View from the Western Gateway debut at national party conferences
The Partnership held two fringe events across the Labour and Conservative Party Conferences this year to promote the area as a Green Energy Super Cluster that is ready to create growth. Acting Director, James Cooke, reflects on his own experience at the conferences.
2022 was a debut year for the Western Gateway at Party Conferences and for me as a new comer to these, what a year to start!
First of course, we had the postponement of the Lib Dem Conference, where we were set to host a breakfast fringe event with guests from academia, business and with Cllr Kevin Guy as our Board lead.
We then headed north for the Labour Party Conference and I was straight into ‘The Rail Debate’ and a surprisingly open and lively panel debate about the pros and cons of nationalisation, headlined by Shadow Rail Minister Tan Dheshi MP. Whilst there are disagreements in the fundamental delivery mechanisms, the ambitions for rail across both parties are bold and centred in a commitment to decarbonisation of our transport networks. This is entirely consistent with our emerging Rail Vision to 2050. In Birmingham I managed to bump into recently appointed Rail Minister Kevin Foster MP and was pleased to find him warmly interested in our ambitions and readiness to present a single, shared vision for infrastructure and enhanced services; but also first and last mile integration and the amplification of our world-leading R&D such as the Global Centre for Rail Excellence in Neath Port Talbot and the Siemens site in Chippenham.
Back in Liverpool and fast-forward to Tuesday evening we hosted our fringe event within the secure zone. Chaired by John Johnston from Politics Home, our Panel of Mayor Marvin Rees, Cllr Rob Stewart, Dr Jo Jenkinson and Richard Bonner presented the values and maturity of our partnership on the journey from origin, to the unveiling of a comprehensively mapped hydrogen ecosystem, a compelling STEP fusion nomination and examples of globally-significant innovation and regeneration projects in the cities of Swansea and Bristol.
At the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham we were delighted to be joined by Sir Robert Buckland (Secretary of State for Wales) to introduce the session with his ‘full-throated commitment" and his thanks to Katherine and the team for "making the Western Gateway come alive".
Sir Robert marvelled first at the growth of our hydrogen ecosystem, citing his recent visit to the Budweiser Brewery in Newport and their programme to explore green hydrogen power. He also promoted the essential value of the research being conducted at this geography and the potential for green energy production from the Severn; noting the support at the time from both Michael Gove MP and Vaughan Gething MS.
He was followed by our Chair Katherine Bennett CBE who set out how the partnership is pulling public, private and academic sector together emphasising that ‘businesses really, really care about expanding and investing and having their voices heard’.
As Prof. Taylor launched the Supergen Networks study of the Energy Systems capacity across our geography, Cllr Mark Hawthorne followed by outlining the extraordinary depth of our nuclear industry and related supply chains, whilst David Renard elaborated on the hydrogen demonstrator projects in Swindon and David Brown set out the capacity that the Bristol Port offers to deliver major infrastructure in energy both now and for generations to come.
Whilst party politics will always provoke tensions on the national scale; these events were testament to what can be achieved where we focus on what we cannot help but agree on. The synergy in energy policy for example, across both conferences was palpable and completely attuned to the Western Gateway Prospectus. The call for accelerated renewable, green energy across multiple fringe events was loud; be that from Jacob Rees-Mogg MP, Alan Whitehead MP, Nusrat Ghani MP, or Bill Esterton MP, all of whom we heard from first-hand. This was amplified further in the exhibitions where lengthy conversations ensued at the backside of a hydrogen bus! And where estuary-specific intel on tidal and floating off-shore wind technology with Liverpool City Region could be just the beginning of a healthy strategic relationship to follow there.
So a fascinating couple of events and a valuable platform to share and to absorb an abundance of conversation. Next year we will be leading even more of it!
James Cooke is the Deputy Director for the Western Gateway Partnership