What to look out for at this year’s party conferences. 

By Tom Gosschalk – Senior Account Director

Party conference season is here. It all started at the beginning of September with Reform’s conference in Birmingham – to find out what the party had to say about all things energy and infrastructure, Tom Bradley was on the ground to unpack some of the key themes from the conference. With the Conservative and Labour conferences still to come, we delve into some of the energy and infrastructure themes and policy positions each party will be discussing as they come together over the next few weeks. 

Liberal Democrats  

Earlier this week, the Liberal Democrats descended on sunny Bournemouth for their autumn conference. The move which grabbed the most headlines was its members passing a motion to scrap the party’s 2045 net zero target and instead align with the government’s 2050 target. Also making the news was Deputy Leader, Daisy Cooper’s plans to create a new Energy Security Bank, offering loans to households to install renewable energy systems funded by a windfall tax on big banks. Alongside the headline grabbing announcements there was plenty of policy detail to get stuck into, among this included members passing a motion giving their support to:

• Achieve 95% decarbonisation of power by 2030 – again aligning with the current government
• Expand grid capacity and support the communities hosting the infrastructure
• Decouple electricity prices from the wholesale gas price, and move older renewables projects from ROCs to Contracts for Difference
• Provide support for North Sea oil and gas workers and their transition to clean energy

Conservatives  

This will be the first conference since Kemi Badenoch took over as Leader, and the first since she described Net Zero by 2050 as impossible without bankrupting the UK as part of the party’s ‘Policy Renewal Programme’. As such, expect much of the narrative around net zero to focus on the cost to households and businesses, whether this is through the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme or Labour’s ban on new North Sea oil and gas projects. Also expect to hear from the growing Conservative YIMBY movement which is seeking to take the planning reform mantle from YIMBY Labour activists, spurred on by the think tank Onward and easily spotted by their blue ‘Build Baby Build’ caps. 

Labour 

Keir Starmer and co haven’t had an easy time since taking office for, with unrelenting economic headwinds and fiscal issues dominating the news agenda. Despite this, energy and infrastructure is one of the areas where the party has made good progress and they’ll want to use conference to shout about it – whether it’s record-breaking CfD auctions, granting planning permission for 1.4GW of solar power or passing the Water Special Measures Act.  

As one of Labour’s flagship policies, Clean Power 2030 will undoubtedly be prominent at conference, with the party looking to demonstrate the work it has already done in this area or businesses looking to showcase the projects that could push the UK ever closer to its decarbonisation target.  

During the election campaign, Ed Miliband promised to bring the average annual energy bill down by £300 by the next election. A target that the party sees as being on the other side of the clean power coin. As well as discussing how renewables can help to reduce household energy bills, expect Labour’s Warm Homes Plan to also be a central topic of conversation after securing significant funding in the Spending Review. It’s also likely that other key reforms such as decoupling the electricity price from gas and the reform of standing charges will be discussed by those looking at how to reduce the UK’s bills.  

Cavendish has representatives present at all the major party conferences, ensuring we’re best placed to advise you and your organisation on the conversations that matter. Get in touch to find out more about how the ever-evolving energy and infrastructure policy landscape impacts your business.