Gordon Brown's speech added a dose of credibility - reminding the party faithful (and the county at large) that he has the experience to see us through the tough times ahead. At the time, his assertion that this is "no time for a novice" seemed like wishful thinking, but less than a week later, the Conservative conference in Birmingham was almost completely overshadowed by the global economic crisis and Brown's personal poll ratings rocketed as he (along with the chancellor, Alistair Darling) spearheaded the Government's interventions in failing banks. The late Harold Wilson's old adage - "a week is a long time in politics" - has never seemed more accurate.
Despite this, behind the scenes in Birmingham, the Conservatives were quietly getting on with building a policy platform to take forward in their next manifesto, and (probably) into government in 2010. Coverage of the conference focused inevitably on the Conservatives' economic policies, including proposals to create an Office of Budget Responsibility to watch over public spending, plans to freeze Council Tax for two years, as well as action to fix ‘Broken Britain'. Support for families is central to the Conservatives' thinking on social policy and has been identified as key to fixing society's problems. This could have a far-reaching impact on the human resources sector.
Details of the Conservatives' proposals emerging from policy documents and discussed at conference fringe events show serious thinking has been put into how government can offer better support for families to combine their work and home lives. Their proposals include a new system of flexible parental leave to allow parents to choose how to share 52 weeks of leave after the birth of their child - the first 14 weeks would only apply to the mother, but parents could then decide how to share the remaining 38 weeks, potentially taking some of it simultaneously. The Conservatives also plan to extend flexible working to all parents with children under the age of 18 - a step further than Labour is currently prepared to go, and a real challenge to Labour's traditional dominance in this area. However, this is ground that Labour has made its own over the past decade, and which continues to produce some of its most appealing policies. In particular, the Government's aspiration to extend free nursery care to all two year olds will be welcomed by families across the country, but the detail is still unclear.
What remains to be seen is whether such progressive policy-making can survive as the Conservatives seek support from business during this, the most hostile economic climate for a generation. Leading Conservative MPs, such as Mark Prisk and Chris Grayling, are already calling for the government to place restrictions on new employment rights and to push forward cuts in business regulation - a marked difference in tone from Conservative leader David Cameron's position on flexible working. They claim employers may be forced to make redundancies if the costs of employment continue to rise at a time when economic forecasts look increasingly bleak. Much depends on whether employment rights are seen as a burden or as a means to increase productivity. The issue does not yet divide along party lines and both Labour and the Conservatives will have to decide on a clear vision for the future of employment policy and how to balance increasing costs for businesses with the demands from employees for more flexibility.
The current economic climate will provide a natural testing ground for the political parties' support for employee's rights at work. There is an opportunity for the HR sector to work with the political parties as they draft their manifestos to ensure that employment rights are embraced as a means to increase productivity and retain skilled workers. With the next election under two years away, this debate could be decisive and the opportunity to influence its direction must be firmly grasped.
Woolfson on Westminster - The Party's Over!
The two main party conferences last month were contrasting and surreal affairs. Labour's sombre gathering in Manchester appeared to be an exercise in collective self-reassurance as activists, councillors, MPs and cabinet ministers comforted each other with the thought that all was not lost and that despite Labour being 20 points behind in the polls, the public were yet to finally decide the next government should be Conservative.
