{"id":496586,"date":"2024-03-27T11:40:13","date_gmt":"2024-03-27T11:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/?p=496586"},"modified":"2024-03-27T11:40:13","modified_gmt":"2024-03-27T11:40:13","slug":"former-tory-donor-wates-is-now-agnostic-on-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/government\/former-tory-donor-wates-is-now-agnostic-on-politics-27-03-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Tory donor Wates is now \u2018agnostic\u2019 on politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

The chief executive of Wates has said the company is now politically \u201cagnostic\u201d and will not make any donations in the run-up to the general election.<\/p>\n

Wates gave \u00a3450,000 to the Conservative Party between 2001 and 2017, according to The Guardian<\/em><\/a> \u2013 which also reported in 2018 that then chairman (and current board member) James Wates attended Conservative Party donor functions with privileged access to then prime minister Theresa May and her cabinet.<\/p>\n

But in an interview on Tuesday (26 March), Eoghan O\u2019Lionaird told Construction News<\/em>: \u201cWe haven\u2019t paid a political donation in years and years, we’re not doing so at the moment and nor would I anticipate that we would go back to doing that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are actually agnostic to which colour of government we have [after the election]. We work very closely with the current government and there are challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe recognise the challenges [in politics] and we’re very keen to support the government of the day. Should governments change, I\u2019m sure we will support new governments in exactly the same way.\u201d<\/p>\n

The UK general election is due to be held by January 2025, with polls currently predicting that Labour will sweep into power.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Lionaird said the company would especially like to see a change in housing policy, adding that it is an area \u201cthat both major parties \u2013 the Conservatives and Labour \u2013 have said will be a major focus\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cWe think there is a need for change in regards to government policy on housing and specifically in regard to two things.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all, a changing planning regime: we believe that we need to go back to the local authorities and county councils and require of them that they have plans [and] design codes that are in place so that when a developer wants to build there will be a presumption of approval. This will be hugely beneficial for the market.<\/p>\n

\u201cSecondly, for housing in local authorities, there has to be a different funding approach. Many of the local authorities are very stretched from a financial point of view [and] the central government has got to find a way to re-fund social housing construction.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Lionaird was speaking to CN<\/em> as Wates published its annual results for 2023<\/a>. The family-owned contractor posted a revenue above \u00a32bn for the first time in its 127-year history, while pre-tax profit increased by 43 per cent to \u00a344.9m.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in the interview, O\u2019Lionaird said market conditions had improved and construction is now recovering from a very high rate of insolvencies and the difficulties caused by Covid, interest-rate rises and rapid inflation.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the risk of sounding like Bilbo Baggins, I think the worst is behind us. Things have improved. Inflation was in strong double digits a year ago, it\u2019s now come down to single digits and, in some cases, material costs have reversed and have fallen in price.<\/p>\n

\u201cInterest rates are easing. We anticipate interest rates will further ease through [to] the end of this year, and that no doubt will have a positive impact on the industry. Also, we are hopeful the rate of insolvencies has slowed.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Lionaird added: \u201cIt was a torrid time for many, many supply-chain partners last year. We have done our best, we believe, to support all of those partners through the hard times and we\u2019re hoping that we put the worst behind us.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Lionaird joined Wates as chief executive in February 2023. For more information on his outlook and plans for the company, read CN’s<\/em> in-depth interview with the executive here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The chief executive of Wates has said the company is now politically \u201cagnostic\u201d and will not make any donations in the run-up to the general election. Wates gave \u00a3450,000 to the Conservative Party between 2001 and 2017, according to The Guardian \u2013 which also reported in 2018 that then chairman (and current board member) James …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90383,"featured_media":486601,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[565,545],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-496586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","category-wates"],"yoast_head":"\nFormer Tory donor Wates is now \u2018agnostic\u2019 on politics | Construction News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The chief executive of Wates has said the company is now politically \u201cagnostic\u201d and will not make any donations in the run-up to the general election.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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