Tories target construction firms in bid to win power

Tory party leaders are cranking up their campaign to woo construction companies.

The industry has been earmarked as a vital sector to win over in the Conservatives' push to try and topple Labour at the next general election.

Party officials have started actively courting construction trade association leaders through a series of meetings and private briefings.

One association chief said: "Tory officials are very active at the moment and are doing all they can to get their message across to the construction sector."

Construction Industry Council chief executive Graham Watts said there were parallels with the way Labour courted contractors before its election victory in 1997: "Back then Nick Raynsford was the opposition spokesman on construction. He knew the industry and helped make Labour a serious party for construction.

"He got out and about to meet the associations and that's what the Tories are doing now with Mark Prisk. Prisk is a chartered surveyor who knows the industry, so there's a guy in place we can talk to," Watts said.

Specialist Engineering Contractors Group chief executive Rudi Klein has attended a number of meetings with the Tory team.

He said: "There is definitely more regular contact and the feeling that they are keen to take things on board. One of our main messages is that the industry still wastes £2.6bn a year, which we want to stop. That sort of thing is music to their ears."

The Tories are hoping to capitalise on a growing feeling that construction is being marginalised within the current government.

Watts said: "There is no question that construction has fallen down the agenda of the current government and gets less attention from ministers and officials."

Prisk is already hounding the government over delayed changes to the Construction Act. The Tories have also launched a review of the Building Regulations and have set up a shadow committee to monitor the Olympic building programme.

One trade body chief said: "They are looking at the big issues, but obviously we don't agree with them on everything. Their plans for the building regs amount to virtually abolishing them, which is just plain stupid."