BPF Spotlight Series - Political Engagement

For our final BPF Spotlight of the year, we caught up with our Director of Communications Dominic Curran to talk about this year’s political engagement and what’s on the horizon for next year.

Over to you, Dom:

❓This year has been busy for political engagement – what’s been going on?

🗣️It really has! It might feel like a lifetime ago now, but Michael Gove’s Renters’ Reform Bill was going through Parliament when the election was called. Back in May, we were also dealing with the impact of the Building Safety Act (which the industry is still grappling with) and waiting for the outcome of consultations on energy efficiency standards – and that’s just scratching the surface.

❓What changed after the summer?

🗣️Not only did the BPF produce six manifestos for the election (covering specific policy areas such as retail, logistics, housing, planning and sustainability, as well as an overarching manifesto ‘to rule them all’), but we started a comprehensive programme of engagement with MPs, more than half of whom were newly elected, in addition to our usual engagement with Ministers and officials.

So far, we’ve met with about half of the 50 MPs we identified as key to the industry, alongside engaging with officials in Mayoral Combined Authorities and groups like Labour Together and the Labour Growth Group. We’ve also strengthened existing relationships and built new ones with opposition frontbench MPs.

❓What were this year’s major highlights?

🗣️The first phase of our engagement wrapped up with us attending all three main party conferences and hosting a reception for new MPs in November. We’re planning to build on that momentum next year with more events.

❓What’s coming up in 2025?

🗣️It’s shaping up to be even busier! We’ve already seen consultations on a revised NPPF, a Renters’ Rights Bill and a draft industrial strategy.

Next year will also bring two key Bills – the Planning & Infrastructure Bill and one on English Devolution – plus major strategies on industry, housing, infrastructure and the Comprehensive Spending Review.

We’ll also kick off the year with a new plan for growth and investment in January, which will set out our priorities for the new Government. However, all of that is the other side of Christmas. After a year this busy, a few days of festive downtime is definitely in order!