Abta chief executive Mark Tanzer has downplayed fears of government paralysis leading to a failure to address industry concerns despite the Conservative’s weakness in the polls and a growing preoccupation with a general election which may be 18 months away.
Other industry leaders have warned of “a period of government instability” and “paralysis” at Westminster.
Tanzer acknowledged “the drama around the prime minister” but insisted the impact “is overplayed”, arguing: “You have the drama at the top, but the cabinet has been steady compared to when we had ministers coming and going through a revolving door [last year].
“The melodrama at the top doesn’t mean the government isn’t doing anything. The departments are the ones who do the work.”
Tanzer demanded “more urgency” from the government when he addressed Abta’s recent Travel Matters conference.
But he told Travel Weekly: “We don’t want a flurry of legislation. We were worried the Retained EU Law Bill was going to create a huge amount of work to revise legislation. We don’t have that now. We can pick the things we want to focus on.”
The government has removed a ‘sunset clause’ from the Bill requiring all EU-derived legislation be reviewed and revised or revoked by the end of this year.
Tanzer insisted: “I’m less worried about the machinery of government being gummed up.”
Instead, he foresees an improvement in relations with the EU easing some of the pressures at the border and on labour mobility.
He said: “There is an opportunity to see where collaboration with the EU can be rebuilt. Brexit hasn’t really delivered in terms of new trade deals, so we come back to our biggest trading partner being the EU and how we maximize the effectiveness of that relationship. It could be there is congruence [agreement] on standards.”
Media reports suggest a growing number of Conservative MPs are cutting the time they spend at Westminster, having been warned those with majorities of less than 15,000 risk losing their seats at an election.
The business newspaper the Financial Times (June 26) quoted one Tory MP reporting: “MPs are saying, ‘What’s the point of coming to Westminster?’”