Skills, business growth and opportunities for young people have all featured prominently during the 2026 political conference season. But how often are politicians actually joining these agendas together?

For enterprise educators, that is perhaps the more interesting question. We looked across the major UK conferences through three lenses: what did parties say about entrepreneurship and business; what did they say about education and skills; and did they connect the two?

For neutrality, we have considered the parties below in date order of their autumn conferences, rather than giving precedence to any one party.

It is worth remembering that conferences play different roles in different parties. Liberal Democrat and Green conferences have particularly strong formal policy-making roles, while Labour policy develops through its National Policy Forum as well as conference. Elsewhere, speeches and leadership announcements are often more indicative of political direction than formal policy decisions.

Reform UK: enterprise on the agenda, but separate from education

Reform’s 2026 conference gave business greater prominence than previously, introducing a dedicated Business Day for the first time. Reform described this as:

“placing the business community at the heart of the programme”

with sessions bringing together business leaders, investors, entrepreneurs and senior party figures.

The party’s wider economic message emphasised lower regulation, lower energy costs and improving UK competitiveness.

On education, the emphasis was more heavily on vocational and professional training. Nigel Farage argued that Britain trains too few of its own doctors and nurses and said:

“We will boost NHS training.”

He also said that Reform believes “we are sending far too many young people to university”, signalling a preference for a different balance between university and vocational or professional routes.

Did Reform connect education and entrepreneurship? Not substantially in the conference material reviewed. Enterprise and business had a visible place in the conference programme, while education policy focused principally on training and alternatives to university. The two agendas largely remained separate.

Liberal Democrats: perhaps the most explicit connection

The Liberal Democrats passed two conference motions particularly relevant to our sector.

The approved Liberal Democrats Mean Business motion describes business both as an engine of prosperity and as a means by which people can “create something new” and use their own skills and talents. It calls for improved access to start-up and scale-up finance and specifically for incentives for businesses to “recruit and train young people”.

Read the motion as passed: Liberal Democrats Mean Business

An even clearer education-enterprise connection appeared in the approved Sovereignty in the Age of AI motion. It argues that education should concentrate on enduring capabilities such as critical thinking and problem solving, while also supporting regional university-industry innovation centres, university spin-outs and student start-ups. Significantly, it calls for international Masters and PhD students to be allowed to found start-ups during their studies.

Read the motion as passed: Sovereignty in the Age of AI

Conference also passed A Fair Shot: Reforming Recruitment, responding explicitly to the number of young people outside employment, education and training, although its solutions focus primarily on improving access to employment.

Did the Liberal Democrats connect education and entrepreneurship? Yes, particularly around universities, innovation and commercialisation. There is less evidence of the same connection being made for younger learners or young people outside higher education.

Labour: a stronger education-to-economy link, but mainly through employment

Labour made one of the clearest connections between education and the future economy.

Education Secretary Lucy Powell argued for “closing the gap between the classroom and work”, alongside new vocational GCSEs, T Levels, V Levels and post-16 apprenticeships. She told conference:

“More pathways not fewer, more choice not less.”

Prime Minister Andy Burnham similarly promised “good quality pathways for all from 14”, a 45-day work placement between 16 and 18 and expanded apprenticeship opportunities.

That education agenda was accompanied by a strong business and innovation message. Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said Labour’s plans for reindustrialisation depended on working “with business, with entrepreneurs and with our great science, technology and innovation base”.

Chancellor John Healey announced an additional £100 million for a Local Apprenticeships Service, led by mayors and connecting young people, colleges and employers.

Significantly, Healey explicitly included entrepreneurship within his vision for young people currently outside work and training:

“I see the future workforce of a reindustrialised Britain. Future business founders. Future union stewards. Future homeowners.”

Did Labour connect education and entrepreneurship? Partly. There is a clear connection between education, skills, employers, innovation and regional economic development, and the reference to “future business founders” explicitly recognises entrepreneurship as one possible destination. However, the practical measures announced remain predominantly focused on employment and apprenticeships rather than start-up, self-employment or freelancing.

Plaid Cymru: perhaps the broadest conception of enterprise

Plaid Cymru’s conference brought economic and education policy unusually close together.

First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth announced a new Skills Strategy for Wales, informed by a national skills audit and intended to:

“align skills provision, vocational education and qualifications with current and future economic needs.”

On enterprise, the Welsh Government’s agenda goes beyond conventional private-sector growth. Rhun explicitly highlighted social enterprises, co-operatives and community-owned energy as ways for communities to “generate and retain their own wealth and assets”.

There was also a strong conventional business-growth agenda. Enterprise Minister Adam Price announced Sbardun, a two-year accelerator initially supporting twenty ambitious Welsh firms through investment, experienced entrepreneurs and peer support, alongside a target of 500 high-growth Welsh firms within ten years.

This broader interpretation of enterprise – encompassing economic growth, social enterprise, co-operatives and community ownership – has obvious links to the work being explored through EEUK’s Sustainable Society Special Interest Group.

Did Plaid connect education and entrepreneurship? There is a clear strategic connection between education, skills and the economic needs of Wales, and a strong enterprise agenda. However, there is still scope for a more explicit bridge between the two: how Wales develops entrepreneurial capability within its education and skills system.

Greens: youth opportunity, but predominantly through jobs

The Green Party conference is particularly important because conference itself is the party’s “supreme forum” for determining policy.

The strongest relevant announcement came from deputy leader Mothin Ali, who focused on the number of young people outside education, employment or training and announced a Youth Jobs Guarantee.

He argued:

“Young people should be leaving education with the skills, confidence and opportunity to build a life for themselves and their families.”

The proposed guarantee would initially target areas with particularly high youth unemployment and provide jobs in sectors including care, green energy, housing, sustainable food and nature recovery.

The Green economic agenda also strongly supports community enterprise, co-operatives and alternative forms of ownership.

Did the Greens connect education and entrepreneurship? Less clearly. They make a strong connection between education, meaningful work and the transition to a green economy, but their conference response to youth economic inactivity was framed predominantly around creating jobs, rather than enabling young people to create enterprises.

Conservatives: strong on entrepreneurship, less connection to education

Entrepreneurship was highly visible at Conservative conference. Birmingham was introduced by Kemi Badenoch as a city “built by entrepreneurs, small businesses and family firms”, while a full conference day was dedicated to founders, entrepreneurs and SME leaders.

Shadow Chancellor Andrew Griffith’s conference speech strongly emphasised business-led economic growth and his own background in business.

The party also directly addressed youth employment. In her closing speech, Badenoch announced a proposal to halve employer National Insurance for workers aged 21–24, intended to encourage businesses to recruit more young people. She said:

“There’s a graduate recruitment crisis, and if young people don’t get a job early, that impacts their lifetime earnings.”

Education announcements, however, largely occupied a separate policy conversation, with the main emphasis on schools, youth employment and routes into work.

University-level education was notably less prominent in the main conference material we reviewed. There was comparatively little discussion of the role universities play in developing entrepreneurial capability, supporting student and graduate start-ups, commercialising research or contributing to regional innovation ecosystems.

Did the Conservatives connect education and entrepreneurship? Not strongly during the conference material reviewed. Entrepreneurship is central to the economic narrative, and the youth National Insurance proposal connects business directly with youth employment. However, there is relatively little discussion of how education develops the people who will become those entrepreneurs.

A common gap?

Across very different political traditions, a striking pattern emerges.

Parties increasingly understand that education must connect more effectively with the economy. They also talk enthusiastically about entrepreneurs, innovation and SMEs.

But the bridge between those two conversations remains incomplete.

This is particularly visible in policy towards young people. Political responses to youth economic inactivity tend to offer employment, apprenticeships or further training. Entrepreneurship, self-employment, freelancing and social enterprise rarely appear as equivalent potential pathways.

That is a question we think is worth the enterprise education community exploring further.

What can EEUK members do?

This conference season demonstrates substantial political interest in skills, youth opportunity, business growth and regional economies.

EEUK members already have examples showing how enterprise and entrepreneurship education contributes to each of these agendas.

We would encourage members to share those stories with their local MP or MS – particularly evidence of learners developing entrepreneurial capabilities, creating businesses or social enterprises, working with local employers or contributing to their regional economy.

And why not invite your local MP or MS to your next enterprise event?

Seeing enterprise education in practice – and meeting the students, graduates, educators and entrepreneurs involved – may be one of the most effective ways of ensuring it features more prominently in future policy.

We will return to Scotland separately following the Scottish autumn conference season.