In an otherwise confusing conference season, the cross party environmental mission was clear   – Inside track

With party conference season over for another year, I’ve had a few days to reflect on one of the most bizarre set of conferences I’ve been to. If I described the atmosphere at each, I’m not convinced you would be able to guess which one I was talking about.  

That being said, on the energy and environment agenda, it was broadly successful. There are always things to worry about, be it narratives we don’t agree with or concerns about the speed of change but, on the whole, the environment featured heavily across the conferences and engagement was high.  

Green Alliance held a swathe of events and receptions across all five conferences this year, including how to put climate at the heart of government, how to tackle the energy crisis and why resources and a circular economy can’t be ignored in relation to ecological breakdown. For every one of them, the room was packed, indicating the huge appetite to discuss green issues. But what were the top line takeaways from each conference?  

Labour wasn’t buzzing as expected
As the new party of government, I expected Labour to be buzzing with excitement about the years ahead, with a bigger programme of events than ever before. Sadly, while the latter was true (particularly on climate and energy) the former certainly was not.  

Far from the expected excitement and celebration, there was instead caution and pessimism. In part, this could be attributed to weeks of bad press, alongside the obsession with hitting home the party’s dire economic inheritance from the previous government, being used to justify inaction until the budget at the end of this month. By holding the budget so long after the election, many onlookers agreed that the new government has left a void in policy ripe for escalating speculation about what may or may not happen, rather than providing clear political direction.  

The energy mission is clear though
However, the energy and environment policy and political debates were evidence of what can happen when there is a clear narrative and vision for what the government wants to achieve. Since entering office, Ed Miliband has been described as a ‘Duracell bunny’, excited by his mission as secretary of state for energy security and net zero, with a clear plan of what he wants to achieve. As such, it was good to hear him reinforce these messages in his conference speech, even talking about the rather geeky, but important, topic of reforming the energy performance certification of homes.  

But Ed Miliband was one of the many cabinet ministers otherwise strangely absent from other areas of the conference, compared to previous years. It was clear ministers had been told to avoid the risk of unfavourable news stories which, in most cases, meant they shied away from appearing on panels and at receptions.  

The unintended consequence of this was higher pressure on junior ministers and backbench MPs, suddenly responsible for explaining and justifying ambitions around the 2030 decarbonised power target, the creation of GB Energy and the role of the National Wealth Fund, despite being the people with the least knowledge about those decisions.  

There were also several pressing topics of public interest where ministers were, notably, unfortunately absent from the discourse. From the decarbonisation of transport, to the importance of a circular economy and discussion of the nature crisis, especially in relation to the sewage in our rivers and seas, the absence of ministers was keenly felt where bold ambition from the party was expected.   

All in all, Labour’s conference was probably best described as a damp squib, literally, given the near torrential rain that engulfed Liverpool over the four days.  

The Conservatives were strangely upbeat
By contrast, the Conservative conference was positively upbeat. Bizarre, given the party’s disastrous election result only a matter of months ago. I sat next to one member at an event who said the election was always going to go badly for the Conservatives because “the country was just in one of those moods”, and next to another who divulged that it was “good we’re out of power for five years to give us a bit of time to regroup, show the country what chaos in government looks like, then we’ll be back to save the day”. Needless to say, it wasn’t the funereal and reflective conference I thought I would be.  

In large part this was because the conference was effectively used as a pageant for leadership contenders to make their mark and try to galvanise support from both MPs and members for their candidacy to become the party leader. Aside from a few rogue comments, action on the climate crisis and the transition to net zero had been notably absent from the leadership campaigns ahead of the conference and candidates’ remarks in Birmingham were no exception. This is no bad thing, with many in the environmental sector I spoke to fearing that, if mentioned, it would not be in a constructive way.  

That being said, there was excellent engagement from MPs, councillors and members in fringe events about the best way forward for environmental policy. We hosted a session on the interrelated nature of the economy and our natural world which had very high attendance and a lively discussion. Similarly, the outstanding Conservative Environment Network was prominent, encouraging positive debate around climate and nature, succeeding in detoxifying the issues, even when not everybody in the room agreed.  

Greens and LibDems combined celebration with seriousness
With the vibes between the two main parties somewhat confused, it would be rude not to mention the justifiably jubilant atmospheres at the Lib Dem and Green party conferences. Both were keen to recognise their historic achievements in July’s general election, with the Lib Dems increasing their MPs from 11 to 72 (which was made evident everywhere you looked at their conference) and the Greens quadrupling theirs from one to four.  

While it’s obviously easier to celebrate as minority opposition parties than as the party of government, and notwithstanding the serious analysis of their roles as the ‘constructive opposition’, Labour could learn a lesson or two from their celebration centred conferences.  

Although both parties eagerly welcomed the ambition of the government’s recent climate announcements, they also acknowledged their vital roles in highlighting gaps and keeping the focus on important issues that could slide under the radar otherwise. This includes subjects Green Alliance is working hard to raise up the agenda, like climate adaptation, nature-friendly farming and sustainable planning reform. 

All parties wanted to shake off the partisan rhetoric
Whilst at all the conferences we heard discussions about the challenges ahead, including around building energy infrastructure in rural constituencies and the threat of the far right, it was heartening that most people, of whatever political stripe, wanted the government to succeed in its climate and nature ambitions. There is a real desire, across the board, to shake off the partisan rhetoric that surrounded the election campaign on these issues.  

This parliament starts halfway through the critical decade for action to reverse the climate and nature crises. Setbacks in the first five years mean there’s a lot to be done to catch up. I can only hope that, as MPs return this week, they maintain this clear sighted wish to work together, cutting through the noise, and get on with the job at hand.