AMI visits Labour

Chris Cummings - Director General - 23rd September 2008 - 10:04

Today's blog comes from the Labour Party conference in Manchester. After a number of meetings with Ministers, and hearing the Chancellor speak, I've a good sense of the priorities and worries of the Government.

I met with Treasury Minister, Kitty Ussher MP. Kitty is well known to me and we last met only a few days ago - but with the pace of change sweeping the markets, we are providing a useful "environmental scan". Given the nature of AMI firms, we are a "weathervane" for how the economy is treating smaller businesses.

We discussed the economy, banking reform, regulatory reform and the state of the mortgage market. Kitty is on top of the issues and has proved herself be an engaged and thoughtful Minister. Kitty was very keen to hear about the market's view of the Lloyds TSB takeover of HBOS - and also of Santander's acquisition of Alliance & Leicester. We discussed the competitive aspects, impacts on consumers and firms and the "raw necessity" of the move. I am sure that post-credit crunch the competitive aspects will be revisited.

It was then on to meet with Rt. Hon John Hutton MP, Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. Given the focus of John's portfolio, we discussed a wide range of subjects; from the need for the UK to take an even more leading role in Brussels to stem the flow of unhelpful Directives, to how we could ensure open-markets rather than protectionism was seen as the answer to the current market travails, to the need for better regulation (not necessarily new powers).

After John, I was able to brief Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Rt. Hon Yvette Cooper MP. I was keen to point out that we needed to look again at the focus of regulation as it had obviously missed the biggest risks. We also talked about the housing market and the need for a wider ranging reform on Stamp Duty Land Tax. It was also a priority for me to advocate Government intervention in the capital markets. We have made presentations to the Treasury and Crosby team on our ideas and await the output of Sir James' report with great expectations.

Through these meetings, I've been able to weave in the value of mortgage advice. The statistics and research we now have that show people seek out and value mortgage advice even more during turbulent periods, has helped convince those who have not seen the link in the past.

Yesterday evening should have been spent in the company of Chancellor, Alistair Darling MP. He was called to other matters so Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, James Purnell MP stepped into the breech. Kitty Ussher was also present and James was quick to reassure me that, despite the evening's events, the Treasury had a grip on the pennies - Kitty just asked him to return her pen he'd borrowed that morning!