Party Conference Season 2026: What It Means for UK Agriculture and the Agri Supply Chain
What did party conference season 2026 reveal for UK agriculture and the agricultural supply chain?
In this episode of The AIC Podcast, AIC Chief Executive Robert Sheasby and Head of Policy and External Affairs Ed Barker join Wendy Ford, AIC Communications Manager, to reflect on the key themes from across the UK’s political party conferences and what they could mean for agriculture and agricultural supply businesses.
We cover:
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The key themes that emerged from party conference season and what they could mean for UK agriculture and the agricultural supply chain.
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Why food security featured in the political conversation and its importance for the sector.
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The political focus on business growth and the pressures facing businesses from rising costs.
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The UK-EU relationship and why future developments could matter for agriculture and agricultural supply businesses.
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Why direct engagement with politicians and policymakers matters for AIC Members and the wider agricultural supply chain.
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The political and policy developments AIC will be watching as the industry looks ahead.
Plus, stay to the end for a quick-fire round covering conference venues, catering and some memorable merchandise.
This episode is ideal for AIC Members, agricultural supply businesses and anyone working across UK agriculture who wants to understand the political themes emerging from the 2026 party conference season and what they could mean for the industry.
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Transcript
Wendy Welcome to the AIC podcast, where we share practical guidance and insight for Members and help the industry understand how the agri food supply chain works. I'm Wendy Ford, I'm the AIC Communications Manager, And today I'm joined by Ed Barker, Head of Policy and External Affairs at the AIC, and Robert Sheasby, AIC Chief Executive. It's been a busy few weeks of party conferences across the UK. So now the dust has settled, we're going to be talking to Ed and Robert about what stood out, what matters for Members and what happens next.
Wendy So, Ed, would you like to start? I think we're starting off with Reform.
Ed Yes. I think Reform kicked us off. And it feels a long time ago in first week of September in Birmingham. Reform was very member focused, most of the action was sort of in the main hall listening to speeches from MPs and obviously, the leader and there probably wasn't as much in the fringes on the policy side. Whereas Conservatives are probably the other way around. All of the really depth of the discussion was in the fringe events, in those policy discussions, and it really felt they were trying to really come forward with a lot of detail proposals.
Wendy So was that a different picture from the conferences you went to Robert?
Robert The Lib Dems down in Brighton actually had a food security paper to debate. So they developed a policy. Actually, big chunks of it, you'd say, would fit with what AIC Members would want. We talked about those with Alistair Carmichael, a number of Lib Dem team in amongst the surrounds of Brighton. Then I went up to Liverpool for the Labour Party conference. Much bigger event. But that's not a surprise as they're the party in power. And then trying to get the cut through to meet with the ministerial team and find the contacts we want to have those conversations with. But actually it's going through the fringe meeting network and sorting out where you think those ministers are going to be and ensuring we're able to have good, good quality conversations about the issues. AIC Members talking about, and clearly this autumn energy has been moving up that agenda very much alongside food security and cash flow of business in general.
Wendy I say, I often hear you talking about fringe events, which are these kind of offshoot events, talks and discussions...
Ed It's a rare place, isn't it? Where civil servants can't go because their party political. So you do kind of get to speak to not just ministers but shadow ministers, also MPs who sit on select committees in Parliament. It's quite a helpful place to get straight to them. You do get that direct access, which obviously generally benefits when you're at the Government party of the time.
Robert Yeah. And if you approach it in a sensible way, as AIC does professionally, actually, you get listened to and you can have those conversations that are quite challenging to secure in Westminster.
Robert We went to the SNP business day in Edinburgh and were able to have one to one conversations with the First Minister, John Swinney, the Deputy First Minister, as well as the Minister for farming, Jim Fairlie. So being able to talk through some of the challenges, our Members are talking to us about the policy priorities. We want to see them think about in a constructive, positive way.
Ed And, Plaid Cymru who are obviously the main party in Wales and the Welsh Senedd at the moment. We're going to their spring conference, next year and met with a number of their new Senedd members, at the Royal Welsh Show this year.
Robert Likewise, a lot of new faces in Scotland as well. It's been quite a change. So the bit of stability has been maybe Westminster in some ways, but even that's had a brand new Prime Minister in a complete cabinet reshuffle. So interesting times, but times in which we can land messages and ensure an understanding of the critical importance of national infrastructure and food security.
Wendy You've given us a great rundown of the conferences. What was the mood like at the events you went to? Was there recognition of the pressures facing the wider economy and the agricultural industry?
Ed I would say yeah. Reform was pretty macroeconomic. There was definitely a sense of economic challenges and there was a strong sense of what they didn't like in current legislation, particularly environmental targets. There was a lot of focus on that cost of living, energy focused a lot. What we saw as well was sort of quite an early stage of policy development. They had a newly created, farmers for reform, for example, that's been recently created. So I think their policy work is now getting up and running, but I think what we'll see over the next year is, is a bit more development in that policy space. Whereas if you take the conservatives, for example, I'd say that they were sort of coming out with a lot more ideas, proposals. You heard them say that they wanted to scrap the Environment Agency and Natural England. There was a big focus on regulators. And I think the question is where are they on regulation. But we certainly saw a lot of focus on costs across the business sectors and without any question.
Wendy And what did you find, Robert?
Robert There was a focus on business and listening to the Chancellor's speak at the Labour Party conference, the newly appointed Chancellor. A lot of the messages he gave were positive about investment, wanting growth. There's a real clear message about growth in every postcode, and that was echoed by the Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, in his speech the following day. So those are the bits I think we've got to hang on to and say, okay, if you want growth in every postcode, we've got the solutions to the answer to that problem, but you've got to change some of the policy around how different works. Create a space where we can talk positively about growth, create the right economic environment for growth. And that's not easy right now, particularly when you take into account the wider geopolitical stuff. But thinking about the Lib Dems, I think they get it as well. They need business growth. And the Lib Dem party are very good at usually having constituency focus in their MPs and then thinking about a national framework that they can feed into. And the area actually where partnership was talked about a lot with business. Was the SNP event really keen to solve problems by working in partnership with business? That was a very clear message from John Swinney to those attending. If you've got an answer to a problem, get in touch with us. We want to take it forward. So as ever, lots of opportunity. We've now got to engage with that through the support of Members, hopefully hosting MPs, MSPs, Senate members right across the UK, we can get that engagement.
Ed One area that really came into a lot of sort of sharp focus, at the conferences I went to was the EU- UK relationship. We obviously heard Andy Burnham. I was surprised by how much he started pushing on it as an issue at the party conference, maybe preparing the ground for for the EU- UK reset relationship to really kick on.
Robert On the main stage of the conference, when he gave his speech, he absolutely laid the ground. But what do we know in the last few last day or so? We've just heard the date for the summit. So maybe he was thinking about how to get from a Labour Party conference where He's picking up the legacy of Sir Keir Starmer's party manifesto and taking that into the work he wants to do over the next, presumably next couple of years as prime minister.
Ed I think what's interesting about the UK- EU issue is that, I probably went to the two party conferences where the UK- EU relationship was very much a common theme in a negative sense, but you were probably the conferences where it was seen as as largely a positive thing.
Robert Yeah, that's a fair point there. The positivity around a reset that makes business better reduces friction on trade. And underneath all of that, a sort of tacit point that it would reduce the cost of living, I think, is probably what they're all looking to try and secure.
Ed Yeah. It's a mixture isn't it. Some some historic ideology. But I think there's definitely a sense that trade barriers, cost of cost of living, barriers to growth, business costs is definitely where it's focused on.
Wendy And Ed was agriculture. One of these focuses?
Ed Agriculture is one of the areas that was really picked up upon. Crop protection, for example, was mentioned, quite a bit. We also know about the element of influence over European decision making, which is a fair issue to raise. I mean, that that is going to be one of the practical challenges of how does the government practically influence SPS discussions if we are going to align with the EU? So it is a fair challenge, but I think what we're going to see now coming into the autumn are those issues really playing out in Parliament again? And with the 20th of November set for the summit date, what will come after that, I think, will see a considerable amount of workload as to what this really means in practice for not just the agri supply chain, but for the broader economy.
Wendy Looking ahead, what do you both think we'll see over the next couple of months following these conferences and the announcement of the summit date.?
Robert There will be a budget later this month that will have quite an influence over policy and the tone and direction of the economy. They'll then, less than a month later, will be that summit, which presumably will have a number of outcomes that if there is an SPS deal in there will be a lot of work to do there.
Ed And it's not just sort of sanitary and phytosanitary issues. It's looking at emissions trading schemes. It's looking at a number of different other potential alignment areas as well. Ultimately, the budget will be a huge focus at the end of October. We know that other policies are likely to come from it. It will go through the shenanigans of trying to predict what will and won't be within it. And ultimately, as we saw, you know, this time last year, we wouldn't have foreseen the events that came along in the spring time. There's still plenty of scope for events outside of the UK to ultimately influence what the government does, and the thing that comes back to us all the time from civil servants via ministers is cost of living just keeps coming back and fuel energy are just going to be the big drivers behind a lot of Government thinking.
Robert Yeah, that inflationary pressure just seems relentless at the moment from the the wider geopolitical instability. And our members are really caught right in the middle of this, we're trying to find the best market opportunities for farmers and growers to ensure we've got the best supply of raw materials in, whether that's fertilisers or animal feed products But if there is a plan, you can work to it.
Wendy Thank you so much, both of you. That's been a really useful look at what came out of the conference season, what it means for Members. But before I let you go, I've got a few quick fire questions for you if you're up for it.
Robert We'll give it a go. We'll give it a go. We'll reserve judgment to the recording. Okay.
Wendy Okay. Which conference had the best merchandise?
Robert So for me, Labour had the biggest range. The Lib Dems, the most quirkiest
Wendy Expand.
Robert Like the range of mugs you can get at a Lib Dem conference. Defies anything I've ever seen before.
Ed Yeah. Reform had something for everything. whereas the Conservatives did have a Toby jug mug you could buy of every single conservative prime minister of the twentieth century, which was quite impressive.
Wendy Okay. What about best venue or location?
Ed I was in Birmingham for both of them, I mean ICC is a giant rabbits warren and the NEC was in one giant venue all in one place, which was at least helpful to navigate oneself around.
Robert So Brighton was in the conference centre for the Lib Dems and that's quite easy to navigate. So pretty straightforward. And then Liverpool for the Labour Party conference. It's in the Marks and Spencers Arena And that's really smart. Purpose built conference facility enormous venue, And that you can find yourself getting your step count in by half past eight in the morning. Just trying to navigate your way from a breakfast meeting to a mid-morning event.
Wendy Speaking of Marks and Spencer's best catering and best coffee.?
Ed Actually, the reform conference had a coffee company there that you got to choose your own choice of bean, So I mean that that immediately went to the top of the list. In my mind.
Robert Um, actually catering wise, I had the best food at the SNP event. So interesting. it was a business day, But without doubt, I would say it was the best catering, best lunch I've had through the conference season.
Wendy Okay. Last but not least, in one sentence. What's your biggest takeaway from the conference season?
Ed Multiple parties now means that we have extra opportunities to land key messages about agriculture, food security, and the supply chain.
Wendy Perfect.
Robert It's by being in the room, we can ensure that every member's voice is heard by those policy makers, decision makers who are going to impact every single member business. And the only way that happens is by us being in the room, at the table, having those conversations.
Wendy That's great. A perfect note to finish on. Thank you both for joining me, and thanks for listening. And if you haven't already, please make sure you follow and subscribe. Thank you.
Wendy Members can find further updates, guidance and resources on the AIC website and through our member communications. Thank you for listening, and we'll be back with another episode soon. If you found this useful, please share it with a colleague and check the show notes for links of definitions. And again, thank you for joining us.
Wendy Views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect any organisation they represent. This content is for informational purposes only and should not be considered professional advice. Listener discretion is advised. Thank you.
Author
Wendy Ford
Wendy Ford is Communications Manager at AIC, creating and overseeing the content published on AIC's website, emails, Member briefings, print publications, and social media.
