UK Election 2024: The Corporate Governance Question
Where will we be post-election with corporate Governance reform? It's a question that no one can know the definitive answer to, but we can make some educated guesses, to help us plan for the future.
With Labour holding a commanding lead in the polls, it could be presumed that they are going to form the next Government. But they have a similar lead to that which Theresa May held in 2017 where she barely scraped back into power, so we can't make any assumptions at this stage!
All we can do is look at what all of the major parties have said in the run up to an election period:
What have the Conservatives said?
The Conservative Government has proposed a number of measures — both legislative and regulatory — to restore trust in audit and corporate governance and maintain the UK’s reputation as a home of sound corporate governance.
However these fell down the legislative agenda as the election period approached. Some changes were made earlier this year. Tailored reforms were introduced in a revised UK Corporate Governance Code (the 2024 Code) but notably this included the FRC’s withdrawal of its proposal for ESG disclosure to be within the remit of the audit committee is a response to consultation feedback rather than a de-prioritisation of ESG matters.
Whether this will come back to forefront under a Conservative Government remains to be seen, but they have been talking about this since 2016, so it would not be unexpected to see it back in the first King's Speech.
What have Labour said?
Labour’s priorities for its first term of government would include employment, industrial strategy, and audit and corporate governance reform if elected, according to Shadow Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds, who met with ICAEW’s CEO and Managing Director recently. He added the Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority would be part of whatever measures to be brought forward.
In 2019, under the leadership of Corbyn Labour published a significant document on Corporate Governance reform (https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/rewriting-the-rules.pdf). It would not be unreasonable to assume that some of the ideals in this document will be carried forward to a 2024 Starmer Government.
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What have the Liberal Democrats said?
The Lib Dems under Ed Davey have been less vocal about Corporate Governance reform, but their mantra of companies being "Responsible Corporate Citizens" is well engrained within their ideology.
Whilst they have said and published very little in this space for the last few years, a document released from their 2017 conference provides insight into where they may end up. (https://www.libdems.org.uk/conference/motions/autumn-2017/f28)
Best of the rest:
The other major parties in the UK (including Plaid Cymru, Reform, the SNP and Green Party) have said very little on this topic to date. Given, in the event of a hung parliament, one of these parties could be the "king maker", we can only hope that they outline their stance on this over the course of the remainder of the election (though I would argue that as fascinating as we all find corporate governance reform, it may be not what people are asking about on the doorstep!)
Whatever the outcome, Audit and Risk Recruitment are ready to go, to ensure that you can get the team members you need, in the time that you need them.
Pre or post election, if you want to have a confidential discussion about your career or the makeup of your team going forward, please reach out to one of the team.