Developing our Welsh and Scottish retail manifestos
Developing our Welsh and Scottish retail manifestos - workshop
Elections to the Welsh and Scottish Parliaments will be held in May 2026. To inform the development of our Retail Manifestos for these key elections we are holding an in-person workshop for members on Thursday 24 April 2025, in London, from 9.30am until 11am.
The format:
- Presentation to outline the WRC and SRC manifesto development process and some early thinking on policy ideas (to get your steer)
- Hear and discuss your suggestions for inclusion in the industry’s manifesto
This session will be held in BRC’s HQ in Covent Garden, London, and led by David Lonsdale (BRC Head of Devolved Nations), Sara Jones (Head of WRC), and Ewan MacDonald-Russell (Deputy Head of SRC).
The manifestos and election will be our key policy and advocacy project over the next fifteen months in both Wales and Scotland, with a view to influencing the main political parties’ manifestos and the early thinking of the next devolved administrations. At the last elections we were able to influence political party manifestos to the benefit of the industry as well as excluding policy ideas which would have been deleterious to the sector. Given the changing political landscape in both nations, alongside parliamentary reforms and changes in political leadership over the last 12 months, our attempts to shape manifesto development has never been more pressing and key to ensuring your priorities are captured.
Due to capacity limits we can only accommodate one person from each firm and numbers are capped. There will be other opportunities both in-person and virtual for members in Wales and Scotland to contribute. To attend contact: David.Lonsdale@brc.org.uk
David Lonsdale
Director | SRC
David Lonsdale is the Director of the Scottish Retail Consortium, and Head of Devolved Nations for the BRC. Prior to this he was Assistant Director at CBI Scotland for 8 years until 2013, and previously worked at the Scottish Chambers of Commerce, rising from Policy Officer to become Head of Policy & Public Affairs. David’s responsibilities at the SRC involve representing and promoting the interests of the retail industry and member companies to government, policy makers and opinion formers on a wide range of public policy issues. He is a board member of the Scottish Tourism Alliance, a member of SCDI’s National Policy Committee, a member of the CBI Scotland Council, and former chairman and trustee of Work Place Chaplaincy Scotland.
David.Lonsdale@brc.org.uk
