The sustainable future mission

Our event at the Labour Conference explored the links between climate change and economic growth. The question of growth – How much? What colour? At what cost? – dominated party conference season, especially given the backdrop of the crisis in financial markets. There is clearly an active and lively debate within Labour about how far growth should be a priority (fortunately, the consensus on the need for net zero seemed more complete).

On the eve of our event, the Labour leadership placed itself firmly in the camp of “green growth”, the idea that growth and climate action are compatible and reinforce one another. Our own research with Green Alliance suggests that the case for net zero being good for productivity growth is better than widely assumed, although major challenges remain. Other views were expressed at our fringe event, some arguing for a “de-growth” approach and some that the costs of net zero would be too great.

Our panel – Labour shadow minister Chi Onwurah, Scottish Labour’s Sarah Boyack, economist Anna Valero and Green Alliance’s Sam Alvis took these questions seriously but struck an optimistic note. Chi and Sarah emphasised that the impacts of climate change on the communities they represent are severe and that net zero also meant reducing energy bills and securing good jobs. Sam and Anna showed that net zero can lead to growth, but only if we pursue the right policies. Anna summarised the optimism nicely with her “quadruple win” – that green policies can fight climate change, create growth, level up the country and increase energy security all at the same time. A quadruple win sounds good to us.

The fairer start mission

In Liverpool we were joined by two of Labour’s leading voices on childcare – shadow Early Years Minister, Helen Hayes, and infamous campaigner Stella Creasy, in a session kindly chaired by Demos CEO Polly Curtis. The lively debate covered issues including tackling women’s economic inequality and boosting the role of dads, with Labour colleagues framing childcare as “vital economic infrastructure”.

Childcare was the talk of the town on the Albert Docks throughout the week. The subject dominated the education agenda – with the launch of a new Labour Campaign for Childcare and the Shadow Secretary of State, Bridget Phillipson, putting early years at the centre of her speech on Wednesday – although we’re still awaiting the detail of Labour’s plans. Nesta was among voices emphasising the need to ensure any reform tackles educational inequality – as well as the cost of living crisis and, for this, we will need to ensure settings are high-quality, as well as being affordable.

The healthy life mission

The healthy life team was thrilled to partner with the Food Foundation at both party conferences to discuss ideas for building better food environments, hosted by Bright Blue.

Health was a key focus at the Labour Party Conference with the message of the intrinsic links between health and wealth being echoed by both shadow Health Sec and shadow Chancellor. A strong plan for the economy must be underpinned by a healthier nation. Our panel at the Labour Party Conference emphasised that having healthier environments is not about putting additional burdens on people – either financially or in terms of effort. But it's all about making it easier for everyone to access, afford and enjoy healthy food. Outside of our event, it was disappointing to hear the shadow Health Secretary show a lack of determination towards tackling obesity and resorting to an approach that very much focussed on business as usual. If we are to turn the tide, we need more than a continuation of existing policy.

The sustainable future mission

At the Conservative Party Conference, we sought to demystify the use of air source heat pumps as a low-carbon heating solution for people's homes. Our panel was made up of players from across the heat pump sector: Clem Cowton from Octopus Energy and Clayton Browne from CB Heating gave their view as key players in getting heat pumps into homes, Henk van den Berg from Daikin offered the manufacturer voice, Emma Harvey of the Green Finance Institute illustrated the potential financial initiatives in the space and Philip Dunne MP, Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, gave the voice of government.

The conversation was lively, opening with a frank discussion on the installation price. Clem Cowton from Octopus took a bullish approach, certain that heat pumps could be price competitive with boiler installations, while other panellists were more inclined to see savings across the system’s lifetime. There was a round of applause for Philip Dunne MP who argued that if green levies, currently absorbed in general taxation in the current energy crisis, do return to bills they should be on gas not electricity. An audience question on hydrogen unified the panel, though, it will never be economic for home heating.

The fairer start mission

The mood at Conservative Party Conference was somewhat harder to read than Labour’s – with new ministers still getting acquainted with their briefs. However, there was plenty of enthusiasm for continuing the roll-out of the previous government’s pilot of family hubs and the need to address the rising cost of childcare. EdTech was also a key theme on the fringe, with politicians and business keen to harness the lessons of the pandemic to reduce geographic inequalities and prepare children for the jobs of the future.

In Birmingham, Nesta partnered with the BrightBlue think tank to bring together an expert panel representing academia, parents and the sector itself. Professor of Educational Psychology Kathy Sylva started by provoking us all to reassess our assumptions of what makes “quality” childcare, emphasising the importance of relationships between children and caregivers. Rachel Carrell, founder of Koru Kids pointed out the administrative barriers facing the sector and argued for innovative tools to battle bureaucracy, while Justine Roberts, CEO of Mumsnet, took a parents’ perspective on cost. She and BrightBlue’s Director, Ryan Shorthouse, advocated for childcare loans as a solution to upfront costs. While this suggestion met a tough crowd with Labour last week, it seemed to be an appealing prospect for a Conservative audience.

The healthy life mission

Debate at the Conservative Party Conference focussed on the false tension between the narrative of a nanny state and necessity for public health measures, driven by the speculation around a government u-turn on its 2021 obesity strategy.

As we did at the Labour Party Conference, we ran a panel in partnership with The Food Foundation and hosted by the think tank Bright Blue to bring together an expert panel to discuss ideas for building better food environments across the UK. Our speakers deep dived into the government’s food strategy, explored how the food sector can take responsibility for the health of consumers and discussed the steps needed to end food poverty. Our CEO, Ravi Gurumurthy, was clear that most people want to be healthy and it's wrong to believe that protecting people from harm is a nanny state. Reducing obesity is about committing to helping people live healthy, happy and long lives, and not about curtailing anyones’ freedoms. Jo Gideon, an MP who is leading the agenda within the Conservative Party, said to her it was about love for her constituents and constituency and providing them with the food environment to live longer and healthier lives.

We also partnered with the Food Foundation, BiteBack 2030 and the School Food Review to run an event – hosted by Onward – to highlight the importance of school food. It is critical that all children – regardless of household income – have access to healthy and nutritious food. All panel members – including (Rt Hon) Michael Gove MP – made a firm and compelling case for the extension of free school meals to those receiving universal credit. This paved the way for the launch of the Feed the Future campaign by our partners.

Overall while we are happy to see the case being made between the benefits of health to the economy and the importance of school food, party conference season signalled a lack of ambition in both parties to really tackle obesity head on.

Our rallying cry is that we need politicians across party lines to look at the wealth of evidence, take an impassioned stance and do what is right for the country – not because we ask, but because it is essential so people can live longer and healthier lives.