Iceland founder Malcolm Walker and British Retail Consortium chair and former Morrisons chair Andy Higginson are among more than 100 business leaders who have signed a letter backing the Labour party’s economic plans.

Ahead of the general election on 4 July, the letter published in The Times, has seen 121 founders, chief executives and business leaders endorsing Labour’s proposals.

While Walker had previously been among 100 corporate leaders who had endorsed the Conservatives ahead of the 2015 election, he is now backing Labour.

It comes as last October, his son Richard Walker resigned from the Conservative party as he accused it of becoming out of touch with business.

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Alongside Iceland’s chair, other signatories of the letter include former Morrisons chair and the current chair of the British Retail Consortium Andy Higginson, as well as TV chef, restauranteur and M&S partner Tom Kerridge.

The letter states: “We, as leaders and investors in British business, believe it is time for a change. For too long, our economy has been beset by instability, stagnation and a lack of long-term focus.

“Labour has shown it has changed and wants to work with business to achieve the UK’s full economic potential. We should now give it the chance to change the country and lead Britain into the future.

“We are in urgent need of a new outlook to break free from the stagnation of the past decade and we hope by taking this public stand we might persuade others of that need too.”

Despite the support, according to the BBC, work and pensions secretary Mel Stride said today (28 May) that no chief executive of the UK’s very largest FTSE 100 companies, which include some of the country’s leading supermarkets, are among the letter’s signatories.