How might a future Conservative or Labour government impact public procurement after the 2024 general election?
What reforms, principles and pledges are the two major parties pitching as part of their election manifestos?
This article takes a deep dive into the Labour and Conservative 2024 general election manifestos to uncover what each party has to say on UK public procurement.
Skip ahead to read about:
🌳 The Conservative Party's manifesto
Defence & industrial strategy
The Conservative party manifesto promises a new “Integrated Procurement Model” to make defence procurement “faster, smarter, and more joined-up.”
The party also pledges to ensure “new [defence] investment is spent more effectively than before”.
Alongside these procurement reforms, the Conservative Party offers to improve productivity and support defence suppliers towards becoming the largest defence exporter in Europe by 2030.
The Conservative party claims they have already introduced policies to ensure that public projects procure more UK-made steel.
What do general elections mean for public procurement?
Energy
The Conservative manifesto lays out new steps to support UK energy production.
This includes a plan to “offer a bonus, on top of contract payments that support offshore wind, to reward energy firms that invest in manufacturing in the most disadvantaged places in the UK or invest in more sustainable supply chains.”
Food & Farming
The Conservatives have promised to improve public sector procurement to support the UK food and farming industry.
The party aims to ensure that at least 50% of public sector food expenditure is spent on food that is either produced locally or “to higher environmental production standards.”
SME Strategy
The Conservative Party claims it wants “small businesses to get a bigger share of public contracts” and that it has already “improved the public sector procurement system to that end.”
If re-elected, the party promises to enact a 10-point plan to support SMEs.
As one of these 10 points, the Conservatives promise to “work with public sector organisations including local authorities and NHS trusts and companies benefitting from government contracts to ensure that procurement opportunities are focused on SMEs in their local economies where possible and practical.”
💡 What does this all mean?
Having recently enacted the Procurement Act into law, it's understandable why public procurement doesn't play a more central role in the Conservative's manifesto.
The Act, the Conservatives may argue, will already address many perennial public procurement issues - like SME access or transparency.
That said, the Conservatives do pitch a role for procurement as a tool in furthering other specific policy areas, like defence, energy and agriculture.
🌹 The Labour Party's manifesto
Contract Fraud
Labour's manifesto commits the party to tackling procurement and contract fraud.
Citing controversial contracts awarded amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the party promises to shut down "the link between ministers and an inside track for public contracts”.
They also promise to crack down on waste contracts and bring an end to “excessive” consultancy procurement.
Blue light procurement
The Labour Party lays out a new blue light strategy which includes the creation of a “Police Efficiency and Collaboration Programme”.
This new programme will standardise police procurement at a national level and establish shared services to reduce procurement costs.
Defence & industrial strategy
Labour also offers a new strategy for public sector defence procurement which focuses on supporting industrial priorities and building out robust supply chains.
This strategy will give priority to British defence suppliers and will establish new long-term partnerships with UK defence companies.
The Labour Party also commits to reform defence procurement to reduce waste.
SME Strategy
In a similar vein to the Conservatives, Labour also pledge to reform procurement rules to give SMEs greater access to government contracts.
Additionally, the Labour Party promises to take stronger action on public and private sector late payments (which disproportionately affect SMEs).
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The NHS
The Labour party will develop a new NHS innovation and adoption strategy in England.
This strategy will include a plan for NHS procurement and will offer “a clearer route to get products into the NHS”.
A reformed NHS incentive structure will be introduced to drive innovation and speed up regulatory approval and procurement of new medicines and technologies.
💡 What does this all mean?
Compared with the Conservative manifesto, Labour's procurement pledges appear to be slightly more ambitious and wide-ranging.
At the core of Labour's commitments is a view that public procurement has been used for self-interested or even fraudulent ends by the government.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Labour were quick to criticise the government for utilising supposed 'VIP procurement lanes' to fast-track the awarding of PPE contracts to suppliers - several of which were found to have links to the Conservative party.
The manifesto's pledge to tackle 'contract fraud' reflects this long-held reservation.
This echoes one of the Party's key criticisms of the Procurement Act. During a March 2024 House of Commons debate on the 'Public procurement (British Goods and Services) Bill' , then Shadow Minister in the Cabinet Office Dame Nia Griffith argued that the Procurement Act "will allow the same wasteful approach to emergency contracting rules that we saw during the pandemic, with friends and donors of the Tory party given the first bite of the cherry".
These perceived inadequacies may also explain why Labour is committing to creating specific procurement plans for the Blue Light sector and the NHS - areas which the Party may view weren't given adequate attention under the Act.
Conclusion
Several key themes emerge when it comes to Labour and Conservative procurement policy commitments.
Both parties recognise a need to increase public sector spending with SMEs by making it easier for the public sector to work with small businesses.
Similarly, both parties promise to reform defence procurement by cutting down on waste and ensuring that UK defence suppliers are more heavily relied upon by the public sector.
Key differences in policy include Labour’s vocal criticism of 'fradulent' contracts under the Conservatives, their new NHS procurement plans, and their proposed “Police Efficiency and Collaboration Programme”.
The Conservatives have also offered food and energy procurement commitments.
Neither parties reference the Procurement Act specifically. It's Tussell's view that regardless of either party's manifesto commitments - and unless either party unveils a substantial change in procurement policy or reverses the Act's implementation once in government - the Act will remain the biggest driver of change in public procurement in years to come.
Suppliers and buyers alike would do well to keep preparing for the Act's go-live date on October 28th, regardless of the election's outcome.
🌳 Read the full 2024 Conservative Party manifesto.
🌹 Read the full 2024 Labour Party manifesto.
📜 Download Tussell's Free Procurement Act Guidebook.
