Themes from Labour Party conference
After a year in power, hundreds of Labour Party members gathered in Liverpool for three days of intense policy discussions, rallies, and receptions. From the rise of Reform UK to Labour’s own red hat movement, these were the key topics and talking points.
Build, baby, build
Housing secretary Steve Reed was the man of the hour during the first few days of Labour Party conference. Thanks to the Labour YIMBY group, Reed’s “build, baby, build” catchphrase was found on baseball caps, bucket hats, flags, and signs. These became the hot commodity of the conference – especially if you grabbed a hat signed by Reed himself. Yes, that’s right, Reed was signing merch – and there was a queue for it.
What does it mean for Labour’s future? It appears that many in the party are on board with the housing delivery promises. As Sam Stafford, managing director of the Land, Planning, and Development Federation, told Place: “The zeitgeist is different, so [government] should be very much applauded…for actually wanting to build some houses. I don’t think the last government wanted to.”
Burnham watch
The quickest way to create a crowd at Labour Party conference: start a rumour that Andy Burnham is about to walk past. The Mayor of Greater Manchester was almost constantly surrounded by press and security, a crowd so big that at one point he was mistaken for Prime Minister Keir Starmer by at least one conference attendee when going from event to event.
It was no surprise that the press was following Burnham closely, as there were rumours in the lead-up to the conference that he would be putting his hat into the ring for the top party role. The buzz got so bad that Manchester City Council Leader Cllr Bev Craig and Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram had to open a panel session by stating they would not be taking any questions about the Greater Manchester Mayor.
Despite all the hullabaloo, the vibe that Place got was that we would be calling Burnham “Mayor” for a while longer – especially after Burnham ally Rotheram made this statement to a crowd at a Centre for Cities reception on Sunday: “Keir Starmer is our prime minister and we want to help Keir Starmer to still be our prime minister after 2029.”
Disconnects
Since coming into power there has been friction between Starmer’s team and the Labour base when it comes to issues around welfare spending, Israel, and a perceived move to the right. The built environment is not immune either – an issue that came to the forefront during a panel session with housing minister Matthew Pennycook on new towns.
When the time came for questions, Cheshire East Cllr Mary Brooks took the microphone and explained that she and other Labour councillors had been blindsided by the shortlisting of a new town in their area. The proposal for Adlington, which was put forward by the landowner not the council, would be built on greenfield in a largely affluent area.
“Do we have a greenfield first policy, rather than brownfield policy now,” she asked pointedly. Pennycook directed her to the independent New Towns Taskforce report to see the reasoning for Adlington’s inclusion (to summarise: it can be delivered quickly because the land does not require remediation and it will create a more diverse housing mix in the area, which is needed).
Mourning
The names Angela Rayner and Jim McMahon came up time and time again during conference fringe events, each time laced with regret that neither are ministers still. Rayner was the secretary of state for the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government, while McMahon had been the minister leading on devolution.
As fun as Steve Reed with his red hats was, Rayner’s name was never far behind him with delegates crediting her with laying the groundwork for the pro-development movement. As for McMahon, several Mayors lamented his departure noting that he genuinely understood his brief and was keen to engage with them.
All hail the Mayors
The Mayors were out in force during conference, talking up their regions and making the case for ever more devolution. In fact, devolution itself was one of the hottest topics at the conference with numerous dedicated sessions where panellists could be found pontificating on what the best format would be.
The most ‘out there’ idea was from South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard who made a pitch for the Mayors to become members of the House of Lords and sit on a special committee where they could be involved in working with the civil service on the strategy for delivering projects – such as Northern Powerhouse Rail.
A looming threat
Nigel Farage was not at the Labour Party conference, but he might as well have been. Farage and his Reform Party were the undercurrent of many a discussion. Starmer’s speech aside – more than once the upcoming May elections were referred to as being a Labour candidate’s “fight for their life”.
Local government and homelessness minister Alison McGovern delivered several speeches about the need to show people they had not been forgotten and that the government was working for them. Rotheram had a similar message, stating that for Labour to stay in government every member of the party had “to get on and deliver and demonstrate to the people out there that Labour in power is on their side. That Labour in power can deliver and that Labour in power have a vision for this country.”
Manchester’s Cllr Craig was adamant that Reform UK would not be a threat forever, stating that their agenda was not working and they were having to resort to culture wars to mask their poor policies.
“They will get found out,” she said. “And if it takes local elections and it takes mayoral elections to find people out then I think democracy will be the best solution to that.”
