The BPF Westminster Update - 9 September

👋 Welcome to the first of our new regular series - The BPF Westminster Update. 👋

Straight from our Head of Communications, Dominic Curran, these updates will bring members up to speed on what we’ve been doing to advocate on members' behalf in the corridors of power.

🏫 It’s a busy period - September is back to Parliamentary ‘school’ and party conference season kicks off. This year, the BPF is going to all four conferences - Reform, LibDems, Labour and Conservative.

🗣️ The month started with two big Westminster events. On 2 September, our Chief Executive Melanie Leech gave evidence to the Community and Local Government Select Committee on the Building Safety Regulator, alongside Dame Judith Hackett.

Melanie stressed the impact of delay on investor confidence and welcomed the recent reforms, but said that was not yet being seen on the ground. We have persuaded Chris Curtis MP to get a debate on the issue, which will be another opportunity to keep up the pressure in Westminster. If any members have developments stuck in the BSR, please let us know so we can use it in our lobbying.

❌ That same day saw the Second Reading of the English Devolution Bill, and its surprise ban on Upward Only Rent Reviews. We sent a briefing to MPs in advance and it was good to see Alison Taylor MP and James Cleverly MP raise concerns about the lack of consultation and possible unintended consequences of the measure.

Last weekend, we also went to the Reform party conference in Birmingham. With only a few MPs present, there wasn’t much opportunity to engage - it was more about getting a sense of the party. It’s clearly professionalising rapidly and now is the right time for business to engage as they are still developing policy.

👀 Next week, we’ll be giving evidence to the Devolution Bill Committee on UORRs. Keep an eye out for our session on the 16 September!