Last week, Dan Mann from Cemex’s UK Public Affairs team attended a Town Hall Q&A session at the John Smith’s Stadium in Huddersfield with the Rt Hon Kemi Badenoch MP, Leader of the Opposition and Conservative Party leader. The session provided an insightful overview of the opposition’s priorities, future policy direction, and the ongoing Conservative Party renewal programme that is seeking to realign and refresh the party.

Badenoch addressed key themes including economic competitiveness, housebuilding, immigration, her assessment of the Labour government, future of the Conservative Party, Reform, and more. This wide-ranging discussion was limited to a select group and was an open and honest discussion about where the Opposition should be focussed on going forward, and how it can deliver change.

On policy renewal, the Minister highlighted the government’s ongoing engagement with businesses to inform its approach to long-term productivity and growth. Discussions also touched on workforce skills, infrastructure delivery, and trade policy – all of which are directly relevant to the construction and materials sectors.

The session was a valuable opportunity to better understand the political landscape and to feed Cemex’s perspective into broader policy conversations.