The Voice of Corporate Treasury at the Political Party Conferences

This autumn, the ACT attended the Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Reform UK party conferences, ensuring the voice of corporate treasury was represented in discussions about the UK’s economic and business priorities.

The conferences offered valuable opportunities to engage directly with politicians, policymakers and business leaders, and to promote the priorities set out in the ACT’s pre-Budget submission to HM Treasury: providing businesses with a stable and predictable tax environment; developing a UK strategy to attract and retain corporate treasury centres; and ensuring regulation is smart and proportionate, including through reform of Know Your Customer (KYC) processes.

Across the political spectrum, a consistent theme emerged: the need to strengthen economic growth and ensure the UK remains internationally competitive, even though there were differing views about how this should be achieved.

Labour Party Conference, Liverpool

At the Labour Party Conference, the ACT focused its engagement on the role corporate treasury can play in supporting UK growth and competitiveness.

The ACT held constructive conversations with Treasury ministers, MPs with backgrounds in financial and professional services, and the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade. These discussions suggested a growing recognition of the contribution made by corporate treasurers and treasury centres to the wider financial and professional services ecosystem and, ultimately, to economic growth.

The conference also provided an opportunity to promote the ACT’s Promoting the UK as a Treasury Centre paper, published with Slaughter and May. Among its recommendations is an extension of the scope of the Office for Investment: Financial Services to include corporate treasury centres alongside international financial services firms.

In addition to wider discussions on growth and financial services, the ACT participated in a roundtable on the tokenisation of wholesale financial markets with Digital Markets Champion Chris Woolard CBE, the FCA and Innovate Finance.

While many of the underlying debates around growth will be familiar, there were encouraging indications of a greater sense of urgency around making smart changes to financial regulation to support investment and competitiveness.

Conservative Party Conference, Birmingham

The Conservative Party Conference provided a further opportunity to put corporate treasury at the heart of conversations about UK competitiveness. Discussions across the conference highlighted many of the UK economy’s existing strengths, including financial services, FinTech, artificial intelligence and foreign direct investment. At the same time, there was considerable focus on the risk of the UK losing its international leadership if regulation and policy do not keep pace with competing jurisdictions.

The ACT’s Promoting the UK as a Treasury Centre paper proved a useful way of opening conversations with policymakers (including the Shadow Economic Secretary and fellow business groups) and explaining the importance of corporate treasury to the wider economy.

Skills were another recurring theme. Discussions covered the need to improve digital and AI capabilities, respond to changes in the labour market resulting from greater productivity and strengthen basic numeracy. For sectors such as financial services and AI, maintaining the UK’s competitive position will require continued investment in the skills needed by businesses.

International growth opportunities featured prominently too, with discussions extending beyond the UK’s relationship with the EU to markets including the US, Middle East, Africa, Asia and South America. The overarching message was that the UK must remain outward-looking if businesses are to capture emerging international opportunities.

Liberal Democrat Conference, Brighton

Buoyed by its local election results in May, the Liberal Democrats used their annual conference to set out their position on a range of political, economic and constitutional issues.

Of particular relevance to ACT members was the publication of the party’s Get Britain Growing Again paper, covering trade, financial innovation, investment, skills, regulation and tax. Treasury spokesperson and Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper MP highlighted proposals for a single government “one-stop-shop” for businesses, bringing together tax, regulatory, legal and other business services, as well as a multi-year tax roadmap intended to support stability and investment.

The ACT continued its engagement with parliamentarians during the conference, including discussions around its work on promoting the UK as a location for corporate treasury centres.

Reform UK Conference, Birmingham

The ACT also attended Reform UK’s conference as part of its engagement across the political spectrum. In broad terms, Reform UK’s policy on growth and competition focuses on reducing regulatory burdens, cutting taxes for businesses, scaling back the independence of economic regulators, and promoting free-market enterprise.

The conference provided an opportunity to assess the party’s emerging economic and business priorities and hear directly from its key spokespeople, while continuing to make the case for policies that support investment, competitiveness and a stable environment for business.

A Common Focus on UK Competitiveness

Although there were significant differences between the parties, the conferences demonstrated the extent to which growth and UK competitiveness are shaping the political debate.

For the ACT, this creates an important opportunity to ensure that corporate treasury is part of that conversation. Businesses need the confidence to invest, an internationally competitive environment in which to operate, access to the right skills, and regulation that achieves its objectives without creating unnecessary barriers to growth.

Against an already fragmented political backdrop in the UK, building support across party lines will become increasingly important. The ACT will continue to engage across the political spectrum to make that case and ensure the experience and expertise of the treasury profession informs the development of economic and financial policy.