genuine free markets. The public has, fortunately, come to accept that successful, entrepreneurial companies should be allowed to make profits. But the financial crisis and the bank bail-outs were a political and cultural catastrophe for capitalism and violated the electorate's sense of justice. Voters don't mind privatised profits - but they rightly hate socialised losses and handouts for private companies and their well-remunerated bosses. They also loathe seeing companies in bed with politicians. Business groups need to fight back by calling for the abolition of subsidies to business: this will hurt some firms but benefit all in the longer term if it avoids an anti-business backlash. Part of this means campaigning for new resolution mechanisms to allow even large banks to go bust, and explaining that this would mean that taxpayers are never asked to put their hands in their pockets again. Energy companies must also make a break with corporatism: most were quite happy with unaffordable green taxes, hoping to make money from the politically correct obsession with unilateral decarbonisation at any cost, and forgetting about the interests of their customers. The industry must accept that it got this wrong, stop sucking up to the political establishment and focus on delivering cheap and reliable energy. Next, businesses must be seen to be more supportive of competition. Banks and energy companies need to accept that far too few people are switching suppliers. Rejecting change may seem sensible to incumbents - but consumers who feel stuck with existing providers will become frustrated and back demagogic political parties. The banks should see the writing on the wall and voluntarily spend the billions required to create a new IT system to allow current account portability; in return, they should ask for the abolition of the bank levy. Energy and water companies must back new online markets for their services. Increased transparency is key. Books should be presented in an accessible fashion, in addition to statutory reporting. CEOs need to become happier to talk on the record to the media. Companies ought to communicate directly to the public to influence politicians, rather than resort to secretive lobbying behind closed doors. Energy firms should give detailed breakdowns of where they make money and how that compares to their cost of capital. Businesses will always have to fight for some unpopular policies, or oppose destructive but popular regulations. But they must stop defending our membership of the EU in such a hysterical manner, thus angering millions. Trade is obviously possible without political unification, and companies should focus exclusively on promoting open markets, not on defending a particular set of political institutions. The public can tolerate successful bosses who make lots of money, but not executives sacked for incompetence who walk away with big payouts. Employment contracts in listed firms must be rewritten to reduce pay-offs on exit, and business groups need to ask the Government for a change in the law to prevent sacked CEOs from suing for unfair dismissal. A similar reform is needed with our ridiculously flawed corporate tax code: it is incomprehensible, arbitrary and unfair, and is fuelling anti-business sentiment. We need a completely new tax system with no loopholes which ensures that all income from capital generated in the UK is taxed, but only once, and at a low, competitive rate. Companies can't do this themselves, obviously, but they need to tell the Government that this is a priority for them. Ethics is another legitimate concern. Firms need to sign up to outside monitoring agencies and institute a zero tolerance approach to fraud, heavy-handed selling and market manipulation. Consumers need to be able to report wrongdoers, and see justice being done. Crucially, corporate Britain's response must not be solely defensive. Companies must never apologise for making profits or seeking to enrich shareholders through legal means. They should not give money or cave in to those who seek to undermine them. Instead, they should constantly explain how they contribute economically. Last but not least, business needs its customers to understand financial concepts. They need to help promote numeracy and an understanding of basic business and economic ideas. There are no miracle cures; but for all of our sakes British businesses must urgently begin to take their critics seriously, up their game and begin the fightback before it is too late. Allister Heath is editor of City AM