How Will a More Stable British Politics Affect Advertising in the UK?

Today the Palace of Westminster played host to “first day at school vibes” as the the new members of parliament were sworn in. We’re five days into a new UK politics with prime minister Sir Keir Starmer and his Labour party in government, after winning a landslide victory last week. 

To coincide with this momentous changing of the guard – the first Labour government since 2010 – the UK’s Advertising Association hosted a post-election breakfast this morning at the VCCP offices, just a short walk from the Houses of Parliament. 

Hosted by broadcaster, journalist and political news fanatic Steve Richards, the session was an opportunity to take stock of the moment the UK finds itself in and consider what it might mean for the brands, agencies and production companies that make up the industry that the Advertising Association represents.

The theme that dominated the morning was agreement – helped along by a healthy dose of optimism – that the new government will bring stability to a country that’s been turbulent for many years now. In his introduction, straight after his first ministerial call with new business and trade secretary Jonathan Reynolds, Advertising Association CEO Stephen Woodford underlined why steadying the ship is vital for British advertising. “Whatever you voted, we’ve now got a stable government,” he said. 

That means a lot of opportunities for the creative industries to work productively with government, as one of the five sectors that Labour wants to build industrial strategy with. One area, Stephen mentioned, is reform of the apprenticeship levy, or as he quoted from the Labour campaign “the failed Tory apprenticeship levy.” The new regime plans to reboot all of that, and wants to work with bodies like the Advertising Association to make sure it’s fit for the real world of work.

In UK business, optimism is at a high after the election. Stephen reflected that his morning call was “probably the most upbeat call I’ve had in eight years working at the Advertising Association.” And a lot of that sentiment is down to some hope for consistency moving forward. In those eight years, the association has had to work with 11 secretaries of state for culture, media and sport and nine for business and trade. Throw in the revolving door of ministers within those departments too and you can understand how challenging it's been to build and maintain links between government and the ad industry.

A less chaotic landscape is good for the people in business. But it’s good for the bottom lines of those businesses too, Stephen stressed. “There’s billions and billions of investment to come that’s just looking for stability. And of course the UK looks like a very stable home.”

“I do think it's been a watershed election in the country,” the association chief concluded. “Massive change after 14 years. As I said, this morning [there was] a real sense of optimism and purpose and clarity and stability. I think wherever you lie politically on the spectrum, from a business point of view, those things are enormously welcome.”

As a political commentator who has become something of a regular fixture at Advertising Association events, Steve Richards also expressed relief at the chance for a less chaotic situation. “I’ve done quite a few events with Stephen over the turbulent period of Tory government,” he said, and it’s telling that he often felt the need to check his messages and social media mid-event, just to make sure that a cabinet minister hadn’t been toppled while he was on stage. 

Zooming out geographically, Steve noted that in this year of frenzied political upheaval – with the rise of the far right disrupting the status quo in large markets like Germany and France and the threat of Donald Trump’s comeback looming in the US – the UK is looking like a calmer environment in which to do business. 

Steve then moved onto the personality of new prime minister Keir Starmer. It’s notable that in his recent discussions with assorted politicos, people have noted that he looks comfortable in charge. As was once said of Margaret Thatcher, “power made her beautiful”. That’s a phrase that Steve made a theme of his assessment of the new PM. While the campaign, with its staged debates and PR-able moments, seemed to make Starmer uncomfortable, coming in and putting his party’s policies into action seems to have put him at ease over these past few days, he suggested.

That isn’t so surprising when you consider Starmer’s background. Not a career politician, the 62 year old had a long legal career culminating in a role as director of public prosecutions. It wasn’t until 2015 that he entered Parliament as an MP. “He hasn’t really been a politician for very long at all,” observed Steve. “And he knows how to run things.”

Starmer’s circle of friends is also telling. Most of the people he’s friends with, Steve said, are from outside of politics – largely friends from his legal career and his life as a devoted Arsenal fan in his beloved north London neighbourhood of Kentish Town. He doesn’t seem to be as obsessed with the psychodrama of politics as he is with real change. “I don’t think he likes Westminster that much. He wants to do things. And he will be constantly turning to people from the outside to do it.”

Leaders in the advertising industry are some of those outsiders who could provide support for the change that Starmer and his new front bench want to enact. Lisa Nandy, the new secretary of state for culture, media and sport, is one of the cabinet members who, along with business secretary Jonathan Reynolds, will be of most interest to the industry. And fortunately for the Advertising Association’s members she is also one who has had less time to formulate her agenda. The shadow secretary for that department was Thangham Debbonaire, who lost her seat to the Green Party candidate in the election, which means Nandy is coming into her culture secretary role with a less fleshed-out idea of her agenda than most. “So she will respond to you first because she hasn't arrived with a detailed agenda,” Steve suggested to the audience of advertising leaders.

Many in the room were curious about what regulation the new government would be interested in pursuing around the ad industry. There will always be tensions between government and business (particularly with a more left-wing party in power) admitted Steve. They will be “quite interventionist,” he predicted, but this government will also be interested in dialogue with business. “The context will be one of eternal engagement. So if you have a case, they will listen. They have to because they want to maintain these relationships.”

What is the role of creativity in Labour’s Britain though? Broadly, the new government feels to Steve like it'll take the creative sphere more seriously, as a force to transform the UK. It should be a contrast, he said. “I think they recognise that it generates economic growth,” noting that Lisa Nandy in particular has history in advocating for the role that creativity can play in regenerating towns, for example. “I think that there is a recognition that culture leads to economic growth. It's one of the great success stories of Britain and we will see a big change here.”