Events
Our upcoming events and conferences for BESA members.
Read MoreFriday, October 12, 2018
For another year, BESA was pleased to represent members at the two main party conferences in Liverpool and Birmingham. In 2017, the party conference season did not disappoint for drama, intrigue and even comedy. Raucous renditions of ‘Oh Jeremy Corbyn,’ unexpected P45s and political uncertainty were the main points to remember from last year. 2018, however, has been quite different.
In Liverpool, the Labour Party were in high spirits and still raring for the opportunity of another general election. Key policy announcements from different Shadow Cabinet members were complimented by passionate and strong contributions from Labour Party members and delegates, making some of the more procedural sessions much easier.
Following a summer of difficult headlines, the Labour Party have been enjoying more positive coverage over the past two weeks; while in Birmingham Theresa May appears to have made some progress in securing her position since the setback of the 2017 general election.
A few rising stars certainly shone for the Conservatives, especially Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson. This year’s conference was more focused on policy than politics, where Britain is going rather than where it has been and the Conservative Party’s vision for staying in government.
The Labour Party have recently enjoyed a substantial growth among young members, but an observation repeated time and time again in Birmingham was that Conservative attendance was up from last year and the average age was down.
Both the Conservative and Labour agendas had a number of housing, infrastructure, skills and SME focused fringe events, but a glaring lack of the words ‘Carillion’ and ‘Grenfell’ stuck out before the conferences.
During an episode of the Waugh Zone, BESA was able to question Secretary of State Greg Clark on the impact of late payments. And it is good to see that he and BEIS have launched new measures to support workers, businesses and entrepreneurs and are looking to create ‘a responsible payment culture’ and finally ‘tackle late payment.’ Welcome news indeed.
But politics aside, there are some key things the construction industry and BESA members can take away from party conference season 2018.
LABOUR PARTY CONFERENCE
CONSERVATIVE PARTY CONFERENCE
Both Parties have pledged new taxes on second homes as a way to tackle homelessness, both Party leaders can leave their respective conferences feeling more secure than they were before and we can all rest assured that we still don’t know what is going to happen with Brexit.
The Aldous Bill campaign was also well received at party conferences, with an additional 35 MPs pledging to support the Construction (Retention Deposit Schemes) Bill. As with last year, BESA saw some familiar faces, some new ones and have been pushing the issues that matter to members. We will be looking forward to the 2019 conference season, with Labour returning to Brighton and the Conservatives heading back to Manchester.
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