A political battle won
Oct 10 2007 by Graeme King, The Journal
ROCK, candy floss, donkeys and “Kiss Me Quick” hats – standard fare for Britain’s best known seaside haunts.
Draw parallels between them and my experiences of the past three weeks traipsing round Brighton, Bournemouth and Blackpool following the individual roadshows of the three main political parties.
After all, each annual conference has the air of a popularity contest – each leader desperate to out-do his rival, none of them wanting to look woolly … oh, and desperate not to make an ass of himself.
Each wanting to reassure potential voters that they live and breathe every word in their speeches – snap them in half and they have their political allegiance written right through them.
It is easy to be cynical about party conferences, but that is only if you take them at face value and purely follow the media line.
Press coverage too often follows the soundbites and misses the real meat of each of these gatherings: the huddles and meetings that allow for the often subtle persuasion and argument that represent politics in action.
NECC had a presence at each conference because it is only by engaging with the region’s policy-makers on their own terms that the North-East business community can understand or influence the often contradictory challenges our politicians face.
I was particularly amazed at the unanimity with which each of the political parties recognised the need for a specific approach in the North-East that was different from other areas of the country.
While the region’s parliamentary landscape is almost all of one colour, there is considerable diversity in the political representation in our town halls.
The fact that right across the political spectrum there is acknowledgement that this region has unique challenges that require equally unique responses, is a battle won.
Intriguing then that the parties still return like homing pigeons to the places that have always hosted their conferences when they have a chance to make an immediate financial difference to other areas of the country. Manchester reckons its economy will get a £30m boost from hosting the main Labour conference in 2008 and 2010, and is also to play host to the Conservatives in 2009.
While NewcastleGateshead is to be the venue for the Conservative Spring conference next year, following the similar Labour event in 2005, these are much more modest gatherings than the autumn events. With an increasingly confident hospitality offering in the region, surely we can’t be that far off attracting one of the big political showcases. And if the parties do choose us, we can guarantee there will not be a tired cliché of holidays-past in sight – just a shining, multi-million-pound quayside at their disposal.
Andrew Sugden is director of membership and policy for the North-East Chamber of Commerce.
