Following our successful conference in 2025 at SOAS we were delighted to join forces this year with Compass to host the 2026 conference:
‘Change:NOW! Mobilising the Progressive Majority’, a day of debate, disagreement and deliberation between progressives of all parties (and none!) on Saturday 30th May 2026.
at The Rich Mix, 35-47 Bethnal Green Road, London, E1 6LA.
More photos here
The conference featured keynote speeches from Green leader Zack Polanski , former Green leader, Caroline Lucas, Gary Stevenson and speakers from across the progressive parties and movements, including politicians Clive Lewis MP, Roz Savage MP, Stella Creasey MP , Vince Cable, movement leaders Andrea Egan and Fatima Ibrahim, thinkers and writers Kate Pickett, Guy Standing, Marc Stears, Ann Pettifor, Will Hutton, Stewart Lansley and many more.
We were joined by partners including Friends of the Earth, UCL Policy Lab, New Economics Foundation, Make Votes Matter, Unlock Democracy, and Migrant Democracy Project.
The day focussed on the policies needed to deliver the change to reset our economy, and the political and cultural changes needed to bring about those policies, through establishing consensus on political strategy and economic direction – and highlighting the important differences in detail across progressive parties and the wider movement
Speakers included:
Abubakr Nanabawa, Director, The Muslim Vote | Allan Njanji, Regional Campaigns Manager, Asylum Matters, researcher and advocate for refugee rights | Alex Sobel, Labour MP for Leeds Central & Headingley, Chair of APPG for Fair Elections | Alex Zur-Clark, Labour for a New Democracy | Andrea Egan, General Secretary, UNISON | Ann Pettifor*, Director of Policy Research in Macroeconomics; author of The Case for the Green New Deal and The Global Casino | Anthea Simmons, Founder of Common Ground Org, co-founder South Devon Primary and editor-in-chief of West Country Voice | Asad Rehman Chief Executive, Friends of the Earth| Beth Stratford, Honorary Research Fellow, UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose | Bethany Gardiner-Smith, Senior Policy Associate, the Future Governance Forum | Caitlin Prowle, Assistant General Secretary, Cooperative Party | Carolina Alves*, Associate Professor in Economics, UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose | Cecilia Rikap,Associate Professor in Economics, UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose| Clare Short,Former Secretary of State for International Development | Clive Lewis MP, Labour MP, Norwich South | Daniella Jenkins, Executive Director, Women’s Budget Group | Daniel Kebede, General Secretary, National Education Union | Danny Sriskandarajah, Cheif Executive, New Economics Foundation | David Wilson, Deputy General Secretary, National Education Union | Diane Elson, Emeritus Professor, University of Essex; adviser to UN Women and the Women’s Budget Group | Emma Harrison, Chief Exec, Make Votes Matter | Faiza Shaheen, Executive Director of Tax Justice UK, and Independent candidate for Chingford and Woodford Green in the 2024 General Election| Fatima Ibrahim,Co-executive Director, Green New Deal Rising | Francesca Klug, Human Rights expert and Visiting Professorial at the LSE | Geoff Mulgan, Professor of Collective Intelligence, Public Policy and Social Innovation at University College London (UCL) | Guy Standing*, Professorial Research Associate, SOAS; author of The Precariat, The Politics of Time and Human Capital | Hannah Rich, Director, Christians on the Left | Hannah Robathon, Take Back Big Tech | James Baggaley, Head of Politics and Partnerships, UCL Policy Lab | James Meadway*, Director, Verdant | Jeremy Gilbert, Professor of Cultural and Political Theory, University of East London | Jo Michell*, Professor of Economics, UWE Bristol | Jonathon Shafi, Activist, Political Commentator, ERS Scotland Campaigns Organiser | Josh Ryan-Collins*, Professor of Economics and Finance, UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose | Kate Pickett*, Professor of Epidemiology, University of York; author of The Spirit Level and The Good Society | Kerry Postlewhite, Chair, Mainstream | Lara Parizotto, Director, Migrant Democracy Project | Lexie KirkConnell-Kawana CEO, Impress | Marc Stears, Director, UCL Policy Lab | Mark Drakeford, Former First Minister of Wales | Mat Lawrence Director, Common Wealth | Orla McBreen, Deputy Ambassador, Ireland’s Embassy in London | Patrick Allen*, Founder and Chair, Progressive Economy Forum | Paul Fleming, General Secretary of Equity | Paul Wragg, Director, Hacked Off | Peter Holmes, Emeritus Reader, University of Sussex | Roz Savage MP, Lib Dem MP, South Cotswolds | Stewart Lansley*, Author of The Cost of Inequality, Breadline Britain, and The Richer, The Poorer | Sue Goss, Political Scientist, Author | Susan Himmelweit*, Emeritus Professor, Open University; Economist and Chair of the Policy Advisory Group of the Women’s Budget Group | Thomas Barlow,Treasurer, Independent Media Association | Tom Brake, Director, Unlock Democracy | Tom Chivers,Vice Chair, Media Reform Coalition |Tom de Grunwald, Founder and Director, Forward Democracy | Vince Cable,Former Leader of the Liberal Democrats | Will Hutton*,President of the Academy of Social Sciences; author of The State We’re In and This Time No Mistakes | Will Stronge, Chief Executive, The Autonomy Institute | Zoe Williams, Guardian columnist
* PEF council members
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