Conference season 2026: what we heard, and what comes next

Five weeks, five conferences

This year’s party conferences revealed some striking contrasts: Reform’s was buoyant and defiant; Labour’s was packed and hopeful; the Greens celebratory after a breakthrough year; the Conservatives calmer but newly confident and the Liberal Democrats unusually restless.

Net zero this year was seldom the headline (but energy bills certainly were), climate adaptation finally got a look in after the long hot summer but on nature we are still locked into debates about its supposed impediments to economic growth. The one exception here was of course water, where both quality and quantity troubled delegates at every conference. The debate has not gone away, but it has moved into the language of cost of living, security and growth, and the parties are now offering voters very different routes through it.

The season in brief

Reform UK, Birmingham (3–5 September)

Reform arrived with its softest polling in 18 months, just after a Channel 4 News undercover investigation into party donations, yet its members were confident and energised. Business presence was higher, with a dedicated business day added to the programme. The headline offer was Richard Tice’s pledge to cut household bills by £250 within 100 days, paid for by removing carbon pricing and legacy support schemes from bills. A “Planning Teal Paper”, open for consultation until 31 December, would repeal biodiversity net gain and the Habitats Regulations on brownfield sites.

Liberal Democrats, Brighton (19–22 September)

The sun shone on the seafront, but a cloud hung over the hall as the party flatlined in the polls and questions grew about Ed Davey’s leadership. His call for a 10p cut in fuel duty unsettled greener delegates. Daisy Cooper’s 30-page growth plan proposed moving green levies into general taxation and creating a Department for Growth. Members backed an emergency motion on wildfires and a plan to replace Ofwat with a new Clean Water Authority. Energy spokesperson Pippa Heylings warned: “we have just had the most temperate summer we will ever have”.

Labour, Liverpool (27–30 September)

Andy Burnham’s first conference as leader had packed halls, queues for fringe events and a palpable “Burnham bounce”, tempered by candour about tight public finances. The Prime Minister put public control of energy, water and housing at the centre: a publicly owned Great British Grid within GB Energy, a strengthened Water Bill that lifts the ban on public ownership, and an ambition to match European energy costs within a decade. Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh called the transition “an economic project” but stopped short of recommitting to the 2030 clean power target.

Green Party, Brighton (2–4 October)

The Greens celebrated a breakthrough year: five MPs, more than 1,000 councillors and a membership that has roughly tripled. Members voted to drop the party’s long-standing opposition to nuclear power, backed a proposed Nature, Biodiversity and National Security Act, and called for Thames Water and South East Water to be taken into public ownership. A foreign policy motion dominated coverage, and Zack Polanski left early to fight the Holborn and St Pancras by-election, which Labour then won. Business presence was limited.

Conservatives, Birmingham (4–7 October)

The party was calmer and more united than a year ago, if thinly attended. Kemi Badenoch’s personal ratings now run well ahead of her party’s, and conference turned her net zero scepticism into a detailed programme, The Right Way. It would repeal and replace the Climate Change Act, abolish the Environment Agency and Natural England, scrap GB Energy, future offshore wind auctions and the Future Homes Standard, and take VAT off household electricity for three years. Andrew Bowie, the new Shadow Energy Secretary, named energy costs, the North Sea and nuclear power as his priorities.

What it adds up to

Taken together, the five conferences point to five shifts that matter for businesses investing in the transition.

1. Energy bills are the key battleground

Every party now has an offer on energy costs. For businesses, this is an opening and a risk. The case for moving policy costs off electricity bills, which the Aldersgate Group has made alongside Energy UK and E3G, now has a hearing in more than one party. But cutting bills by unpicking contracted support schemes would damage the investment certainty that brings costs down over time.

2. Climate action equals lower bills, more security and growth

Labour called the transition “an economic project”, the Greens tied it to affordability and fairness, and the Conservatives framed their whole programme around the cost of living. In mid-September, the Prime Minister reaffirmed the 2050 net zero target even as the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee suggested retiring the phrase itself. The lesson for business is that the case is best made when it is told in bills, jobs, investment and resilience.

3. How we get there is now contested

With Conservative candidates required to sign up to The Right Way, repealing the Climate Change Act is now party policy rather than a fringe view. Reform would strip back nature protections on brownfield land, and the Conservatives would abolish two major regulators. The CBI noted that harder Conservative positions on the energy transition may undermine the stability businesses need. Investment decisions taken today will span several parliaments, so the stability case now must be made to opposition parties as well as to government.

4. Nature is becoming divisive – but adaptation might help build consensus

Nature policy is becoming more divisive. Some Labour MPs still see protections as a brake on building, and rewilding has been blamed from some quarters for summer wildfires. Yet More in Common found Conservative voters divided on net zero but united in caring about nature, and the Greens framed nature as essential to national security. After a summer of record heat and wildfires, adaptation also rose up the agenda. Resilience and security may be where cross-party ground can be rebuilt.

5. Water reform and devolution are everywhere

Labour, the Lib Dems and the Greens all want structural change to the water sector, from mutual ownership to full nationalisation. The risk is that ownership crowds out the harder questions: planning where water will be needed, and governance that holds all polluters to account. Labour is also handing more delivery to mayors and councils, from the Warm Homes Plan to new powers over water firms. More of the transition will be delivered locally, and engagement will need to follow.

What we are doing next

Conference season gave us a clearer map of where each party stands. Here is how we are acting on it over the coming months.

• Following up every conversation. We are following up with the ministers, shadow ministers, advisers and officials we met, and feeding what members told us into our plans and outputs for next year.
• Making the case on bills at the Budget. Ahead of the Budget on 28 October, we are pressing for policy costs to move from electricity bills to the Exchequer, a step that would cut costs without unpicking the investment framework.
• Shaping the Energy Independence Bill. We are briefing parliamentarians across parties on affordability, investment in electrification, community benefits from renewables, and climate and nature safeguards, and consulting members on amendments.
• Moving the water debate beyond ownership. We will bring together members, parliamentarians and officials on 28 October to discuss our National Water Framework, and work with like-minded organisations to shape the Water Bill.
• Showing delivery in practice. On 22 October, we launch our report on decarbonising heavy goods vehicles with the Renewable Energy Association at the Port of Tilbury.
• Engaging every party on its own terms. We will keep making the economic case for stable climate and nature policy to all five parties and look for common ground on building a low carbon, nature positive economy.

Our recently published Green Policy Review sets out the policy asks behind all of this.

Over to you

Thank you to the many members we met across the five conferences, several of you for the first time. Your priorities shaped our conversations in every venue.

The next few months will test whether the energy and ambition on display in September and October turns into policy. We would welcome your reflections on the season, your priorities for the Budget, and how any of the proposals above would affect your organisation. Please get in touch with the External Affairs team.