Uplifted, because once again the industry turned out in force to support the event and UKIFDA. This year felt particularly special. Dawn Shakespeare – UKIFDA’s event organiser and manager, among many other responsibilities – and I both celebrated birthdays during the week. The kind comments (and cakes) were hugely appreciated. The old adage still stands: older, but certainly not wiser.
I was also encouraged by the number of exhibitors who told me they had seen record order levels and strong new leads. That speaks volumes about the strength of the show and the value it continues to deliver. As always, we are listening carefully and are already thinking about how we can make next year’s event even better.
But there was frustration too. Across the two days, many people approached me to say they felt fingers were being unfairly pointed at our sector, and that the real experts in the room, the industry itself, were not being heard.
For the first time, I shared that frustration publicly. But I also set out a way to turn the negatives into positives. My presentation, ahead of the political interviews, focused on the lessons we must learn.
Yes, we are too dependent on one type of fuel.
Yes, we are too dependent on one source of that fuel.
Yes, we need the capacity to make more of our own.
These messages are not new. We have said them before. But I took some encouragement from the political interviews that followed; there are signs that some of these lessons are finally beginning to land.
My message remains clear: we cannot replace one dependency with another. We need a diversified fuel mix that reflects how and where people live, what they can afford, and, crucially, gives them a choice. Above all, heating-oil consumers must be listened to, not handed more of the same.
Our industry should not be blamed. It should be recognised as an expert partner – one that understands its customers better than anyone.
I walked away from Liverpool feeling, genuinely, that I wasn’t walking alone. The next stage is about building on that sense of togetherness and delivering what consumers asked for in the recent government consultation: a renewable liquid fuel option that can be implemented quickly, at no upfront cost to households or the taxpayer, and produced here in the UK using the refining skills we have honed for decades.
That is the path forward. And we will walk it together.
Image credit: UKIFDA
