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PRESS RELEASE : Water companies face new penalties up to £250million [October 2022]

The press release issued by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 3 October 2022.

The Environment Secretary has today (3 October) announced that he will bring forward proposals to raise the civil penalty for water companies who pollute the environment by 1,000-fold – from £250,000 to up to £250 million.

The move comes as part of the government’s ongoing action to push for water companies to invest more in infrastructure that will minimise pollution incidents and secure our water supply for future generations. Last year there were 62 serious pollution incidents by water companies – up from 44 in 2020.

At present, if water companies fail to uphold the law or cause environmental harm, the Environment Agency (EA) can pursue both criminal and civil prosecutions as part of their enforcement regime.

Whilst fines handed out by the courts through criminal prosecutions are unlimited, these can be a lengthy and costly process. Using civil sanctions – Variable Monetary Penalties (VMPs) – which can be imposed directly by the EA rather than the courts can offer a quicker method of enforcement.

VMPs can be issued for more serious offences, including when there is evidence of negligence or mismanagement or when there is an environmental impact.

However, the current limit for VMPs handed out by the EA for individual breaches of the rules is £250,000. Increasing the cap for fines up to £250 million will simplify and speed up the process of enforcement by allowing the EA to directly hand out penalties to water companies.

Last month the Environment Secretary asked water companies to write to him, setting out their plans for improving environmental performance and infrastructure. Responses have been received from all water companies and are currently being scrutinised as part of the ongoing work by the government, the Environment Agency and the regulator Ofwat to drive up water companies’ performance and increase accountability. We are clear that water companies should urgently look at opportunities to accelerate infrastructure delivery.

Environment Secretary Ranil Jayawardena said:

I have been clear that if water companies don’t do what is expected, there will be consequences. Bigger financial penalties will act as a greater deterrent and push water companies to do more, and faster, when it comes to investing in infrastructure and improving the quality of our water.

This 1,000-fold increase sends a clear signal that we want clean rivers and coastlines, and that the duty falls to the water companies to deliver – the polluter must pay.

Environment Agency Chief Executive Sir James Bevan said:

Since 2015 the Environment Agency’s criminal prosecutions against water companies have secured fines of over £138 million – with a record £90 million fine handed out to Southern Water for corporate environmental crime.

However, criminal prosecutions can be lengthy and costly, so we welcome today’s proposals which will make it easier for us to hold water companies to account for environmental crimes.

We will now work closely with government to put this plan into action.

Today’s proposal will be subject to consultation.

It builds on the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan, published at the end of August, which brought in the strictest targets on sewage pollution and requires water companies to deliver their largest ever infrastructure investment – £56 billion capital investment over 25 years.

03/10/2022
PRESS RELEASE : Joint statement by Ministers of the Joint Expeditionary Force [October 2022]

The press release issued by the Ministry of Defence on 3 October 2022.

Following the deliberate damage caused to the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea, today Defence Ministers of the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) met virtually to share assessments of the blatant and irresponsible attacks against critical civilian infrastructure.

The JEF condemns in the strongest terms the reckless sabotage in the Baltic Sea. It is discussing security responses, including increased maritime presence and Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance activities. It will seek to deter further such acts, reassure allies and demonstrate collective commitment to the security and stability of the region. Ministers discussed increasing shared intelligence assessments to ensure common situational awareness, as well as cooperation to secure critical infrastructure. The JEF will ensure complementarity, alignment and transparency with NATO as well as the investigation led by Danish, Swedish and German authorities.

The JEF is a group of like-minded nations – Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom. The nations share the same purpose, values and a common focus on security and stability in the JEF core regions of the High North, North Atlantic and Baltic Sea region. The JEF provides a responsive, capable, and ready military force that undertakes integrated activities at sea, on land and in the air, across northern Europe. These activities are preventative and proportionate and demonstrate solidarity, capability, and resolve to stand together for security and stability in the JEF core regions.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace added:

In this period of heightened concern for all like-minded partner nations, it is right that we act with speed, agility and collective resolve to actively demonstrate our shared commitment to mutual security.

03/10/2022
PRESS RELEASE : Site of UK’s first fusion energy plant selected [October 2022]

The press release issued by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on 3 October 2022.

Today (3 October 2022), the government announced that the West Burton power station site in Nottinghamshire has been selected as the home for ‘STEP’ (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production), the UK’s prototype fusion energy plant which aims to be built by 2040.

Fusion is based on the same physical reactions that power the sun and stars, and is the process by which 2 light atomic nuclei combine while releasing large amounts of energy. This technology has significant potential to deliver safe, sustainable, low carbon energy for future generations.

The government-backed STEP programme will create thousands of highly skilled jobs during construction and operations, as well as attracting other high tech industries to the region, and furthering the development of science and technology capabilities nationally.

The ambitious programme will also commit immediately to the development of apprenticeship schemes in the region, building on the success of the UK Atomic Energy Authority’s (UKAEA) Oxfordshire Advanced Skills centre in Culham. Conversations with local providers and employers have already begun, with schemes to start as soon as possible.

The UK government is providing £220 million of funding for the first phase of STEP, which will see the UK Atomic Energy Authority produce a concept design by 2024.

03/10/2022
PRESS RELEASE : UK summons Iranian Chargé d’Affaires following worsening crackdowns on protests [October 2022]

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 3 October 2022.

The Foreign Secretary instructed the FCDO to summon Mehdi Hosseini Matin, Iran’s most senior diplomat in the UK, over the Iranian authorities’ violent crackdown on protests following the death of Mahsa Amini.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said:

The violence levelled at protestors in Iran by the security forces is truly shocking.

Today we have made our view clear to the Iranian authorities – instead of blaming external actors for the unrest, they should take responsibility for their actions and listen to the concerns of their people.

We will continue to work with our partners to hold the Iranian authorities to account for their flagrant human rights violations.

Vijay Rangarajan, Director General for the Middle East, held the meeting with Matin and reiterated the UK’s call for a full and transparent investigation into death of Mahsa Amini.

He urged the Iranian authorities to respect the right to peaceful assembly, exercise restraint and release unfairly detained protesters, and outlined the UK’s concern at reports of live ammunition being used at Sharif University.

03/10/2022
PRESS RELEASE : Over eight million households to receive second Cost of Living Payment from 8 November [October 2022]
The press release issued by the Treasury on 3 October 2022.
- The £324 Cost of Living Payment, which follows on from a £326 payment made from July, is part of £1,200 support package for millions this year
- The £150 Disability Cost of Living Payment was provided in September, with a £300 additional pensioner payment to come in the Winter
Millions of households across the UK will receive a £324 cost of living cash boost by the 23 of November.

The government has today announced that households receiving DWP benefits will receive the second part of the £650 Cost of Living Payment from 8 November and continuing through to the 23 November.

Over 8 million families have already received the first Cost of Living Payment, worth £326, which was sent out from 14 July this year.

The second payment will automatically be paid into the bank accounts of those eligible in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland who receive a qualifying benefit, meaning they will not need to do anything to receive the money.

Work and Pensions Secretary, Chloe Smith said:

Millions of families will soon see a £324 cash boost as part of our extensive £1,200 support package, helping to raise incomes and manage the rising cost of living.

We understand that people are struggling which is why and we’re committed to supporting the most vulnerable households. That’s also why we are focused on driving growth and delivering quality public services so we can continue to support those in need through these challenging times while boosting opportunity for all.

Chancellor of the Exchequer, Kwasi Kwarteng added:

We know that people have been worried about their bills ahead of this winter, which is why we’ve taken decisive action to hold down energy bills, saving the average household around £1,000 a year, and provided £1,200 of targeted support to the most vulnerable.

Without our intervention, analysts were predicting that the average annual energy bill could have reached £6,500 next year. We were never going to let this happen.

Our Growth Plan will also leave more money in people’s pockets and, over the longer term, help drive economic growth – the only way to permanently boost everyone’s living standards.

The DWP will pay a small number of payments on the 8 November, with numbers increasing significantly from the 9 November. Even if you are not on a qualifying DWP benefit you may still be eligible for the £324 payment as HMRC are also making payments to those who receive tax credits and no other eligible benefits. These will be paid shortly after DWP payments and customers do not need to contact the government or apply for the payment at any stage.

This payment comes on top of extensive government support with the cost of living this winter, including around 6 million disabled people having been paid a separate £150 Disability Cost of Living Payment, whilst over 8 million pensioner households will receive an extra one-off £300 Winter Fuel Payment this year. This is in addition to an extension to the Household Support Fund, which is providing an extra £421 million for use between October and March to help vulnerable people with the essentials.

As well as this, a £150 Council Tax rebate was sent earlier this year to those in Council Tax bands A to D in England, creating a total of at least £1,200 in direct support for millions. A £400 reduction on energy bills is also being given to all domestic electricity customers over the coming months, and a new ‘Energy Price Guarantee’, which means from 1 October the average UK household will save at least £1,000 a year based on current energy prices.
03/10/2022
PRESS RELEASE : £60 million fund to boost investment and access to sport and culture in the West Midlands [October 2022]

The press release issued by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on 3 October 2022.

The UK government will invest around £60 million of underspend from the Birmingham 2022 budget in the West Midlands to enhance the legacy of the brilliant Commonwealth Games hosted earlier this year. The fund will aim to increase access to sport and culture, boost the West Midlands’s reputation as a world-class host for major events and drive inward investment and tourism.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) will work with the West Midlands Combined Authority and Birmingham City Council to capitalise on the success of the Games and help more people engage with sport and culture in the region.

The funding will also be allocated to boost inward business investment and tourism and help drive further economic growth in the West Midlands.

The Commonwealth Games was backed by £778 million of public funding, providing the West Midlands with a refurbished athletics stadium in Perry Barr and a brand-new aquatics centre in Smethwick. Alongside these world-class venues, the £60 million investment will support the region’s ambition to host future major events.

This investment builds on existing legacy programmes already being rolled out. In partnership with DCMS, Sport England will continue to boost access to sport through a Birmingham 2022 kit giveaway. 16,000 items from basketballs to bibs will be gifted to West Midlands community groups in the coming months.

Birmingham 2022 was the fairest, greenest and fastest Commonwealth Games ever, delivered in four and a half years, rather than the seven that normally happens for a Games, and committed to a carbon neutral legacy. As well as having the biggest ever para-sport programme, the Games also awarded women with more medals than men. Birmingham 2022’s 11 days of sport was complemented by a 6-month cultural festival and the first ever Games-accredited business and tourism programme.

Birmingham 2022 was the best-selling Commonwealth Games to be held in the UK with over 1.5 million tickets sold, and the most watched Games on the BBC’s digital platforms with 57.1 million streams.

03/10/2022
PRESS RELEASE : Scottish Secretary attends Dunfermline ceremony to mark new city status [October 2022]

The press release issued by the Scottish Office on 3 October 2022.

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack has taken part in an event to mark Dunfermline officially becoming a city, after the new status was awarded as part of the late Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

Their Majesties King Charles III and the Queen Consort visited the former town for a ceremony to hand over the Papers Patent, which officially confirms Dunfermline as Scotland’s eighth city.

Inside the City Chambers, King Charles III presented the official documents to Provost of Fife, Councillor Jim Leishman, in front of an audience of invited guests.

Speaking ahead of the event, Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said:

Being awarded city status represents a very special moment for Dunfermline and its community.

It is particularly poignant, and a true honour, that Their Majesties King Charles III and the Queen Consort will be present at the event, marking their first official engagement since the end of formal Royal mourning.

This Royal ceremony heralds an exciting new chapter in Dunfermline’s history, and I am delighted to attend and celebrate this wonderful city’s rich heritage and promising future.

03/10/2022
PRESS RELEASE : Responsible space behaviours – the UK commits not to destructively test direct ascent anti-satellite missiles [October 2022]

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 3 October 2022.

UK government statement on responsible space behaviours:

The UK has today, 3 October, announced that it commits not to destructively test direct ascent anti-satellite (DA-ASAT) missiles, as part of the UK’s enduring efforts to promote responsible space behaviours.

Space has a vital role for global prosperity, development and security. Space systems have become integrated into global infrastructure upon which modern life depends.

The destructive testing of DA-ASAT missiles can create dangerous space debris, which threatens the functioning of these systems and can put at risk those who explore space, as well as being potentially destabilising.

Given our increasing security and socio-economic reliance on space, we believe that destructive testing of direct ascent anti-satellite missiles can be conclusively regarded as irresponsible.

DA ASAT missile testing is one of a number of threats to space systems. Several countries already possess a broad range of counter-space capabilities that can threaten all segments of space systems – on the ground, in space and the signals between them.

The UK is leading the international debate at the United Nations to tackle space threats. A UK-sponsored resolution on 30 December 2021 (A/RES/76/231), established an open-ended working group (OEWG) make recommendations on norms, rules and principles of responsible behaviours relating to threats by States to space systems. The UK is actively participating in the OEWG, which will conclude its work in August 2023.

03/10/2022
Michelle Donelan – 2022 Speech to Conservative Party Conference

The speech made by Michelle Donelan, the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport in Birmingham on 3 October 2022.

Thank you Conference,

It is an honour to be here as the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport working with such a fantastic team of ministers and back in Birmingham which this year became the second biggest tech city in the UK outside London. It is also a city that encapsulates every aspect of what I will deliver. Whether it is promoting British sporting excellence on the world stage by hosting the Commonwealth Games or helping to fuel our tech industry in the West Midlands, where an extra 52,000 new tech jobs will exist by 2025.This success is being seen across the country and will be turbo charged under the boldest Conservative government we have seen for a generation.

And I will be ensuring my department is at the heart of this as a true engine of growth in the UK. And while the areas we cover at DCMS may seem at opposite ends of the policy spectrum, actually, my priorities in all of these areas boil down to a few common sense goals. In everything we do, I want us to create, connect and protect. Create more highly paid tech, digital and creative jobs that will provide genuine opportunities for you and your children – this will be the beating heart of our mission to grow the economy. I will also work to connect communities up and down the country to better deliver broadband, phone signal and 5G. It is fundamentally wrong that in today’s age people living in rural homes can still struggle to get a phone signal to call their loved ones, this is going to change.

And finally, I will protect our children, our values and our history. That is why I am coming forward with strong, common sense, conservative, solutions that deliver on these priorities.

And at the heart of everything I do, making people’s lives better by driving up economic growth will be my priority. But to create jobs, connect communities and protect British values, we have to be unashamedly conservative.

As the Prime Minister has said from day one, we are the party that understands the need to grow the economic pie rather than simply slicing it up into thinner pieces. Where Labour are busy squabbling over how to divide wealth, we, the Conservatives, are getting on with the job of creating wealth.

This includes creating more wealth and prosperity through our tech, digital, cyber, creative, cultural and arts sectors.

But there remains a significant amount of red tape in our way, red tape that, as a newly independent nation free of EU bureaucracy, we can tailor to fit our country’s needs. One example of this is on data.

We inherited GDPR from the EU, and its bureaucratic nature is still limiting the potential of our businesses. So much so that researchers at Oxford University estimated that it has directly caused businesses to lose over 8% of their profits. In a survey by my Department, 50% of businesses told us that the EU’s mainly one-size-fits-all GDPR scheme, had led to excessive caution amongst staff in the handling of data. We’ve even had churches write to the department, pleading for us to do something, so that they can send newsletters out to their communities without worrying about breaching data rules.

Many of these smaller organisations and businesses only employ a few people each. They don’t have the resources or money to navigate the regulatory minefield that GDPR puts in their way. And yet right now, in the main, they’re forced to follow the same one-size-fits-all approach as a multinational corporation. That’s just not right, and it is certainly not conservative.

That is why today Conference, I am announcing that we will be replacing GDPR with our own business and consumer-friendly, British data protection system. Our plan will protect consumer privacy and keep their data safe, whilst retaining our data adequacy so businesses can trade freely. And I can promise you here today, Conference, that it will be simpler and clearer for businesses to navigate.

No longer will our businesses be shackled by unnecessary red tape. At the moment, even though we have shortages of electricians and plumbers, GDPR ties them in knots with clunky bureaucracy. In its place, we will co-design with business a new system of data protection. We will look to those countries who achieve data adequacy without having GDPR, like Israel, Japan, South Korea, Canada and New Zealand.

Our new data protection plan will focus on growth and common sense, helping to prevent losses from cyber attacks and data breaches, while protecting data privacy. This will allow us to reduce the needless regulations and business-stifling elements, while taking the best bits from others around the world to form a truly bespoke, British system of data protection.

Let me be clear, Conference, this is not another wave of legislation on business. Businesses won’t have to wrap their heads around complicated legislation – this is about simplification. In fact, it is this government seizing the opportunity to support our job creators. And I will be involving them right from the start in the design of a tailored, business-friendly British system of data protection. One that, protects the consumer, protects data adequacy and increases the trade that good data protection enables, whilst increasing productivity and also avoids the pitfalls of a one-size-fits-all system. It is time we seize this post Brexit opportunity fully, and unleash the full growth potential of British business. We can be the bridge across the Atlantic and operate as the world’s data hub.

But Conference as you know, there is so much more to DCMS. As someone who is passionate about grassroots sport, especially having seen the impact that Chippenham Town and Melksham Town Football Clubs have had on my local community, I could not be happier to be the Secretary of State in charge of sport at a time where British sporting excellence is all around us. Our heroic Lionesses inspired millions of young girls and football fans this Summer, kicking off a new era in women’s football. The world also watched in awe as the Commonwealth Games took the nation by storm, exhibiting the very best of British talent and culture.

What’s more, this Conservative Government didn’t just deliver the games on time and on budget, but delivered it on time and under budget – over 60 million under in fact. And today, I am delighted to announce that we are going to invest that money to really cement the legacy of the games – right back here in the West Midlands. Investing in pro-growth legacy projects for the people of the West Midlands, working with our driven, passionate, delivery machine for the West Midlands.

So, while Labour try to choke growth in the West Midlands by backing crippling rail strikes, we are getting on with the job of injecting investment and producing growth not just here but around the country.

This is also a Government that is connecting a new household to full fibre broadband every 7 seconds. And rolling out good broadband and 5G has the potential to revolutionise our country’s economy, accelerating growth, jobs and improving the quality of life for millions of people.

For some people, better broadband and 5G will mean they are finally able to access streaming services on a stable connection in their home. For others, it might mean that they can get access to 5G connected mobile health scanners, bringing next generation healthcare to their local town. Or for farmers, it could enable them to use live sensors to detect in real time, about the fertilisation and moisture needed for their crops. The possibilities are endless, and the benefits extend far beyond simply loading up web pages faster. That’s why I will soon be announcing a package of measures in Parliament, that will make it easier for us to rollout fast broadband across the country, and that will massively accelerate progress.

There are also huge opportunities for our growth agenda with the cultural, arts and creative industries including media and we want to continue this trend, ensuring that we accelerate it with the right skills – and let me take this opportunity to thank the BBC and all broadcasters for the excellent coverage and tribute they gave to Her late Majesty the Queen.

Another area of growth is tourism, which we are also boosting, by re-introducing VAT-free shopping for overseas visitors. And we will replace the old paper-based system with a modern, digital system that will come into place very soon.

The final part of my plan for DCMS is built on the soundly conservative principles of protecting the things that we love rather than tearing them down.

As a former Children and Families Minister, I know first-hand that there is no greater duty than protecting our children, especially as they browse online. Our party, is founded on the principle that stronger families mean a stronger country, and a basic building block of a strong family is ensuring the safety of children.

For too long, have social media giants been chipping away at children’s innocence by feeding them dangerous content contrary to their own terms and conditions. Which has led to devasting tragedies.

Last week the inquest into the death of Molly Russell further highlighted the horrific failure of social media platforms to put the welfare of children first. We owe it, to Ian Russell and all of Molly’s family to do everything in our power to stop this happening again. Our online safety bill must be the answer and I will make sure that the bill’s key objective is ensuring social media firms protect children and young people. Conference, I can confirm that the bill will be returning to Parliament – and my dedicated ministerial team and I are working flat out to ensure the bill is delivered and we are strengthening the protections in place for children.

But rest assured Conference that I am making changes to the Bill in relation to freedom of speech for adults. I am the Minister who brought forward the Higher Education Freedom of Speech Bill and so I know just how vital it is that we get this right and ensure that our rights to freedom of expression and free speech are protected. And there needs to be more accountability and transparency for users, so I will be bringing forward measures in the Bill to ensure that this is the case.

Free speech underpins our British democracy – we are in fact a country with a long history of supporting and exporting free speech ideas. In many ways, Britain is the home of free speech. It is the beating heart on which all of our other freedoms rest. But – let’s remember, protecting children online and protecting free speech for adults do not need to be at odds with one another. As you can see fairness, honesty and common sense are the values that I rely on to tackle the big issues.

I am an evidence-based politician and over the coming months you will see that I am not afraid to make tough decisions, and will stick to our conservative principles to make people’s lives better and fairer.

Because, we are the party that delivers high paid jobs in tech and digital so that our economy grows. We are the party that connects our country to fast broadband and 5G so that families and businesses can prosper. And we are the party that protects British culture and institutions with common sense values. This bold Conservative Government is going to accelerate our delivery and stand true to our principles.

Thank you, Conference.

03/10/2022
Ranil Jayawardena – 2022 Speech to Conservative Party Conference

The speech made by Ranil Jayawardena, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, in Birmingham on 3 October 2022.

I am delighted to be standing before you today, as your Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

And it is a great privilege to serve you in this role because I was raised in a rural county, the county that my family and I still live in, the fine county of Hampshire, the north east of which I represent today.

It was when I was at Hook Infant School that I learnt how soap used to be made and began to speak up against whaling, which loopholes sadly still allow today.

It was at Hook Junior School that I championed recycling, before separate kerbside collections existed, and everything was going to landfill.

Like our Prime Minister, I am proud to say I was an environmentalist before it was fashionable.

Having grown up in North East Hampshire, I understand the issues faced by those in rural communities too.

I will be a champion for people who live in the countryside the length and breadth of our nation.

And I look forward to visiting to farms, businesses and charities across the country, including PDM Produce in Shropshire where I was yesterday, and Mondelez in Bourneville, who I will be visiting on Wednesday.

Thanks to everyone who has given me such a warm welcome already, here in Birmingham and across the West Midlands, even if the same can’t be said for Twitter.

There is much to do.

And I have been put here by the Prime Minister to deliver.

At DEFRA, we’re all about EFG.

The Environment.

Food.

And Growth.

I am delighted to have a great team who are already getting on with the job –

Trudy Harrison as your Minister for the Environment;

Mark Spencer as your Minister for Food;

and Scott Mann as your Minister for Growth;

all ably supported by Lord Benyon as Minister for International Nature and Biosecurity,

and Lord Harlech, Darren Henry, Laura Farris and Antony Higginbotham in the Whips Offices and as my Parliamentary Private Secretaries.

And as we all get on with the job, top of the list – key to unlocking everything else we want – is growing our economy.

Though our opponents would like to pretend otherwise, a strong, healthy environment and a strong, healthy economy are not incompatible.

In fact, they are perfect partners.

A strong environment and a strong economy is how we deliver in a Conservative way.

That’s why I can assure you all today that my Department should no longer be seen as one that follows the EU, imposes rules and impedes innovation.

Instead of being a regulatory department, we are now an economic growth department.

Food and drink is our largest manufacturing sector.

It is bigger than automotive and aerospace put together, with a presence in every constituency in this country.

The opportunity for growth in the sector is enormous – and it will bring jobs, skills and prosperity across the nation.

More than ever, we know the importance of food security – it is crucial for our national resilience and we must boost it further still.

British food and British farming are the best in the world – premium products that should not just be enjoyed at home – rather they should be championed around the world.

Here at home, we should be able to buy British with confidence and pride.

But, to do that, we need to tighten up our labelling.

We have some of the highest animal welfare standards in the world.

Shoppers vote with their feet and choose to buy British for just that reason.

And yet, did you know that Danish pork processed in Britain can be sold as British?

But we don’t have to bow the knee to every bureaucratic Bonaparte in Brussels anymore.

Haven’t we taken back control?

That’s why we will be working with supermarkets and producers to improve the data they collect on where our food comes from – and we will launch new British labelling, so that the people of our great nation can have confidence that anything labelled as British IS British.

And this has an extra Brexit bonus.

Instead of keeping the world’s best food and drink a secret, we will sell more of it around the globe,

with the Union Flag symbolising once again the quality that people around the world want to buy.

Whilst at the Department for International Trade, the Prime Minister and I were determined to open new markets and we succeeded.

British beef is back in America…

… we are selling chicken to Mongolia.

We are shipping Scottish salmon to Saudi Arabia…

And our friends in Canada are enjoying Scotch Whisky too…

This is just the beginning.

Like the Prime Minister when she was Environment Secretary,

in a fortnight, I will be in Paris at the world’s largest food fair…

… bigging up British products.

I will be working closely with my friends at Trade…

… to make sure we are capitalising on every export opportunity for our premium produce to the world…

… at the premium prices our farmers, fishermen and food producers deserve.

We have huge opportunities – lamb to the Gulf, dairy to the Far East, the list goes on.

The opportunity isn’t just demand-led though.

Supply-side reforms are crucial.

Now that we have left the EU, I am delighted to tell you that we are going to free our farmers, and we are listening to all sides for new ideas to get Britain growing, such as the review undertaken by Baroness Rock to back our tenant farmers.

Unlike the Labour Party, we trust our farmers, so we will cut through the red tape that has held back our farms for too long.

We announced in our growth plan that we would review farming regulations but – contrary to what you might have read in some corners of the media – we remain committed to our environmental schemes that support our farmers as they look after our countryside.

Some rules in the past didn’t do what they set out to. The three-crop rule and greening requirements are already gone and we will be announcing more in the coming weeks.

I bulldozed 400 trade barriers in my time at Trade and I will continue to get things done.

We must look to the future too.

We will use our new grant schemes to support farmers and food producers to invest in the technology that will boost their productivity and profitability.

The technological advancements being made in the agricultural and horticultural sectors are astounding,

producing more food whilst using fewer resources, including water.

And using less water is vital.

It’s been a long, hot summer.

With crop failure being a very real worry, we need a little rain.

And when the rain comes, we need our flood defences to be strong, to protect life and property, and we need our watercourses and beaches to be safe and sewage-free.

I believe in private enterprise.

We all do.

It’s business that creates jobs, secures our prosperity and pays for public services.

Private enterprise is intrinsic to our Conservative DNA.

And yet

we all know that government must step in if there is market failure.

Our water companies have a lot to answer for.

Too much water is wasted through leaks each year when we should be conserving it, and, in 2022,

we still find sewage in our rivers

and on our beaches.

That is not on.

On my first day in office, I met Water Company bosses to give them their report card.

They caused 62 serious pollution incidents in 2021.

I’ll be polite: could do better.

I asked them to write to me with their plans to accelerate investment in infrastructure.

They did –

and now they must deliver.

Privatisation has put in £170billion of investment into our water infrastructure already,

and the private sector will now put in another £56billion more.

And, if they don’t deliver, there will be consequences.

I can confirm to you today that I will be taking forward plans to lift the Environment Agency’s maximum civil fine for each individual breach of the rules from up to just 250,000 pounds, to up to 250 million.

This doesn’t only affect families going to our beautiful British lakes, rivers and beaches in the summer,

or surfers braving the cold winter swells.

It has repercussions for our environment,

at a time when our biodiversity is seriously under threat.

Biodiversity is declining faster than at any time in human history.

We rely on nature to provide us with food, water and clean air,

and biodiversity is crucial to enabling nature to be productive and resilient.

More than half of global GDP is estimated to be dependent on biodiversity and nature.

That’s over £40 trillion.

When I was first elected, I founded the All Party Parliamentary Group on Endangered Species.

I believe in halting the decline.

Except, I should say, my friends, for the decline of the lesser but still too often spotted: the so-called Liberal Democrat.

That’s a species I would be happy to see remain on the endangered list.

I stand shoulder-to-shoulder with you, my friends.

Like you, I have fought the Lib Dems and the Socialists in communities across the country –

as an Association Officer,

as a Councillor,

and as a Member of Parliament.

And, in this brief,

at DEFRA,

I will work day and night to preserve our green and pleasant land.

Our rural landscapes – the clouded hills, the mountains green – are precious to all of
us, and we have a duty to our children and our children’s children to protect them.

I will honour that duty and I will not let leftists who seek to divide us undermine that
collective responsibility we all share to protect our environment.

It is this Conservative Government that has put in place world leading targets to halt the decline in nature by 2030, with particular thanks to the hard work of my immediate predecessors, George Eustice and Theresa Villiers.

This is a challenge, and one that requires action by many to be achieved.

But achieve it we must, for it is critical to the growth we want to see, the Conservative environmentalism we believe in.

We are going for growth, where a strong, healthy environment, is part of a strong, healthy economy.

This is a huge task.

There is much to do.

And we are determined to deliver.

03/10/2022