In his opening remarks to the CEF fringe meeting at CPC25 in Manchester on 6 October, Sir Andy Street, former West Midlands mayor, praised the Forum for ‘keeping the flag flying on Europe’ in the Conservative Party.

He was joined by John Foster, chief policy and campaigns officer of the CBI and Denzil Davidson, former adviser on Europe to Theresa May when she was PM, and also a CEF Executive Committee member.

Chaired by CEF Chairman, Stephen Hammond, the speakers contributed to a lively and engaging panel discussion as they addressed the topic ‘Why Conservatives should care about business and Europe’. Each brought a different but complementary perspective, drawing on their experience and background. There was, however, a high degree of consensus on the topics covered, which included among others, implementing the TCA, challenges facing SMEs, including high price of energy, the impact of an SPS agreement, and how the UK maximises the AI opportunity.

The meeting was very well attended and successful, judging from the diverse range of questions and level of engagement by the audience.