Conservative Party Conference day 1

The Conservative Party Conference kicked off on Saturday. From the external affairs, team, Zach Thornton and I were there to contribute to policy discussions, meet with politicians and experts and bring the issues of the data and marketing industry to the fore.

Having been at the Labour Party Conference last week, the bar was set high for interesting discussions about Brexit (of course), data, AI, tech, education and skills. Nonetheless, good understanding has been demonstrated by many politicians who understand the issues and hope to do something about them.

Exciting developments in DMA Talent have us working on promoting our education and skills agenda. Giving people the right tools to work in the expanding data and marketing sector is vital for the continued growth of the industry. Issues such as creating new routes into the work and bringing good educational experiences to a more diverse audience are important to what we are trying to achieve at DMA Talent.

In regards to our Brexit efforts, the DMA has been lobbying government for several months to impress upon them the necessity to keep data flows between the EU and the UK open. While the government appears to understand this and be receptive to our arguments, the desire by some for a hard Brexit without such a deal means there is still a threat of no-deal yet to be diminished.

With these issues in mind, Zach and I have been arguing our industry’s cause to politicians right up to the top – I even managed to bump into Prime Minister Theresa May at a reception on Sunday night (me on the Prime Minister's left, Craig Dillon from Westminster Digital on the right).

Furthermore, having talked with others in similar industries, there is an understanding that work is still to be done to secure the best deal to serve the data and marketing industry and beyond. The DMA will continue to work with our members and other organisations to make our position clear to the government and the EU.

To hear more about the DMA’s lobbying and public affairs work, contact me at Michael.Sturrock@dma.org.uk or Zach at Zach.Thornton@dma.org.uk.