Sam Baptist
Every autumn, the main UK political parties hold their annual conferences. They are part policy forum, where members debate and vote on motions; part platform, where leaders set out priorities; and part marketplace, where organisations use fringe events and informal meetings to put evidence in front of ministers and parliamentarians.
National policy is often shaped by what is said in these few weeks, long before any formal consultation. I attended Labour’s conference in Liverpool, as the governing party, and we followed the others through monitoring.
These are the headlines – and what they mean for CIBSE members.
Labour: a new tone, but familiar challenges
This was Andy Burnham’s first conference as leader and Prime Minister, and the message was one of ‘hope’, alongside a frank acknowledgement that fiscal choices remain tough.
Many firm decisions await the Chancellor’s first Budget on 28 October (which took place as the Journal went to press). His keynote promised a 10-year ‘Plan for Britain’, due later this year, built around devolving power and restoring public control over essential services.
The most relevant announcement in our sector came from Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh: Warm Homes Plan funding will be devolved, giving mayors and councils the powers to invest in upgrading homes and building regional supply chains.
She also announced a £1bn Local Power Plant scheme for community-owned solar, wind and heat pump projects. The Prime Minister announced a publicly owned Great British Grid to cut costs and speed up grid connections, and confirmed VAT will be removed from electricity bills.
Youth employment ran through speeches across government, framed around the Neet crisis (young people not in employment, education or training). The Chancellor announced a £100m expansion of a mayor-led apprenticeship service and the return of the Union Learning Fund, with a focus on AI upskilling; Louise Haigh also said procurement rules will
be rewritten to support British skills and apprenticeships.
On housing, Secretary of State Angela Rayner announced new funding for council housing and powers for councils to acquire social homes and bring empty properties back into use, and referred to powers to fix unsafe buildings through a new Remediation Bill. The Prime Minister promised a leasehold reform bill before Christmas.
For members, the Warm Homes Plan funding means more retrofit decisions will be made and paid for locally. Engineers working with councils, housing providers and combined authorities will need to engage with regional priorities and procurement. Our work on apprenticeships and the Young Engineers Network reinforces the case for clear pathways into engineering, and, as skills climb the political agenda, we will keep making it.
Conservatives: deregulation, including net zero
The Conservatives’ conference in Birmingham centred on tax cuts, deregulation and growth. Shadow Chancellor Andrew Griffith confirmed plans to scrap net zero targets and repeal the Climate Change Act 2008, and the party proposed scrapping net zero building requirements (the Future Homes Standard), which it estimates would cut the cost of a new home by up to £50,000. Shadow Energy Secretary Andrew Bowie pledged a ‘national nuclear renewal’.
Greens: growing popularity but ongoing policy tensions
The Greens’ conference in Brighton attracted more attention than in previous years, much of it unrelated to our sector. The most significant change for members was the vote to drop the party’s long-standing opposition to nuclear power: policy now describes nuclear as low-carbon and commits to phasing out only fossil fuels. Members also backed public ownership of water companies without compensation for shareholders.
Liberal Democrats: growth and EU cooperation
Meeting in Brighton, the Liberal Democrats launched ‘Get Britain growing again’, built around a growth and defence partnership with the EU. Members passed a motion requiring new AI data centres to provide local jobs and route waste heat into
district heating. Munira Wilson, the MP for Twickenham, proposed a post-16 baccalaureate combining academic, technical and creative study.
Reform UK: scrapping net zero targets and funding technical education
Reform’s conference focused on cost-of-living pledges and a ‘national emergency’ approach to its first 100 days.
Nigel Farage and deputy leader Richard Tice committed to scrapping net zero policies. Tice pledged to cut average household energy bills by £250 within 100 days and fund construction apprenticeships. Suella Braverman, MP for Fareham and Waterlooville, proposed redirecting funding from low-value degrees to vocational and technical education.
Why this matters to CIBSE
Taken together, the conferences show a clear divide on decarbonisation. Labour, the governing party, is attempting to press ahead with delivery through the Warm Homes Plan, while the Conservatives and Reform UK both committed to scrapping net zero targets.
The Greens’ shift on nuclear shows even the party most associated with climate policy changing its attitude to electricity generation. Skills and youth employment featured across the main parties, with different approaches.
Attending conference is not about visibility for its own sake. Much of the value lies in small conversations that build relationships or raise the prominence of an issue. CIBSE engages across party lines to make the case for building services engineers in decarbonising buildings, keeping them safe and healthy, and developing the future workforce.
For CIBSE members outside the UK, these themes also travel: decarbonising buildings and enabling a professional workforce to do it are challenges that extend to markets around
the world.
About the author
Sam Baptist is the director of policy and external affairs at CIBSE