This autumn’s party conference season kicked off the countdown to the May 2015 General Election. Increasing our industry’s engagement with key decision makers from across the political spectrum has been at the forefront of the British Security Industry Association (BSIA)’s attendance of the Conservative and Labour party conferences.
This year, the BSIA travelled to Manchester and Birmingham to meet with various members of parliament, peers and police and crime commissioners (PCCs) from the two main political parties, with the association’s Chief Executive, James Kelly, questioning politicians on the political landscape and briefing them on the many issues affecting the UK’s private security industry.
Labour in Manchester
At the Labour conference in Manchester, the BSIA met with Baroness Smith, Shadow Home Affairs Minister for Private Security, Jack Dromey MP, Shadow Home Office Minister for Policing, and Commissioner Vera Baird QC, PCC for Northumbria, among others. Issues included the delayed introduction of business licensing, expanding the Government’s CCTV Code of Practice to include privately-owned surveillance cameras and the funding imbalance for apprenticeships. Labour representatives were generally supportive of the aims and objectives of the BSIA, particularly its efforts to secure an appropriate legislative vehicle for the reformation of licensing and regulation prior to the end of the current parliament.
Conservatives in Birmingham
In Birmingham, at the Conservative conference, James Kelly met with Karen Bradley MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office, Owen Paterson, former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland; and Anthony Stansfeld, PCC for Thames Valley. Issues such as export grant funding, police partnerships with the private sector and business licensing regulation were debated.
Afterwards James Kelly said: “Representing its members’ views to those that matter remains a core benefit of BSIA membership and with a General Election now less than a year away, now is a crucial time to reinforce members’ concerns to key political figures on all sides of the political spectrum. A regular programme of political contact meetings sits at the core of this activity, while attendance at political party conferences enables the BSIA to forge new relationships with MPs, Peers, Police and Crime Commissioners, local government officials and think tanks.”
The BSIA’s recently appointed Public Affairs Executive, Felix Parker-Smith, will continue to build on relationships sown during conference season. Indeed, is hoped that the private security industry will soon see pledges in each party’s respective manifesto in time for next May’s General Election.
For more information about the BSIA and its political engagement, visit www.bsia.co.uk.
