I had a great day at the Tory Reform Group conference last weekend. I was asked to speak on a panel about “Policy for Modern Britain” with fab panellists: Dolly Theis - public health expert, Dan Skelton - author, Rob Wilson - former Minister and Steph Reeves - head of TRG Policy.
I was delighted to see that one of my 5 key policy suggestions was enacted earlier this week when the PM announced all international students would get a 2 year working visa after University. It’s imperative that we continue to attract the best and brightest students to the UK - it’s great for our students, our economy and for soft-power links to the rest of the world.
My five key policy ideas were -
1) Give international students a 2 year working visa after graduation
2) abolish stamp duty for homes under £500k to help buyers, especially in London / SE and change planning policy so developers have to complete building within a timeframe they specify in planning app to stop landbanking
3) Introduce coding into school curriculum, as well as valuable life skills like budgeting
4) Give funds via British Business Bank to startups tackling climate change
5) Support vocational work & young people from rural areas through courses developed with local employers
It was super interesting to hear from all the fab panels over the day, as ever, Penny Mordaunt MP was brilliant, and it was a great honour to meet political legend Ken Clarke MP - we were lucky enough to nab him for a private chat before his official appearance and hear his war stories in politics!