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HISTORIC PRESS RELEASE : Boost for Co-Operation with Russian Financial Regulators [September 1999]

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 7 September 1999.

Greater co-operation in tackling abuse of financial rules and regulations in cross-border dealings involving UK and Russian investors and investments will be provided through an agreement which has been signed between UK regulatory authorities and the Russian Federal Commission for the Securities Market, Economic Secretary Melanie Johnson announced today.

Welcoming the announcement, Miss Johnson said;

“The increasing globalisation of financial markets requires regulatory authorities to work together in order to tackle abuses of rules, regulations, and laws which harm investors. This is the seventh bilateral agreement on financial regulation which we have reached with a non-EU country, and will reinforce the strength of the City of London as a major international financial centre.

“The Memorandum of Understanding between the Treasury, the UK Financial Services Authority, the London Stock Exchange, and the Russian Federal Commission for the Securities Market will do a great deal to develop financial relations between us and improve the effectiveness of regulation.

“This agreement will provide a framework allowing the authorities to assist each other, providing investors with greater protection and security. We hope that our agreement will promote mutual understanding, both in terms of the operation of markets and their regulation. The establishment of clear channels of communication and greater engagement between our authorities will be of mutual benefit, and will support Russian companies that wish to list on the London Stock Exchange.

“The fact that we have been able to sign such an agreement is testament to the strides taken by the Russian Federal Commission for the Securities Market to develop an effective regulatory system in the field of securities.

“The Federal Commission, headed by Dmitry Vasiliev, has taken a lead in Russia in defending the rights of investors and establishing the duties required of market participants. I look forward to the continuation of good relations between the UK and Russian regulatory authorities.”

22/12/2022
HISTORIC PRESS RELEASE : Chancellor Gordon Brown Launches a Better Deal for Working Parents [September 1999]

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 7 September 1999.

The biggest shake-up of the tax and benefits system since Beveridge began today, as a major £12m advertising campaign was launched by Prime Minister Tony Blair and Chancellor Gordon Brown to promote the Working Families’ Tax Credit (WFTC) – a better deal for working parents.

WFTC, which replaces Family Credit and comes into effect on 5 October, will help 1.5 million families, including 3 million children, by providing a decent, living wage along with generous help with childcare costs. The advertising campaign encourages people to ring a freephone response line – 0800 597 5976 – to see how they’ll benefit.

WFTC will ensure that, from now on, a life in work will mean more than a life on benefits.

Gordon Brown said:

“The launch of the Working Families Tax Credit means the Government is not only integrating tax and benefits for the first time to tackle the causes of poverty but fulfilling an essential commitment of welfare reform – to make work pay. Our aim is that work will pay more that benefits. Working families will no longer need to apply to the social security office to take home a living income. And everyone benefits. The more people in work the less is paid out in social security, the better are the tax revenues and our ability to finance public services.

“On average the 1.5 million families receiving WFTC will get £24 a week more than they would have received under the old system. Around 3 million children will benefit.

“Our aim is to abolish family poverty for every family on WFTC, and ensure that every child has the best start in life.

“The WFTC marks a major landmark, not just in the reform of the tax system, linking tax and benefits but in welfare reform.”

The advertising campaign, which begins tomorrow, features a series of television and press adverts alerting people to eligibility for WFTC, providing information on how much they might be eligible for, and encouraging them to ring a freephone response line to get more information. The number is 0800 597 5976, and is open from 7am until 11pm.

The campaign, produced by St Lukes advertising agency, uses the concept of advocates – people we come into contact with everyday, such as lollypop ladies and ice cream sellers – to encourage information about WFTC to be passed on to the public.

22/12/2022
HISTORIC PRESS RELEASE : Chancellor Gordon Brown Launches a Better Deal for Working Parents [September 1999]

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 7 September 1999.

The biggest shake-up of the tax and benefits system since Beveridge began today, as a major £12m advertising campaign was launched by Prime Minister Tony Blair and Chancellor Gordon Brown to promote the Working Families’ Tax Credit (WFTC) – a better deal for working parents.

WFTC, which replaces Family Credit and comes into effect on 5 October, will help 1.5 million families, including 3 million children, by providing a decent, living wage along with generous help with childcare costs. The advertising campaign encourages people to ring a freephone response line – 0800 597 5976 – to see how they’ll benefit.

WFTC will ensure that, from now on, a life in work will mean more than a life on benefits.

Gordon Brown said:

“The launch of the Working Families Tax Credit means the Government is not only integrating tax and benefits for the first time to tackle the causes of poverty but fulfilling an essential commitment of welfare reform – to make work pay. Our aim is that work will pay more that benefits. Working families will no longer need to apply to the social security office to take home a living income. And everyone benefits. The more people in work the less is paid out in social security, the better are the tax revenues and our ability to finance public services.

“On average the 1.5 million families receiving WFTC will get £24 a week more than they would have received under the old system. Around 3 million children will benefit.

“Our aim is to abolish family poverty for every family on WFTC, and ensure that every child has the best start in life.

“The WFTC marks a major landmark, not just in the reform of the tax system, linking tax and benefits but in welfare reform.”

The advertising campaign, which begins tomorrow, features a series of television and press adverts alerting people to eligibility for WFTC, providing information on how much they might be eligible for, and encouraging them to ring a freephone response line to get more information. The number is 0800 597 5976, and is open from 7am until 11pm.

The campaign, produced by St Lukes advertising agency, uses the concept of advocates – people we come into contact with everyday, such as lollypop ladies and ice cream sellers – to encourage information about WFTC to be passed on to the public.

22/12/2022
HISTORIC PRESS RELEASE : Get on the Jobs Highway: Chancellor Gordon Brown and Employment Minister Andrew Smith Announces £18 Million to provide Job Matching Services on the Internet [September 1999]
The press release issued by HM Treasury on 6 September 1999.

Gordon Brown and Andrew Smith Announce £18 Million to provide Job Matching Services on the Internet

A new hi-tech £18 million scheme to link workers without jobs to jobs without workers has been announced today by the Chancellor Gordon Brown and Employment Minister Andrew Smith.

The new scheme will allow job seekers to browse the internet through terminals in Jobcentres, personal computers in homes, libraries, colleges and community centres as well as a ‘jobs’ channel on digital TV. The internet-based system will also list information on job seekers.

Announcing the scheme the Chancellor said:

“Since May 1997 over 400,000 jobs have been created and unemployment is now the lowest for 20 years. But the jobs market must work better.

“The next step is to improve the links between the jobs that need workers to the workers that need jobs. That is exactly what this new system aims to do. We are creating a jobs highway where job seekers will be able to see, at anytime and anywhere, what jobs are on offer.

“There can be no excuse for staying at home on benefit and not taking jobs on offer.”

David Blunkett, the Secretary of State for Education and Employment welcomed the new funding and said:

“This is excellent news. Modern IT facilities have a major role to play in backing up our drive to get people off welfare and into work. The new service is the shape of things to come, with easy access, tailored data provision and a two-way search process involving employers, as well as jobseekers.

The Employment Minister Andrew Smith said:

“Looking for work requires proper support from the Employment Service but also initiative on the part of those who are unemployed. Both of these will be made easier by the new on-line job-matching service.”

The benefits of the new system will be:
- for those seeking work, a jobs bank with a comprehensive list of current vacancies. It will also include links to non-Employment service websites to give widespread coverage;
- for employers, a CV bank containing data on those currently seeking work; and
- a search engine, which will allow job seekers to browse for jobs anytime and anywhere – not just in Jobcentres but also from personal computers at home, via a jobs channel on digital TV or at access points in colleges, libraries and community centres.
The new service is designed to enhance the effectiveness of the Welfare to Work initiative by expanding the choice available to young people and the long term unemployed who generally have less access to information on jobs available.

The £18 million investment has been provided through the Capital Modernisation Fund and will be delivered by the Employment Service. It will be used to develop the software for and delivery of an IT internet-based vacancy and CV service (£12 million) and to test different types of access equipment for clients to use (£6 million).
22/12/2022
PRESS RELEASE : Holiday help – Holiday activity clubs continue in 2023 [December 2022]

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 22 December 2022.

Government confirms funding for Holiday Activities and Food programme for 2023, supporting hundreds of thousands of children from low-income families.

Hundreds of thousands of children across England will continue to access free, nutritious food and engaging activities over the school holidays, as the Government today (22nd December) confirms £200m to fund the Holiday Activities and Food Programme throughout 2023.

These free holiday clubs run across England, supporting parents with childcare costs over the Christmas, Easter and summer holidays by providing free, nutritious meals and enriching activities, such as football, play sessions and cooking classes. New figures out today show that around 600,000 children benefitted from the scheme over summer 2022 across over 8,000 clubs, events or organised activities in England.

To continue supporting families most in need, the Government has confirmed over £200m in funding for local authorities for the programme in 2023, enabling every local authority across England to continue to provide for their communities.

Speaking at a Holiday Activities and Food club in Guildford today, Education Secretary, Gillian Keegan, said:

Giving children access to nutritious meals and fun, enriching activities over the holidays supports children’s mental, physical and social development and offers them opportunities that they may otherwise not have, whilst helping parents who may not be able to afford similar childcare.

It’s fantastic to see that over half a million children benefitted from the programme over the summer, and I’m delighted to announce the continuation of the programme into 2023.

The Government’s Holiday Activities and Food programme started as a pilot in 2018. It was created in response to the pressures that low-income families can face over the holidays, with some children being less likely to access organised out-of-school activities, and more likely to experience social isolation and ‘unhealthy holidays’ in terms of nutrition and physical health.

It provides for school-aged children from reception to year 11 who receive benefits related free school meals and is available for local authorities to fund clubs over summer, Easter and Christmas breaks.

Evidence suggests that attending holiday clubs can have a positive impact on children’s attainment, health and wellbeing. This is especially true of clubs that provide enrichment activities as well as meals – and that involve children and parents in preparing healthy food.

The continuation of the Holiday Activities and Food programme is part of the Government’s commitment to support vulnerable families with rising costs due to global inflationary pressures, particularly in disadvantaged areas. This programme runs alongside the Household Support Fund which supports vulnerable households through small payments for food, clothing, and utilities. The fund has recently been extended to 30th March 2024 with an additional £1 billion to be used by used by local authorities to support vulnerable households.

22/12/2022
PRESS RELEASE : Putin cannot distract from his failures – UK statement to the OSCE [December 2022]

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 22 December 2022.

Deputy Ambassador Deirdre Brown condemns President Putin’s disastrous invasion and the devastation, death, and suffering that Putin has wrought.

Thank you, Mr Chair. Welcome Mr Lukashuk, you have our support and admiration. This Tuesday marked the 300th day of Russia’s unprovoked and illegal invasion of Ukraine, supported by the Belarusian regime. Over these past 300 days, President Putin’s so-called ‘Special Military Operation’ has yet to achieve even one of its perverse objectives. This, despite Putin believing his military could take Kyiv in three days, and despite his claims he had no intentions to invade his peaceful neighbour.

Putin’s failed invasion has been a disaster, resulting in the decimation of the Russian military and economy and the loss of tens of thousands of Russian lives. Its impact has also been felt around the world, with Russia’s actions threatening global food and energy security and generating economic instability in countries thousands of miles from Moscow. This, however, pales by comparison to the devastation, death, and suffering that Putin has wrought on the Ukrainian people and their sovereign country.

Since this Council last met, Russia has again resorted to its cowardly tactic of bombing Ukraine’s critical national infrastructure, targeting the basic needs essential for the survival of Ukraine’s population. Last Friday, critical infrastructure across Ukraine, including in the cities of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Kryvyi Rih and Zaporhizhzhia was targeted, once again leaving millions of Ukrainians without heat, electricity and running water in the dead of winter.

Last Friday, Maksym – a seven-year-old boy from Kryvyi Rih – was orphaned when his parents Lyudmila and Oleksandr, along with his 18-month-old brother, Timofey, were killed when a Russian missile directly hit their home. It is hard to argue that an apartment building, the home of two little boys, could be a legitimate military target for Russian missiles. Maksym will be facing this, and every future Christmas season, without his family, his life needlessly ripped apart by Russia’s horrific actions. His heart-breaking story is one of far too many across Ukraine.

Ukrainian children want nothing more than to live their lives in peace and freedom, with their families and friends around them, where they are not afraid of bombs falling from the sky, or forced to grow up in the shadow of a regime that seeks to destroy their very identity. According to UNICEF, Russia’s attacks on civilians and critical infrastructure have left almost every child in Ukraine at risk, facing a cold, dark winter with both their physical and long term mental health endangered.

Those in the temporarily Russia-controlled areas are suffering just as deeply, with the situation in these regions deteriorating daily. Lack of access to basic services, including safe water, and energy supply for heating, light and communication is endangering public health, already under strain from the lack of adequate healthcare. As local economies decline and unemployment rises, many in these areas continue to rely on humanitarian aid for survival – access to which is often hampered by the Russian authorities. Putin falsely claims that these areas are part of Russia – yet, its proxy administrations are not even able to provide basic services; on the contrary there are widespread reports of theft and looting by the Russian forces and those who claim to be in charge.

300 days since the invasion, there are no more lies Putin can hide behind to distract from his failures. The scale of reported atrocities and war crimes committed against the Ukrainian people is horrifying, and evidence continues to mount. The UK, and Ukraine’s partners, will not sit by and do nothing whilst more Ukrainian families suffer. This Monday, whilst meeting with some of Ukraine’s closest friends and allies, my Prime Minister pledged to match or exceed the £2.3bn in aid for Ukraine that we provided this year. He also committed to supply Ukraine with ammunition and equipment to continue its defence, reinforcing our steadfast support into 2023.

As we have stated many, many times – Putin has the ability to end this war. He must immediately cease attacks against civilians and civilian objects and withdraw his troops from Ukraine in adherence with the UN charter. But, until that happens, please know Mr Lukashuk, dear Viktoria, and colleagues here, that the UK and the international community will remain steadfast in our support – for however long it takes – to ensure that the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the independence of Ukraine is fully restored.

22/12/2022
Stephen Timms – 1999 Speech at the Asian Business Development Forum Conference
The speech made by Stephen Timms, the then Financial Secretary to the Treasury, in Leeds on 29 October 1999.

I am grateful to you for your kindness in both inviting me and welcoming me here tonight. Tonight I want to say a few words about our aspirations for the British economy in the next century.

Modern and decent
1. But let me first put this in the context of the wider aims of our Government over the last two years. What we have embarked on is a twenty year programme to build a new Britain which will be modern and decent. Both of those things at the same time.
2. Modern Britain will have an economy where the vital new stability has been locked in for good, beyond our past decades long record of boom and bust. We want thriving knowledge-based firms exploiting the know how, creativity and expertise of British people. We want to create the best environment in the world for electronic commerce. Higher levels of investment, in information technology, in infrastructure, in skills. Higher levels of productivity to catch up after decades with our competitors. We’ll have higher standards at school, have harnessed the potential of further and higher education, and provide high quality opportunities for our young people. As individuals and collectively we shall have confidence in the future.
3. Decent Britain will be an inclusive society where everyone has the chance to play their full part. Over the twenty year period, child poverty will be eradicated. There will be help for those trapped on benefits or in poor housing or without a job, and those unable to work through disability or through caring for somebody else. We’ll have a health service which people will have confidence in. There will be decent standards for those at work. We’ll confront crime, anti-social behaviour and drug taking which cast a shadow over too many young lives. We want to entrench decent values – society pulling together, and with rights matched by responsibilities.
4. So modern and decent – that’s where we want to be in the years ahead.
The Business Community
1. We want a thriving business community in Britain. Our enemy today is not competition – it is cartels. It is not profits – it is privilege. It is not markets – it is monopoly. We want to see more enterprise. More competition and more innovation too. We know – and you know too – that companies, indeed countries which fail to adapt, reform and lead get left behind.
2. The businesses represented in this room have learnt that lesson.
3. Businesses from the Asian community contribute £8 billion each and every year to the British economy. More importantly in my view, you epitomise the spirit of enterprise and the determination to succeed that is so vital if the British economy is to lead the way in the next century.
4. I’ve seen this from close quarters. Green Street in East London marks the boundary of my constituency. 35 years ago when Ahmed Din, the first Asian trader opened his shop there, it was a drab and declining inner city shopping street. Today, I claim it is the most successful Asian shopping street in the country. It is a vibrant and exciting place, attracting shoppers from all over the UK and continental Europe, and it has been the determination, vision and commitment of Asian entrepreneurs in East London which has brought the transformation about.
5. We – Government and businesses together – face a profound challenge in this country of ours. How to create a high investment, high productivity and high employment economy.
Stability
1. We start with stability. It is the precondition of success in the modern global economy. That’s why our first priority when we came to office was moving from the violent cycles of stop go that we had seen too often in the past, to an economy capable of sustained and steady growth.
2. Now – 2 years later – with the Bank of England independent and the lowest interest rates and mortgages in decades, it is now clear that we have steered a course for stability in what have been troubled times for the world economy. The British economy is growing. Inflation is low and set to remain low. The public finances are under control. Employment is up by over 600,000 since the election. We have a record number of people in work and a record number of job vacancies too.
3. So what we can rightly say now is that for the first time in a generation we have the prospect of sustained economic stability in Britain. But that is not enough. Our task now is to use this platform of stability to do what no government has tried to do before – to work with business in taking an unashamedly long term view about modernising the British economy.
Modernisation
1. We will do so in five ways.
2. First, modernisation requires nothing less than a skills revolution. In today’s world it is no longer access to financial resources – capital – or to physical resources – iron and steel – that make or break a country.
3. Now – as never before – our key asset is our human resources – it is labour that counts. Now on the verge of a new century, the challenge for government and business working together is to equip all of our people to succeed in the new knowledge economy.
4. Hence our emphasis on education. The investment we are making not just in our schools, but in our colleges and universities too. In this new information age education can no longer end at the school gate. Lifelong learning is the only way in the modern world to keep Britain one step ahead of the rest.
5. Second, modernisation means encouraging innovation and invention. That’s why last year we put an extra £1 billion into university science. And it’s why next year we’ll introduce a new tax cut for R&D that will become one of the best incentives for innovation anywhere in the industrialised world.
6. It will help British companies to turn new British ideas into new British innovations, new British innovations into new British products and new British products into new British jobs.
7. Third, we need more and better investment. For decades the UK has invested less than our competitors.
8. We know in particular that businesses – if they are to grow- need help with investment. That is why the Treasury with Don Cruickshank, former head of Oftel, is working with the banks to look at how they might more effectively provide support, especially to smaller firms.
9. Fourth, modernisation means a new emphasis on enterprise. Companies create wealth not governments. But what governments do or do not do can help or hinder that process. This Government wants to see a new culture of enterprise in Britain – where we have more people starting their own business, having a go, taking risks.
10. Here the Asian community provides an example to the rest of Britain. The Asian community has placed real value and respect on entrepreneurship which has helped Asians to become a driving force particularly in small business development in Britain. Ethnic minorities, of which the Asian community forms a large part, account for twice as many business start-ups as their share of the population. And, as some of my fellow guests here tonight will testify, a number of these small businesses have been built up into some of largest companies in Britain today.
11. We know that in the future jobs growth will come from a large number of small firms rather than a small number of large firms. That is why we have cut the rate of corporation tax to the lowest rate in our history, in Europe and in any major industrialised country so that those who create wealth keep more of it to reinvest in growth and jobs.
12. That brings me to the fifth and final way that we are seeking to tackle the modernisation challenge our country faces: through a modern employment policy. One that matches rights with responsibilities. One that provides new opportunities for work. And one that through a reformed tax and benefit system makes work pay.
13. When we came into office, four and a half million adults lived in households where nobody worked, double the level of 20 years ago.
14. Nearly one in five children were growing up in households where no-one is working, twice the rate of France and four times the rate of Germany.
15. And the reason that this issue of unemployment poses a massive challenge is that it is now the primary cause of poverty.
16. 20 years ago, pensioners made up the largest section of those in poverty, today it is those living in workless, working age households.
17. Simply compensating people for their poverty through benefits is not enough. The task must be to deal with the causes of poverty. And the best form of welfare is work.
18. Our strategy has been to tackle the barriers that people face to getting into work – the lack of employment, the unemployment and poverty traps, the absence of necessary skills, even the absence of child care.
19. Under the old system the tax system set a personal allowance that failed to ensure that work paid, and also made thousands pay tax even as they claimed benefits.
20. In the new tax system working families will be guaranteed a minimum income, so that in future no-one in work should have to go to the benefits office to receive a living wage.
21. These then are our radical approaches to modernising our economy. Our objectives are two-fold – to build an enterprise economy and a fair society. The two go together. All too often in the past they were viewed as antagonistic even irreconcilable objectives. That is not this Government’s view. Rather we believe that the one relies on the other. An enterprise economy is the route to jobs and prosperity. And a fair society where there are opportunities for all will help make our economy more competitive and productive. That means building an inclusive society where not only are there opportunities for all – regardless of class, of gender, or of race – but where success depends on merit and merit alone. Our ambition is to widen the winners circle in Britain. That is what modernisation means for our country.
22. We want to see a Britain where there is economic stability; a Britain which is business-friendly; a Britain where public and private sectors, instead of working against one another, work with each other to create greater enterprise and greater fairness.
23. The Government will play its part in modernising Britain so that we can be a leader in the knowledge economy.
24. But so too must British business. Our challenge to business is this. Work with us. Use not just the skills of a few in your workforce, but invest in training and new technology for the many. Overcome with the Trade Unions the culture of us and them that can have no place in a modern knowledge-based economy that relies on the skills of the many not the few.
25. The challenges are enormous but if we work together the prize is an enormous one too – a modern economy fit for the future, ready to offer employment opportunity and greater prosperity for all our people in the years ahead. It is a challenge that together we can meet.
22/12/2022
HISTORIC PRESS RELEASE : Treasury publishes Public Sector Comparators Guidance on Private Finance Initiative (PFI) Deals [October 1999]

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 29 October 1999.

The Treasury today published guidance on how to assess the long term cost of Private Finance Initiative bids against the estimated cost of alternative services managed by the public sector.

The guidance sets out how the long term cost of PFI bids should be compared with the estimated cost of alternative services managed by the public sector and assuming the use of public sector capital investment.

Welcoming publication of Technical Note 5 “How to construct a Public Sector Comparator” Andrew Smith, Chief Secretary to the Treasury said:

“The new guidance will provide consistency and clarity for everyone involved in the development of schemes to improve front line public services.

“The Government’s purpose in using the PFI route is to improve public services in ways that offer value for money. Where PFI is unlikely to achieve these aims, services will be provided by direct capital investment. The new guidance will ensure greater rigour and consistency in decisions about whether to use PFI.

“Public sector comparators alone are not the basis for assessing value for money. The National Audit Office has always made it clear that PFI deals require a systematic evaluation of all the likely benefits and costs and I recognise their reports on early PFI transactions have helped to clarify the issues on which such guidance was needed.”

Mr Smith said that there were many benefits arising from the use of PFI deals and gave a number of examples. In a hospital, this could include the considerably faster delivery of modern facilities, on a single site, allowing NHS management to focus on the quality clinical services. Similarly in schools, parents would favour the benefits of teachers concentrating on raising educational standards without the distractions of inadequately maintained buildings and the disruption of winter boiler failures.

The new guidance reflects the intensive consultation with departments PFI contractors and the National Audit Office, whose reports on early PFI transaction helped clarify the issues on which such guidance was needed.

22/12/2022
HISTORIC PRESS RELEASE : Chancellor Gordon Brown announces seven point plan for UK to lead Internet Revolution [October 1999]

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 28 October 1999.

A seven point plan for Britain to lead the next stage of the Internet revolution was put forward today by the Chancellor Gordon Brown at the UK Internet Summit in London.

Building on his proposal to widen access to the Internet to poorer households the Chancellor said that Britain’s strengths in language, communications, education and innovation made Britain a potential world leader in the next stage. Mr Brown outlined the building blocks for Britain winning.

The seven points are:

*Greater economic stability.

The Chancellor said:

“The precondition for all else is, of course, macroeconomic stability so that businesses and individuals are able to plan for the long term.

“I believe that Britain now has a sound and credible platform of stability for which to achieve steady growth.”

*A more competitive environment, including a new Competition Authority

“This Government is reviewing every barrier to competition in the emerging e-commerce market. …In every area we are asking what we can do to enhance competition.

“We must ensure that the price of telephone use is not a barrier to greater Internet use, or lead to a divide between IT-haves and IT-have nots.

* The right legislative framework for e-commerce

“The Internet economy needs the right legislative framework for electronic commerce. We are determined to advance the Internet not just by implementing the best British legal framework but also by pushing for the best European framework to encourage competition, innovation and e-commerce.”

* Fourth, fostering innovation

“The Internet economy will need higher levels of private investment – not least in university science and commercial R&D, and in hi-tech start ups and skills.

“Corporate venturing has been vital in Silicon Valley and elsewhere – providing smaller high tech firms with a strong capital base, better skills and in marketing and management, and a greater market-reach. So, to help the large companies sponsor the development of the small, we are considering new incentives to promote corporate venturing.”

* Fifth, transforming education

“Success in the Internet age depends upon an educated economy. The extra £19 billion our country is now investing in education is designed to give everyone the opportunity to master the skills and technologies of the new information age.

“Next year we will double the money on IT in schools. We can now promise that by 2002 every school – rural and urban, rich and poor, north and south – all of our schools connected to that new world of knowledge. And parts of the National Curriculum will be taught through software accessed on the Internet, motivating all pupils.”

* Sixth, widening access for all

“We must make sure that the opportunities of new technologies are shared by everyone.

“We could have a society divided between information haves and information have nots. A society with a wired up superclass and an information underclass…. But the blessings of new technology give us the means to break down the walls of division, and the barriers of isolation.

“…in the new economy the more individual talent we nurture the more economic growth and prosperity we will achieve.”

* Seventh – modernising government – a public sector willing to innovate

“Businesses and individuals are responding to new technologies and the new challenges of the Internet age. Government must do the same.
“So we are restructuring our public services, from taxation to procurement, from health to our legal systems – organising government in new, innovative and more flexible ways.”

22/12/2022
Jacob Rees-Mogg – 2022 Comments on Report that Suggested Brexit Reduced UK Growth

Comments made by Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Conservative MP for North East Somerset, in the Daily Express on 22 December 2022.

In a report gullibly swallowed by the remainiacs it models what would have happened to the UK economy had it remained in the European Union. It calls this a “doppelganger” method. Inevitably for such an organisation it produces a negative result. However, its methodology is not only flawed but absurd.

Buried in the text is the admission that “the doppelganger grew a little faster than the UK before 2009” – an admission which makes the whole exercise valueless.

Even more preposterously it claims that Brexit has a cost that existed even when the UK was in the EU. If our economy grew less quickly than it ought to have done when we were in why is Brexit responsible for our current level of growth?

22/12/2022