Institution news
The era of political parties being mass membership organisations is over. However, what remains is a committed rump of party activists and delegates who attend the conferences. Within this enthusiastic hub of political chatter are countless charities, pressure groups, businesses and industrial organisations all lobbying for influence.
The Institution was involved in two partnerships, covering six events, spread over the course of three weeks, at the three party conferences, in three cities.
One partnership focused on the energy sector and the other on high-speed rail. The Big Energy Debate was created in conjunction with the Guardian newspaper and other strategic partners in the energy industry. The ‘In Conversation...’ debates with a party spokesperson on rail were events run with the High-Speed Rail Industry Leaders Group (ILG).
We, as the Institution, were keen to be involved in this party conference season leading up to May’s general election. These events provided the Institution with additional political access and visibility, while our event partners traded on the Institution’s reputation for political impartiality and academic rigour.
The debates tended to centre on the political aspects of energy policy and rail policy, rather than the technical aspects of engineering. Inevitably, politics dominated the policy debates rather than technical implementation and practical concerns. For example, some of the ILG debates were overconcerned with the route of the high-speed rail lines, rather than looking at what needs to be achieved now to implement further rail infrastructure projects (HS3, HS4 etc).
Another example was the Big Energy Debate in Glasgow with the Liberal Democrats. Naturally, the presence of the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Rt Hon Ed Davey MP, gave the delegates an opportunity to inundate him with sympathetic questions, which he masterfully answered with partisan responses.
In spite of the overtly political nature of the debates, there was much to be content with from the Institution’s perspective. During the Questions and Answers session at the ILG Conservative debate, the Institution forcefully admonished the Secretary of State for Transport, Rt Hon Patrick McLoughlin, on his Government’s inability to address the skills gap and diversity issues within the rail sector.
This led to a post-event conversation between the Secretary of State, his Special Adviser (colloquially known as a SpAd) and myself to set up a meeting at a further date to discuss these issues.
Interestingly, as a public affairs practitioner, it is at times like this, being part of successful and stimulating events, that you see tangible value in conference events.
Seven months are to pass from now until the formation of the next Government. It is in this period that we will judge the fruits of our labour.
Special thanks to those members who represented the Institution at the conference events – Professor Ian Arbon, Allan Jones, Professor Simon Iwnicki, and Daniel Kenning.
Find out more about the Institution's
Public Affairs team.