View from Brussels/Whitehall

24 September 2024
For a party celebrating its first time in Government in 14 years, the atmosphere at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool was subdued. The headlines leading into it were about Ministers receiving donations but the reality is that Labour has to convince its own people that cuts to the winter fuel allowance and other measures will, in the longer term, give them scope to invest in public services and the energy infrastructure needed to achieve Net Zero by 2050.

The PM praised business leaders for sharing their ideas with Labour many of which will be taken forward in their forthcoming Industrial strategy. The Business Secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, went even further, challenging business to tell him and colleagues if they were getting it wrong. He spoke about creating the right conditions to stimulate international investment. Core to this would be a public-private partnership. In response to an FLA question, Reynolds confirmed his support for the BBB and recognised their role in the pursuit of net zero.

In her speech to the hall, Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, was passionate about her party’s programme for change but lacked detail beyond a pledge to invest in the economy. This is in part due to her Budget Statement on 30 October but by laying the blame on the previous administration’s fiscal ‘black hole’, she is setting up the country for hard times ahead. This feels a very different environment to 1997 when ‘things [could] only get better’.

View from Brussels – July 2024
18 Jul 2024
Once upon a time, the European Commission President was appointed following a deal between the Christian-Democrats and the Socialists…
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View from Brussels – June 2024
10 Jun 2024
The rise of Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National in France grabbed the headlines as voters across 27 EU Member States went to the ballot box this weekend.
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View from Whitehall – May 2024
14 May 2024
As the date of the UK election draws closer, commentators are beginning to speculate what a Labour Government would mean for the post-Brexit relationship with Brussels.
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View from Whitehall – April 2024
24 Apr 2024
With local and mayoral elections on the horizon and a general election expected in the Autumn, the Government’s focus is on mitigating its low opinion poll ratings.
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View from Brussels – March 2024
26 Mar 2024
It is less than three months to go before EU citizens go to the polls to elect their MEPs.
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View from Whitehall – February 2024
23 Feb 2024
Whilst the Westminster bubble’s attention is on scoring party political points, the FLA has published its ideas for an incoming Government.
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View from Brussels – January 2024
22 Jan 2024
2024 is the year when the world goes to the polls. Depending on who you believe, somewhere between a quarter and half of us globally will have the opportunity to exercise our democratic right this year.
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View from Whitehall – December 2023
14 Dec 2023
As we approach Christmas, festive cheer is in short supply within the governing party as it lurches from one internal spat to another.
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View from Brussels – November 2023
09 Nov 2023
Rishi Sunak’s announcement in September to scale back in the short-term on the Government’s green commitments came as no great surprise to many.
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View from the Party Conferences – October 2023
11 Oct 2023
For the two main UK political parties, the conference season is now over, possibly for the last time before the next election.
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View from Whitehall – July 2023
27 Jul 2023
Confirmation that the Government appears to be sticking to the 2030 deadline to phase out petrol and diesel cars is good news.
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View from Brussels – June 2023
20 Jun 2023
It took less than two years for the EU to reach informal agreement on a new Consumer Credit Directive (CCD)…
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View from Brussels – May 2023
23 May 2023
UK-EU relations appear to have been thawing recently with the Windsor Framework….
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View from Whitehall – April 2023
20 Apr 2023
Westminster politics seem to be in a lull at the moment.
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View from Brussels – March 2023
14 Mar 2023
The prospect of a green subsidy ‘war’ is looming with the EU having last week announced a Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework which in effect gives EU national governments the green light to relax state aid rules to achieve Net Zero.
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View from Whitehall – February 2023
20 Feb 2023
Normally things are quiet during Parliamentary Recess but last week was one of those where as one political commentator put it, “when decades happen”.
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View from Brussels – January 2023
19 Jan 2023
In a week when the collapse of BritishVolt, the electric vehicle (EV) battery maker demonstrates the challenges of creating viable business models prior to significant consumer demand, the EU’s answer is to create a subsidies regime in the shape of a Green Tech Act.
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