Managing policy pressure in 2027

Following the recent UK budget, commercial and policy teams across the tech sector have been assessing how the government’s fiscal plan sparks both challenges and opportunities.

With public finances under sustained pressure and regulatory priorities shifting, organisations can struggle to identify where policy is heading. When that uncertainty comes up in client conversations, Louise Kitchingham is the colleague to consult.

Louise Kitchingham is Executive Vice President of Policy Communications at Clarity, a trusted industry expert, and a specialist who understands how government decision-making actually plays out. I sat down with her to discuss how businesses can anticipate and prepare for policy change, particularly in light of recent budget changes.

Louise made it clear from the outset that public affairs is a long game, and that effective policy work is the steady discipline of anticipating the direction of travel and scenario planning for eventualities long before a bill or strategy even reaches parliament.

The challenge for businesses is that Westminster can feel unpredictable. With an evolving and ever changing political landscape (and leadership!), keeping pace with priorities requires reading between the lines rather than waiting for formal announcements. Once a piece of legislation is raised, it moves through a prolonged, methodical process, pinging back and forth between the Commons and the Lords. Influencing that process requires picking the core priorities fundamental to your business, sticking to them, and repeating the same message to the right stakeholders, through different channels over years rather than months.

Public affairs is a very long game. You need to pick two or three priorities fundamental to your business and hold that line over years rather than weeks.

The real craft lies in aligning your commercial goals with the long term dilemmas the government is trying to solve. Louise illustrated this through a clear example in healthcare. The current administration is heavily focused on reforming social care, yet funds remain constrained. A standard policy push for a medical manufacturer might focus narrowly on the clinical attributes of a specific device, but Louise approaches it through a wider economic lens.

Consider a specialised procedure that can prevent limb amputation, which is unfortunately the reality for thousands of people each year who do not have access. If the health service declines to fund that technology due to upfront budget silos, the downstream cost lands directly on the social care system. A patient who undergoes an amputation may require adapted housing, dedicated carers, and long term welfare support, costing the taxpayer significantly more over their lifetime. By understanding the government's long term direction of travel, an organisation can show how an early intervention directly supports the state's broader social care objective. It frames commercial innovation as an answer to a structural policy problem.

If you understand the wider direction of travel, you can show government how an upfront clinical investment prevents a much heavier burden on the welfare state tomorrow.

This approach reflects Clarity’s public affairs consultancy in practice. Historically, policy engagement was treated as an isolated discipline carried out through formal meetings and white papers. Louise comes from a communications background, which brings a much more integrated perspective. Influence is built on the understanding that politicians are people representing local communities. They read morning papers, use social media, and listen to grassroots patient advocates. When patient groups and real people demonstrate the practical impact of a policy, the case becomes compelling in a way corporate lobbying alone can never replicate.

Politicians are still human beings reading the morning paper on the tube and listening to local communities. The most effective influence happens far outside Westminster committee rooms.

Louise also pointed out a critical shift in how policy stakeholders gather information. When an MP or civil servant evaluates an organisation today, they frequently use artificial intelligence search tools to understand who they are dealing with. If a company has neglected its wider communications, or if generative models present an inaccurate picture of its work, its standing with decision makers is compromised before discussions even begin. Public affairs can no longer exist in a silo apart from an organisation's wider digital reputation. Brands should be measuring and strategising their AI visibility and reputation.

When a decision maker evaluates your organisation through an artificial intelligence tool, your broader digital reputation becomes your political credibility on the spot.

Leaving our conversation, I was struck by the complexity of shaping legislation. In an environment that often feels consumed by day to day political churn, real influence comes from looking further ahead. It requires the foresight to anticipate structural change, the discipline to maintain a consistent message, and the ability to demonstrate how your business serves the wider public good.