The Whole Nation Take on #CPC24

This week’s column is slightly different: after 4 days in Birmingham for the Whole Nation Team, we thought we should share some thoughts on how well the discussion at Conservative Party Conference covered Whole Nation priorities.

The packed programme of fringe events had something to offer everyone but meant it was practically impossible to attend everything of interest! As such our comments are based on our own edited highlights, and there were other events with a focus on regional growth which none of our small team were able to attend in person.

The leadership contest obviously featured heavily throughout the week. It was great to hear both Tom Tugendhat and Robert Jenrick consistently reference the importance of continuing the last Government’s focus on unlocking the potential of all parts of the country. These two candidates also both spoke at the excellent NextGenTories reception on Monday evening, making a clear commitment to tackling the essential challenge of housing supply.

The Conservative Environment Network hosted a fascinating panel on Sunday entitled ‘Is Net Zero a Conservative Mission?”. Whilst the panel certainly held a diverse range of views, an interesting element from a Whole Nation perspective was the discussion of the potential of regional electricity pricing to present an opportunity for utilising localised abundance of renewable generated electricity to enable re-industrialisation of areas such as Scotland and the North East of England.

The live recording of Ben Houchen’s Blueprint podcast with Andy Street, former Mayor of the West Midlands, provided an interesting insight into regional policy in different contexts, with Ben and Andy comparing and contrasting their successful approaches in their respective regions. The ability of devolved leadership to focus on attracting investment and aligning skills offers to the strengths and growth potential of their regions was a key point to take out of this discussion.

Onward’s Future of Conservatism panel covered a very wide range of issues, though there was a clear consensus that our party must make clear that conservative ideas can improve people’s lives regardless of their location or background, with both the successes and delivery limitations of the Levelling Up agenda coming up.

The Spectator’s panel - Can the Conservatives be the Party of Home Ownership again? - tackled the subject of home and housing for all areas of the country, both in its importance in daily life, social mobility and cohesion, spoken about powerfully by Liam Halligan, and how practically you deliver on mass housebuilding, given the various political, economic and regulatory obstacles.

The Centre for Policy Studies had a number of interesting panels. An early morning one - Have the Tories abandoned the family? - threw up a number of ideas pertinent to Whole Nation. One being the significance of place and community norms within family life, and how this impacts on life chances and aspirations. Children’s Commissioner Rachel De Souza also highlighted how much this influences happiness in childhood, and the details gleaned from her survey work.

Overall, it was great to see a wide variety of panels, panellists and discussions around important regional topics, like industrial strategy, economic growth opportunities and housing, which gives us every hope that many in our party recognise the need to engage with these issues as we seek to rebuild.