FleishmanHillard Public Affairs Team Live Commentary - Labour Conference 2022

Senior account manager and head of the FleishmanHillard UK Labour Party Unit, Luke Downham (25th September 2022)

“We’re here at Labour Party Conference in Liverpool and it’s fair to say, this feels like a Party with its confidence back once again.

“We’ve heard from the Shadow Cabinet over the past few days about what their pitch will be to the country as we approach a general election.

“But this afternoon, voters will want to hear more from Keir Starmer about his vision for Britain. He will get to his feet and he will address Conference and he will really seek to cement Labour’s reputation as the Party of economic competence once again”.

Director, partner & EMEA lead for Food, Agribusiness and Beverage at FleishmanHillard, Liam McCloy (27th September 2022)

“So, we’re just out from the auditorium where Sir Keir delivered his Conference speech to delegates at this year’s Labour Party Conference. And, the theme of the speech and the energy of the speech was very much taking the fight to the Conservative Party.

“What Sir Keir did in his speech was two things. He managed to weave together a Labour narrative that is distinct and clear from the Conservatives, and as crucially, relevant to the times in which we are living. There were specific proposals in there in terms of how he would address the cost of living crisis, but also recover the nation’s sense of hope, of optimism for a brighter future in these admittedly very, very bleak times.

“In addition, though he clearly parked his tanks on the Tory’s lawn in four areas. He said that Labour would be the Party for affordable housing and home ownership, that Labour would work in partnership with business, that Labour would reform the public services as well as look at their funding, and finally, that Labour would make Brexit work, not get Brexit done, but make Brexit work, because there was that sense that the Conservatives had failed on all four fronts and Sir Keir gave a sense of his character with which he would, you know, with graft, within patience, seek to change things for British people now and ensure that they would yield those benefits and those fruits under the first year of a Labour Government.”

FleishmanHillard UK associate director Tim Harding (27th September 2022)

“How can we describe the atmosphere here? I think I’ve observed a lot of confidence in the air, a lot of optimism and most importantly a lot of unity.

“We’ve just heard a very rousing speech from Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition, and there’s been some interesting announcements within that.

“For me personally, I think the announcement of setting up a new company, Great British Energy, is a real indication of the ambition that Starmer is looking to carry forward towards the next election and its public ownership, a nice piece of red meat for the left of the Party. And that unity is something that Starmer’s going to have to carry forwards with him.

“I think we’ve seen, over the past few days a Labour Party that is working together, the wheels of Starmer’s Labour are all moving in motion, we just have to wait and see whether they get traction with the general public.”

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