Director of public affairs Luke Petherbridge reflects on the latest session in Parliament and previews what’s on the horizon
As Parliament breaks up for the party conference season, it’s a good time to reflect on what has been a busy, if short, ‘back to school’ session in Parliament and for Abta’s public affairs team, and to also ensure you have a couple of upcoming dates for your diary.
Two weeks ago we saw the launch of the APPG for the Future of Aviation, Travel and Aerospace. Abta has supported this group since the pandemic, and getting it re-constituted in the new Parliament, as well as extending its remit to cover all parts of travel, will be important elements of engagement strategy over the coming months.
At the beginning of last week the government laid the regulations that will bring into force a mandate for the use of sustainable aviation fuel from January 2025. In the debate the aviation minister, Mike Kane, spoke of the government’s commitment to UK aviation and assisting with the transition to net zero. This is an important step on the road to meeting the sector’s net zero obligations and will be a critical area for our lobbying work over the lifetime of the coming parliamentary term.
On Tuesday last week, Abta submitted our representation to the chancellor ahead of the Budget on October 30. Our submission focused on the role that travel and tourism can play in stimulating growth – the government’s number one mission, but also on the need to ensure UK travel businesses remain competitive in a global marketplace – with a focus on business rates reform, and ensuring the overall cost pressures facing aviation are taken into account in relation to any upcoming changes to APD.
We also raised workforce and skills challenges, including the need for consideration to be given to a youth mobility deal with the EU and the importance of temporary roles overseas, as well as ongoing reforms to further education, as two core pathways into careers in our sector.
Meanwhile, we’ve also been busy engaging with industry colleagues. We met with colleagues across the aviation sector, and I chaired the latest meeting of the Future Travel Coalition – where partners from across the organised travel sector discussed our recent engagement with the new government, and agreed common activities and priorities for the weeks ahead. These monthly meetings continue to be a useful exchange of intelligence, ideas and information – and we’ll shortly be launching our latest industry trends survey – so please do keep an eye out for that and support our efforts. The input of our member travel businesses is invaluable.
Over the next few weeks, the team here will be heading off across the country to the various conference venues – beginning with the Lib Dem conference in Brighton. We will also be in Liverpool for the first Labour conference as a governing party since 2009, and we’ll be in Birmingham early next month too. The diary is already filling up with meetings with newly elected, and re-elected MPs, but if you’re attending any of those events and want to have a cup of coffee, please get in touch. We’ll update members on that activity more in the weeks ahead.
And finally, a couple of dates, Abta members – please do remember to join us for the video conference call on the EU Entry/Exit System, which is being held with UK government officials, on September 24.
We’ve also been pleased to announce that Mike Kane will be joining us for Travel Matters on December 3.
The next few months are always among the busiest for us as a public affairs team. But, at the start of a parliamentary year with more than 330 new MPs, it will be particularly hectic period – we look forward to being out there and beating the drum for the role that travel, and Abta members, play in supporting jobs and contributing to the success of the UK economy.