It opposed the Factory Acts in the nineteenth century. When the government banned children from sweeping chimneys, Herbert Spencer predicted the collapse of freedom and capitalism. The fight to have toilets in the workplace in the 1920s was resisted as an outrageous increase in business costs that would set back Britain's international competitiveness. As to the accusation that having a European-quality health service will temporarily involve higher interest rates, a specious proposition in any case, my bet is that the British would willingly pay it. Business needs forcibly reminding that successful business is the means to a good society, not the end.
Work needs to have limits.
But this is done within a wider vocabulary and culture in which such interventions go against the grain. If that culture is to change so that regulation becomes possible again, we need conviction that other values matter and that the business interest is not the public interest. That in turn requires leadership from both enlightened business and government alike. The Prime Minister is in a lucky position. He does not even have to legislate.