Finance & Leasing Association11 October 2023
For the two main UK political parties, the conference season is now over, possibly for the last time before the next election.
In a departure from the usual staged policy announcements by Ministers, the Prime Minister claimed all the big headlines for himself. Chief amongst them was the decision to replace the HS2 project north of Birmingham with investment in local road and railway schemes. The conference itself was characterised by the lack of briefing ahead of this (to the frustration of the media), indicating lessons had been learnt from the recent leaking of a change in the Government’s approach to Net Zero. The atmosphere felt muted, reflecting the reality of a governing party in power for over a decade. In what some might regard as a last-ditch effort to secure a Conservative win, Rishi Sunak cast himself as the change candidate. It will be interesting to see how this plays out with the media and the public in the year ahead.
Whilst the Conservative gathering lacked specific announcements of relevance to FLA markets, we discussed extending capital allowances to leasing, Consumer Credit Act reform and the transition to Net Zero in meetings with Ministers and advisers.
In the lead-up to the Labour jamboree, a policy programme was published. This includes many green measures including “turbo charging cheaper electric vehicles"; bringing forward “long-overdue consumer protection regulation” such as Buy-Now-Pay-Later; and giving the British Business Bank “a more ambitious remit.” At meetings with the frontbench team at the conference we were given undertakings that they will work closely with industry to ensure any new measures are workable. Helpfully they have dropped plans for interest-free car loans on the basis that they were impractical.
Labour had the advantage of holding their conference a fortnight later. The atmosphere was buzzing and business representatives turned up in their droves. The expectation is that this is a Government in waiting. With this in mind, Sir Keir Starmer promised “a decade of national renewal” at the heart of which was a housebuilding programme and getting the NHS “back on its feet”. Members of his top team were careful not to over-promise beyond pledging not to raise taxes with a couple of exceptions but the clear message was that they would fight the next election on the economy. The challenge for Labour will be how to implement a significant programme of change in such a tight fiscal environment.
Published 11 Oct 2023
