Stock market returns have averaged 16 per cent a year under David Cameron's Conservatives party, compared to just under nine per cent under Labour . Shares have performed nearly twice as well under Conservative governments than under Labour over the last 45 years, according to figures published today. Stock market returns have averaged 16 per cent a year under the Tories compared with just under 9 per cent under Labour and just over 9 per cent under the current Coalition. The figures, in an analysis for the Daily Mail by investment company Hargreaves Lansdown, are a further boost for David Cameron and George Osborne ahead of the general election on May 7. Ed Miliband is struggling to win over business men and women as well as investors who are worried about a Left-wing Labour government’s attitudes to enterprise. A survey of FTSE 100 bosses this weekend showed 70 per cent believe a Labour government under Mr Miliband would be a ‘catastrophe’ for the economy. The analysis by Hargreaves Lansdown shows investors – including millions of workers saving for a pension – fare better under the Conservatives. Laith Khalaf, a senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: ‘The stock market has performed twice as well under a Conservative government as it has under Labour, according to performance statistics dating back to 1970.’ The analysis shows that companies have also performed better under the Tories with profits up by an average of 11 per cent a year under the Conservatives and 6 per cent under Labour. Writing in the Daily Mail, Mr Khalaf said: ‘Over the last 45 years there have been five Conservative governments, five Labour governments, and the current Coalition. ‘Over that time the UK stock market has returned on average 16 per cent a year under Conservative rule, compared with 9 per cent under Labour. ‘Markets can be capricious beasts in the short term, but on average this trend reflects the growth in UK company profits under the two parties.’ However, he said events on the global stage ‘are far more important to the UK stock market than the next resident of Number 10’. He added: ‘Looking back over the last 45 years, the waxing and waning of the stock market has been driven in large part by overseas influences, and is not commanded from Westminster. This makes sense when you consider how globalised most industries are.’ Experts have warned that a hung parliament could send financial markets into a tailspin and the pound and shares crashing. A survey of FTSE 100 bosses  showed 70 per cent believe a Labour government  would be a ‘catastrophe’ for the economy. The analysis by Hargreaves Lansdown shows investors fare better under the Conservatives . All the major pollsters are predicting that no party will win an overall majority. George Buckley, UK economist at Deutsche Bank, said: ‘The 2015 UK general election is set to be the most unpredictable for nearly a century. ‘Polls suggest that neither of the two major parties may have sufficient support to secure an outright majority. ‘There may be no good outcome for investors.’ A hard-hitting report by BlackRock, the largest fund manager in the world, said ‘a soothing outcome for the markets is hard to imagine’ given Labour’s anti-business policies and Tory plans to hold a referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union. ‘Labour would be tough on business – and might be perceived as lacking fiscal responsibility,’ the US giant said in the report. ‘A Conservatives-dominated Cabinet would pave the way for an unsettling referendum in 2017 on the UK’s EU membership. ‘Whoever wins – and the result could take some time to emerge – will lead a weak government likely to pass only watered-down legislation.’
Shares have performed nearly twice as well under Tories, new figures show . Stock market returns averaged 16 per cent per year under Conservatives . Returns hovered around nine per cent under Labour and current Coalition .