15 Sep
2022

A new era ahead

The nation is in mourning following the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. This is a very sad and poignant moment in history, and her loss will be felt by many across the UK and around the world. It has been moving to see the industry share their own encounters and memories of the Queen, including the many countries who welcomed her on official visits or holidays.

The national mourning period has put a pause on normal Government and parliamentary business. Prior to this, the new Prime Minister, Liz Truss, had begun to shape her Government, with Kwasi Kwarteng becoming Chancellor, and Anne-Marie Trevelyan appointed Transport Secretary, replacing Grant Shapps. 

ABTA is a well-respected voice within Government, recognised for our expertise and insight, and for offering constructive policy solutions. We will be building on that reputation with this new Government. I have already written to the Prime Minister and relevant Cabinet Ministers to reiterate the value of the sector to the UK economy and what the industry needs from Government to boost recovery from COVID and to support travel businesses through cost-of-living challenges.

The appointment of junior Ministers has been delayed until after the national mourning period, so at this point we don’t yet know whether we’ll have new Aviation and Tourism Ministers; ABTA is monitoring the situation and will engage with new Ministers as and when they are appointed.

Next week we are expecting to hear more from the Government on its plans to support people and businesses through the energy crisis. We are engaging with Government on this issue and last week we outlined the other actions we think the Government could take to support businesses through the difficult months ahead. You can read my statement responding to the announcement here. We will also be launching a survey next week, working with our Future Travel Coalition partners, to gather the much-needed evidence to support our lobbying work. Please keep an eye out for that survey, as your responses are vitally important for our advocacy work.