Rishi Sunak is convening a new council of business advisers, months before a general election campaign in which the Conservatives’ record on the economy will be a key battleground.

Sky News understands that 10 Downing Street issued invitations last week to a group of business leaders to be part of the initiative.

Their identities were unclear on Tuesday, although previous iterations of prime ministerial business advisory groups have included executives from companies such as BT Group, GlaxoSmithKline, J Sainsbury and Rolls-Royce Holdings.

The first meeting of Mr Sunak’s new council is said to have been scheduled for next week.

The PM’s ability to point to a sharp fall in inflation over the next 12 months is likely to be a key factor in the Tories’ performance at the ballot box.

Boris Johnson, whose relationship with private sector bosses was frequently under strain, presided over several meetings of his own business group, whose members included bosses from Octopus Energy, Iceland Foods and Virgin Atlantic.

The latest attempt by the government to foster positive relations with the private sector comes three months after a conference called Business Connect was attended by hundreds of executives.

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In November, the second Global Investment Summit, which is expected to be attended by executives from dozens of multinationals, will take place.

A No10 spokesperson said: “The prime minister and ministers across government are continually engaging with businesses and entrepreneurs to drive forward the people’s priorities to grow the economy.

“We’ll set out further detail on the PM’s business engagement in the usual way.”

Under leader Sir Keir Starmer, Labour has been attempting to reposition itself as a business-friendly government-in-waiting.

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