Policy update on Cabinet reshuffle and Government consultations

The UK has a new Prime Minister and his appointment has led to an extensive Cabinet reshuffle. IMechE Engineering Policy Adviser Matt Rooney assesses the new political landscape and opportunities for the Institution to influence it.

The IMechE engages with various UK Government departments, but most commonly the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). This is the department that has led on initiatives such as the Industrial Strategy, Sector Deals and the Clean Growth Strategy, so there is a direct link to engineering policy. BEIS also leads the Engineering: Take a Closer Look initiative, a continuation of the Year of Engineering in 2018.
 
BEIS had benefitted from a relatively stable regime for a number of years under the leadership of MPs Greg Clark, Claire Perry and Richard Harrington, but all have now moved on. However, one of Greg Clark’s final acts as Secretary of State was to announce a series of consultations into ‘Innovative funding models and technologies to drive investment in new wave of low carbon energy’. The Engineering Policy Unit are considering which of these consultations the IMechE should respond to and we welcome interest from members if they would like to make a contribution.

Cabinet reshuffles are always somewhat disruptive, but some departments have been affected more than others this time around. Although BEIS have lost their top team, two of the new appointees have recent relevant experience. The new Secretary of State, Andrea Leadsom, had served as an energy minister in the Department for Energy and Climate Change (before it was subsumed into BEIS) in 2015/16 and Jo Johnson is returning to a similar role he took on from 2016 to 2018 when he was Minister of State (1) for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation. Kwasi Kwarteng is a new Minister of State in the department and he is likely to take on the important energy brief from Claire Perry, who has been given the opportunity to be President of the major United Nations climate change conference, COP26, which the UK is bidding to host in 2020.

At the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), Michael Gove has been replaced as Secretary of State by Theresa Villiers who previously led the Northern Ireland Office. But there is some continuity with Therese Coffey remaining in the department, being promoted to Minister of State.

The Department for Transport has an almost entirely new team, with Grant Shapps being appointed Secretary of State. This will an increasingly important role in the coming years. The accelerating uptake of electric vehicles will present both challenges and opportunities, while PM Johnson has announced a new high speed rail line to be deployed between Manchester and Leeds, which would be in addition to the already planned rail megaproject HS2.
 
Finally, the change of Prime Minister and Chancellor is obviously the most important development. After years of fiscal prudence following the 2007 financial crash, Downing Street has hinted that the Treasury’s purse-strings could be loosened. Boris Johnson has been touring the regions in his first weeks as PM and has revived the idea of the Northern Powerhouse initiative that was championed by George Osborne, but lost prominence in Government after he was replaced as Chancellor. Whether this materialises into new money for things like much-needed transport and energy infrastructure remains to be seen. As before the reshuffle, the attention of many ministers will be on first ensuring their departments navigate the Brexit process as unscathed as possible.

Note: Other Secretaries of State of particular interest to the Institution include:

• Matt Hancock, Department of Health and Social care
• Gavin Williamson, Department for Education
• Stephen Barclay, Department for Exiting the European Union
  
  

The full Cabinet and the responsibilities are listed here.