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There was a shared theme across all of this year’s conferences. Despite the varying rhetoric and the insults thrown between parties, all focused on the need to stimulate the economy to achieve growth. Because of this focus, infrastructure, and the industry behind its delivery, has gained a new level of prominence in the political realm as the primary driver for economic growth and recovery.
ACE has thus been keen to exploit this opportunity for our sector and the wider construction industry at all three party conferences.
Teaming up with other organisations in the £20 billion a year infrastructure sector, ACE took part in three cocktail receptions as part of the Infrastructure Alliance (ACE, the Civil Engineers Contractors Association, the Construction Products Association and the Institution of Civil Engineers) and our conference partner CITB-ConstructionSkills.
These receptions, promoting a joined-up message from industry on the crucial role that infrastructure plays in the economy and in our communities, were ACE’s main input into the conferences. However, there was much more of interest to the infrastructure sector and the wider construction industry at all three conferences.
The Liberal Democrats
The most prominent infrastructure announcements came at the Liberal Democrat conference. The Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, used a pre-conference speech to announce that 40 infrastructure projects would be prioritised to stimulate growth. There was also an announcement of £500 million extra for capital projects from Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, to further boost growth.
The Infrastructure for Growth reception at the Liberal Democrat conference saw speeches from John Hemming MP, Steve Withers of CECA, and guest speaker Julian Huppert MP (chair of the Liberal Democrat Transport Committee).
Julian spoke of the Liberal Democrat commitment to infrastructure both as a driver for economic growth and as a means to green the environment.
In general, commentators agreed that the Liberal Democrat conference felt flat. But with the party sitting at around 10% in the polls, the leadership must have been pleased that there was no large-scale negative reaction from their activists.
Labour
Labour’s conference was more policy–light than the other conferences. This was somewhat to be expected from the opposition at a stage of the political cycle more than three years away from a likely general election.
Although Labour supports the calls for investment into infrastructure, the focus at Labour was on other ideas to help growth. VAT reductions were mentioned, as well as an interesting idea from Lord Sidelsky to develop the Green Investment Bank into a State Investment Bank.
The Infrastructure for Growth reception at Labour saw speeches from Nick Raynsford MP, Nelson Ogunshakin OBE (ACE) and guest speaker, Ian Lucas MP, Shadow Construction Minister. Ian Lucas spoke of Labour’s continued support for infrastructure and the construction industry.
Overall the Labour conference felt slightly smaller than previous years. Whether this was due to being in opposition, or costs in the midst of a recession, the conference did feel like the meeting of a party - and a new leader in Ed Miliband - trying to find its identity in opposition.
Conservatives
The Conservative conference took a more macro economic view than the other conferences when it looked at the growth agenda, although capital and infrastructure were again mentioned throughout.
The Conservative agenda was best summarised in George Osborne’s keynote speech, in which he told the country that we must stick to the economic course and not cut taxes or spend more. This was a direct response to the calls of Liberal Democrats and Labour for more large scale spending on growth, and to the Conservative right, which has been calling for tax cuts.
The most interesting announcements included the Conservatives’ housing revolution, where social housing will be available to buy from its residents at reduced prices, with generated funds put into more house building. This is a precursor to the year ahead, in which the housing shortage is likely to form a key battleground between the political parties.
However, question marks were raised by some at conference by the Chancellor’s speech, where he seemed to portray sustainability and the drive to the low economy as a threat to growth rather than a catalyst for innovation in renewables technologies. This was vigorously denied by Conservative Environment Minister Greg Barker MP at a fringe event. It is likely that the Conservatives will need to give more clarity on their views on the environment, and in particular their views around keeping the current reduction rates for carbon emissions in 2020, 2030 etc., to maintain certainty in industry around renewable development.
The Infrastructure for Growth reception at the Conservative Party conference saw speeches from Mark Garnier MP, the CPA’s Michael Ankers OBE, and guest speaker Esther McVey MP, PPS to the Employment Minister. Esther herself comes from a construction family business background and spoke about how the Conservatives understood the importance of infrastructure and construction.
An infrastructure lunch was also held at the Conservative conference, with the likes of Peter Aldous MP and Marc Garnier MP attending.
In total, the Conservative conference was very steady and to plan, with no large ups or downs from those attending, again something that must have pleased the Prime Minister.
In truth, the conferences did feel a little underwhelming this year. But this is because they felt like the warm up act to what will be the big event on the immediate political horizon, the Chancellor’s autumn statement on 29 November.
Here we will hear the details on how the coalition government hopes to bring about growth, with the likely release of the Plan for Growth phase two and the second National Infrastructure Plan to name but a few of what is likely to be a long list of announcements.
Infrastructure should feature heavily in the statement and, with conference season complete, we now wait with bated breath for 29 November and will continue working with decision makers to support that agenda.
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