Party Conference round-up in relation to real estate

It is widely accepted that this will be the last political conference season before a 2024 election – whilst most commentators believe that an October election is more probable than May, both major parties are going on the offensive; finessing manifestos and charming members and business alike.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s first Conservative party conference as leader risked being overshadowed – both from demands within his party (former leaders and ‘wedge issues’, such as immigration and sustainability, were pervasive), as well as from his own policy, with questions around HS2 mounting day by day. With the HS2 decision now public, the Conservatives can continue in their efforts to position itself as the party of change with ‘decisive leadership’ (it sees the cuts to HS2 and the net zero agenda as indications of this) and are expected to try to tie Labour in knots with ‘wedge issues’.

The Labour party conference has been reported as a success almost unanimously by the press, although leader of the opposition, Kier Starmer’s, route to Number 10 is still very much “like wearing socks and walking across a polished floor whilst holding a Ming vase”. Underpinning every speech at the Labour party conference was the message that Labour will be a government of stability and ‘fiscal responsibility’, which business has been receptive to. 

His 20ish-point lead in the polls may put Starmer in a strong position but the party is not immortal. That said, a post-conferences YouGov survey found that Sunak has failed to significantly move the polls; 20 per cent of voters believed Sunak would make the best prime minister versus 32 per cent for Starmer – down five points in a week, making it Sunak’s lowest approval rating since becoming PM. 

• Weeks of speculation around HS2 finally came to an end with the Prime Minister announcing a cancellation to future phases on the final day of the conference, and instead allocating £36bn to be spent on a new ‘Network North’ of infrastructure improvements (which has subsequently faced significant scrutiny given several of the projects have already been delivered), as well as the creation of a ‘Euston Quarter’ to be developed at the terminus 

• Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Secretary, Michael Gove MP, touched upon the Long-Term Plan for Housing – which aims to allocate £800m from the £1.5bn Brownfield, Infrastructure and Land fund to unlock up to 56,000 new homes on brownfield sites – and the Long-Term Plan for Towns – that aims to regenerate communities through a £1.1bn investment into 55 towns

• In a busy main stage and fringe agenda, the Prime Minister and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s agendas were at risk of being eclipsed by former leader Liz Truss, who made several clashing appearances promoting her ‘pro-growth’ stance

• Real estate dominated the Labour conference agenda, with detail on house building policy (including a 1.5m new home target) and major energy infrastructure delivery being included in several major speeches

• Pledges around planning reform and brownfield redevelopment show a Labour party that is not only listening to the real estate industry but taking onboard meaningful changes that can be implemented in power

• Angela Rayner, the new shadow secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities, said little on regional inequalities however, focusing instead on housing and the future of work – indicating that Labour is still unsure of its stance on ‘levelling up’

• Net zero carbon was also prevalent across the conference, being positioned as a considerable component to delivering economic growth – one of Labour’s five missions – including a punchy commitment to deliver a clean power system by 2030

• Business was told at almost every possibility that in a Labour party it will have a government of stability and ‘fiscal responsibility’ that takes a ‘securenomic’ approach to making the UK self-sufficient. Questions will remain around how its smorgasbord of policy can be funded in its entirety; a question that will undoubtedly crop up frequently over the next 12 months

Shadow ministers and Labour spokespeople stuck to the party directive to not talk about Labour in power, but taking the general mood of the conference, a significant increase in business and foreign diplomats attending, and speech references to what could be delivered over two terms – captured succinctly by the BBC’s Chris Mason – it is clear that Labour’s position as the government in waiting is showing no sign of waning.

Labour-policy aside, the Prime Minister has by-elections to tackle, as well as the Autumn Statement, King’s Speech and possibly even a Cabinet reshuffle – all before Christmas. We can expect a busy three months, and year, ahead.