Government Affairs Archives

Stuck in the middle? Finding the UK’s role in the global innovation race

The UK must find its global niche in emerging technology industries, as reduced domestic political volatility coincides with an increase in geopolitical tensions. As Labour prepares its policies in this area, the March Budget and the rest of the year will see the UK Government making major decisions with impacts on innovation, R&D and the […]

10 Mar, 2023

2023 infrastructure policy and regulation outlook

Josh Buckland Mark Caines

Overview Following a year of crisis-fuelled focus on resilience, especially in the energy and water sectors, 2023 will raise an even more difficult question – how do you fund investment in long-term resilience during a period of economic uncertainty? Government budgets are under pressure, and the continuing cost-of-living crisis means there is limited scope to […]

16 Feb, 2023

Policy outlook for investors 2023+

Martin Summers

After a tumultuous political year, 2023 will see a more stable political environment in the UK. This will create opportunities for investors, but business should continue to hedge against geopolitical risk. Below we set out some of the key opportunities and themes: 1. Companies and investors should start to engage with and prepare for Labour […]

13 Jan, 2023

A crowded Queen’s Speech for DCMS – what does it mean for the sector?

Pierre Andrews

Nadine Dorries’ team at Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has taken the lion’s share of parliamentary time for the next session. A total of six DCMS bills have been promised. But with doubts about when the next General Election will be called, and the controversial nature of much of the legislation in question, what is […]

27 May, 2022

The Queen's Speech: political relaunch

Nikki da Costa

Whitehall has been working towards a May Queen’s Speech for almost a year. The date has been announced – 10 May – and many bills have been trailed and there is an outline programme ready to go, but political changes within No 10 have created uncertainty. How should business prepare? What are the implications of […]

04 Apr, 2022

The Flint Podcast

Giles Wilkes Kiran Horwich Tim Pitt

In the aftermath of the Budget and Spending Review, Flint experts provide their analysis of the Chancellor’s statement, talk through its political and economic implications and what this all means to the business community. Flint PartnerKiran Horwich chairs the discussion between Partner Tim Pitt(former Special Adviser to Chancellors Sajid Javid and Philip Hammond) and Specialist PartnerGiles Wilkes (former Business […]

01 Nov, 2021

EU Strategic Autonomy: what is it, and why should we care?

Sir Julian King

There’s been a good deal of talk lately about EU Strategic Autonomy, in trade, tech, data and, indeed, vaccines. If anything, Biden’s arrival raised new questions. What is all the fuss about? Strategic Autonomy isn’t a new idea; the EU has been talking about it for seven or eight years. Initially, the focus was on security and defence: how could the EU become a better partner through developing […]

12 Feb, 2021

Goodbye soft law: EU rules on sustainable corporate governance

Daniel Brinkwerth

Goodbye soft law: EU rules on sustainable corporate governance The European Union has a track record of regulating supply chains. Covid-19 focussed minds further on their safety and transparency, often coupled with calls for an elusive ‘strategic autonomy’. Incoming sustainable corporate governance rules will change risk assessments for EU-based companies with complex supply chains, their […]

02 Dec, 2020

How government really works

Giles Wilkes

It’s not your fine vision that gets the policy over the line One of politics’ better clichés is attributed to Mario Cuomo: you campaign in poetry, you govern in prose. It is a plea to be pragmatic – you may hear fine words of high principle on the campaign trail, but once inside everything is […]

18 Aug, 2020

Category: Government Affairs