Category: Speeches

Catherine McKinnell – 2025 Statement on Teacher’s Pay

The statement made by Catherine McKinnell, the Minister for School Standards, in the House of Commons on 22 May 2025.

May I start by thanking our teachers, school leaders and school staff for all they are doing right now to ensure a successful exam season for students, and indeed for all their hard work throughout the year?

Rather than scaremongering with fantasy statistics, the Government are getting on and delivering. We are already seeing positive signs that our plan for change is working. Teacher recruitment is up, with 2,000 more people in training than last year. Teacher retention is up, with thousands more teachers forecast to stay in the profession over the next three years. This Labour Government are getting on and delivering. Unlike the Opposition, who last year sat on the STRB report, hid from their responsibility and left it to Labour to sort out, this afternoon we will announce the teachers’ pay award, which will be the earliest announcement for a decade.

We understand the importance of giving schools certainty, giving them time to plan their budgets, and ensuring that they can recruit and retain the expert teachers our children need. The Secretary of State’s written ministerial statement will be coming out this afternoon—[Interruption.] It will show once again that this Labour Government—

Mr Speaker

Order. I have granted the urgent question, so please will Members on the Opposition Front Bench wait for the Minister to finish her answer. I do not want you, Ms Trott and Mr O’Brien, to be a bad example of this school class.

Catherine McKinnell

The written ministerial statement is laid before the House and will be coming out this afternoon, showing once again that this Labour Government are getting on and delivering on our plan for change.

Mr Speaker

I call the shadow Secretary of State.

Laura Trott

Mr Speaker, this is absolutely outrageous. It is astonishing that we have had to summon the Government to the House today, but the Minister cannot even tell us what pay rise teachers will get and whether it is going to be funded. That does not allow us to scrutinise the matter in this House.

The Government said that they would tax private schools to fund 6,500 more teachers, but the reality is that state schools have not got any of that money. Instead, we have had broken promises on compensating schools for the jobs tax, confirmation from the Department for Education itself that there will be a shortfall in teacher pay funding, which we are not allowed to discuss here today in this urgent question, and uncertainty as to what the actual pay rise for teachers will be. That is a disgrace, and it is the opposite of what people who voted for Labour expected.

All that is in the final two weeks when headteachers up and down the country have to decide whether to make teachers redundant in time for September—in fact, sadly, many schools will already have made the difficult decision to let good teachers go. These are job losses on the Minister’s watch, due to her inability to provide schools with the clarity that they need. Do not just take my word for it. Dan Moynihan, from the Harris Federation, says that it proposes to make 40 to 45 teachers redundant. Jon Coles, the chief executive of United Learning, which runs 90 state sector academies, said that the trust has been left with £10.5 million a year of unfunded costs. He said:

“It’s no good Treasury waving their hands and saying ‘efficiency’—that would be 400 job losses. Sector wide, that would extrapolate to ruinous harm in the one well-functioning public service: tens of thousands of redundancies.”

Simon Pink, the finance director at the Elliot Foundation, which has 36 primaries, said:

“This is the toughest budget…in a generation.”

One secondary school headteacher has already had to cut two teaching assistant posts and a teacher role due to rising national insurance and anticipated wage rises.

What is the pay rise that the Government recommend for teachers? The Prime Minister’s spokesman said on 28 April:

“There’ll be no additional funding for pay.”

Yesterday, the Government started to U-turn on the winter fuel allowance. Will the Minister now fully U-turn and fund the national insurance rise and agree to fully fund the pay increases, whatever they are?

Catherine McKinnell

Neither I nor any Minister in this Government will take lessons from Conservative Members, who, after 14 long years in power, had still not restored real-terms spending in our schools to the level that they inherited. The brass neck of the Opposition is quite extraordinary. Conservative Members would also do well to remember the difficult decisions that this Government have had to take because of the utter mess that they left behind. The right hon. Lady was in the Treasury, creating the mess—she knows very well what happened.

Recruiting, retaining and supporting expert teachers is central to our vision for delivering high and rising standards in our schools. Despite the challenging financial context and years of missed recruitment targets under the previous Government, this Administration are prioritising education and ensuring that every child has access to a high-quality teacher. We are working at pace to ensure excellence for every child. That is why we remain committed to our manifesto pledge for 6,500 teachers and to ensuring that it responds to the demand in secondary schools, special schools and further education.

We know that high-quality teaching is the in-school factor that has the biggest positive impact on a child’s outcomes, breaking down barriers to opportunity for every child, so recruiting and retaining high-quality teachers is clearly absolutely central to our vision for delivering high and rising standards. That is why, despite the challenging financial context and years of missed recruitment targets, we are getting on and delivering on our plan for change. The right hon. Lady will have to wait, like everybody else, for the statement that she knows is coming this afternoon.

May 23, 2025
Liz Kendall – 2025 Speech to the IPPR

The speech made by Liz Kendall, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, at the IPPR on 21 May 2025.

I’m very grateful to my former employer IPPR for hosting us today.

And to all of you for taking the time to come along.

I’m especially grateful to Dominic for sharing his experiences, and I thought that was really important for us to hear today – about the benefits that work brings to you, the struggles you have faced and your ambitions and hopes for the future.

I want to talk about the Government’s welfare reforms.

How they will help transform people’s lives, as part of our Plan for Change.

How they follow in the footsteps of the great reforming Labour governments of the past; rooted in our enduring values of fairness, equality and opportunity.

How these reforms will help ensure our welfare state is sustainable for the future.

And how I believe they are crucial to fighting the rise in populist politics, which offers easy but empty solutions to the people we came into politics to serve.

Getting Britain Working is central to the Government’s Plan for Change.

It is vital to delivering higher living standards in every part of Britain.

And it is vital to achieving the number one mission of this Government, which is growing the economy.

But Getting Britain Working is about so much more than this.

It is about giving people the dignity and self-respect that we know good work brings.

The purpose and belonging that Dominic spoke about so powerfully.

It’s about improving the health of the nation, because we know good work is good for people’s mental and physical health – and can help reduce pressure on the NHS.

And Getting Britain Working is critical to driving down child poverty and ensuring every child starts school ready to learn – perhaps the single most important step to transforming equality and opportunity in this country.

And the scale and urgency of our task is there for all to see.

Nearly 1 in 10 people of working age are now on at least one sickness or disability benefit.

A near record 2.8 million people are out of work due to long-term sickness.

1 million young people are not in education, employment or training – that’s more than 1 in 8 of our young people – with all the long-term consequences this brings for their future health, job prospects and earnings potential.

And 300,000 people with health conditions are falling out of work every single year, piling up even greater problems for the future.

And the result is millions of people who could work written off and denied the chance to build a better life, with all these challenges far worse in parts of the Midlands and the North, whose economies were decimated in the 1980s and 1990s when whole industries closed, and who have never been given the investment, support and opportunity they need to recover.

And taxpayers have been left paying billions more on the cost of Conservative failure, with the benefits bill for sickness and disability up £20 billion since the pandemic and set to rise by a further £18 billion by the end of this Parliament, unless we change course.

And the truth is, it doesn’t have to be this way.

We are the only economy in the G7 whose employment rate still hasn’t returned to pre-pandemic levels.

And spending on sickness and disability benefits in most other comparable countries is either stable or falling since the pandemic, yet ours continues to inexorably rise.

There is nothing Labour about accepting the cost of this economic but, above all, social crisis, paid for in people’s life chances and living standards.

And there is nothing inevitable about Britain’s future path, if we have the courage and conviction to act.

We must start shifting so much spending on the costs of failure to investing in the jobs, skills and public services that people need to build a better life.

And this requires leadership and it requires reform.

Now the truth is welfare reform is never easy. And it is rarely popular.

Perhaps especially for Labour governments.

But no responsible Labour government can resile from taking decisions because they are too difficult.

Because this is not good enough for the people we came into politics to serve.

So we will reform the welfare state.

Just as great reforming Labour governments have done in the past.

Changing it to meet the social and demographic challenges of today and tomorrow, and delivering the fairness, equality and opportunity people need and deserve.

Now we know change is possible, because we have done it before.

Take the fight for women’s equality in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.

It was Labour women MPs and trade unionists who campaigned for and then legislated to transform opportunities for women.

We changed the world of work – with rights to maternity pay.

We invested in childcare – with the first ever national childcare strategy and thousands of Sure Start Children’s Centres.

We delivered active employment support – with the groundbreaking New Deal for Lone Parents.

Transforming women’s participation in the workforce, and their equality, independence and freedom through work.

We must now bring the same focus, energy and commitment to doing the same for sick and disabled people.

Reforming the welfare state to offer them the same rights and chances to work as anybody else.

When the welfare state was created, average life expectancy was 65, and the most common cause of illness and death was infectious diseases and accidents.

Now, average life expectancy is around 80. And 1 in 7 babies born today is likely to live to 100.

Back then, disability was the exception. Now, 1 in 4 of us self-reports as disabled. And 1 in 3 of us will have a long-term health condition.

But the welfare state has simply not kept pace with these changes.

Our benefits system in particular forces too many sick and disabled people into a binary choice of can or can’t work – when we know many people’s physical and mental health conditions fluctuate, and many sick and disabled people want to, and need to, work.

The system then writes people off, and traps them, without offering any help or support.

The number of people on the health top up of Universal Credit is set to rise by 50 per cent to 3 million by the end of the decade.

And the number of people on Personal Independence Payments is set to more than double to 4.3 million.

There are now 1,000 new PIP awards every single day.

That’s the equivalent of adding a city the size of Leicester every single year.

This is not sustainable or fair – for the people who need support and for taxpayers.

So unless we reform the system to help those who can work to do so.

Unless we get social security spending on a more sustainable footing.

And unless we ensure public money is focused on those with the greatest need and is spent in ways that have the best chance of improving people’s lives.

The risk is the welfare state won’t be there for people who really need it in future.

That is why we are grasping the nettle of reform.

Not for the sake of it, but to ensure the welfare state lasts for generations to come.

Now we have already made huge strides in getting Britain working and growing again.

We are improving the quality of work and making work pay, with our landmark employment rights bill.

We are creating more good jobs in every part of the country – from clean energy to construction and through our modern industrial strategy.

And we are investing an additional £26 billion this year to drive down waiting lists, because getting people back to health is crucial to getting them back to work.

But we also need big changes in our system of social security and employment support to deliver greater fairness and opportunity.

Our plans are based on three clear objectives.

First, overhauling the system to help those who can work, get into work and stay in work.

Last autumn, our Get Britain Working white paper kicked off the biggest reforms to employment support in a generation, backed by an additional £240 million.

Overhauling our job centres to create a new national jobs and careers service, and shift the focus away from benefit administration alone.

Investing in 16 new trailblazing programmes across the country – led by mayors and local areas – to join up work, health and skills support, ensure every young person is earning or learning and to tackle the scar of economic inactivity.

This spring, we announced a further £1 billion a year in our new Pathways to Work offer.

Along with programmes like Work Well, Connect to Work – which is being rolled out to the whole of England and Wales by December – and freeing up 1,000 work coaches to support sick and disabled people.

Pathways to Work will guarantee a comprehensive offer of health, work and skills support for anyone who needs it, rolling out from next April when our benefit changes start to come in.

The biggest ever packages of support for sick and disabled people.

To underpin these changes in employment support, we are also creating a more proactive, pro-work system.

We are consulting on a new Unemployment Insurance to provide a higher rate of time-limited income protection for people who lose their job but have paid into the system.

We are scrapping the failed Work Capability Assessment – and the Conservatives discredited WCA plans – to help end the binary can/can’t work divide.

We are reforming Universal Credit to encourage people to find work and not stay on benefits, reducing the health top up for new claims from April 2026, alongside active help to find work.

And bringing in a sustained above inflation increase to the standard allowance in Universal Credit for the first time ever, delivering a cash increase of £725 a year by the end of the Parliament.

We’re introducing a new ‘right to try work’ by legislating to guarantee that work in and of itself will never lead to someone being called in for a benefit assessment, to give people the confidence to take the plunge and try work.

To underpin our Youth Guarantee, we are consulting on delaying access to the health top up in Universal Credit until someone is aged 22, with the savings reinvested into work support and training opportunities.

And we will help employers to recruit and retain more disabled people with health conditions through our Keep Britain Working review, led by the former boss of John Lewis, Sir Charlie Mayfield.

The second objective of our plans is to protect those who cannot work.

Those with the most severe, life-long conditions that will never improve and who can never work will have their Universal Credit protected – including young people aged under 22.

And we will guarantee they will never be reassessed in future, removing totally unnecessary stress, anxiety and uncertainty.

To improve trust, we will also fundamentally overhaul our safeguarding approach to ensure all our processes and training are of the highest possible quality and to protect and support vulnerable people.

Our third objective is to focus Personal Independence Payments on those with higher needs and to review the PIP assessment to ensure it is fair and fit for purpose.

I know the concerns that have been raised about our proposals.

I am listening carefully to all the points people raise.

But 9 out of 10 people claiming PIP at the point when the changes come into force in November 2026 will not be affected by the end of the Parliament.

And even with the changes we are making, there will still be 750,000 more people receiving PIP by the end of this Parliament than there were at the start.

And spending will be £8 billion higher than it is now: rising faster than GDP, and faster than spending on public services.

In making our changes we are preserving PIP as a vital cash benefit that makes a contribution towards the extra cost of living with a disability – not means testing it and not replacing it with vouchers as the Tories proposed.

We are consulting on how best to support those who will no longer be eligible, including so their health and care needs are met.

We will improve the experience of those going through the PIP assessment, switching back to more face-to-face assessments and recording them as standard.

And we have begun the first review of the PIP assessment in more than a decade – including the descriptors, and in consultation with disabled people and the organisations that represent them – to ensure it is fair and fit for purpose.

Taken together, our measures will reform the system to support those who can work, to protect those who cannot and to help ensure our welfare state lasts for generations to come.

I want to finish by saying this.

When I travel around the country, I know the places with the highest levels of economic inactivity and the largest number of people on sickness and disability benefits, are the same places with the worst health, lowest life expectancy and fewest opportunities.

The villages, towns and cities, especially in parts of the Midlands and the North whose economies have still not recovered from the 80s and 90s, where economic demand remains weakest.

Places that are full of talent and ambition, but which need the investment – in jobs, infrastructure, skills, and public services – to build a better life for themselves and their communities.

People in this country rightly demand change.

But populist politics – the politics of division and easy but empty solutions – won’t deliver the change people are crying out for.

They need real hope built on real solutions.

And that is what this Labour Government is doing.

Tackling problems that have been ducked or ignored for too long, because the failure to do so is precisely why people think politics doesn’t matter and that politicians are all the same.

Change of this scale isn’t easy, but it is possible, and we know because we have done it before.

Labour’s mission is to give people hope tomorrow will be better than today.

That we will create the jobs, opportunities and public services people want and deserve.

Because a future dependent on benefits alone is not good enough for people in Blackpool, Birkenhead or Blaenau Gwent.

I am confident we will deliver.

Because all the evidence shows hundreds of thousands of sick and disabled people want to work.

That when they have a government that is on their side and provides the right support, they can get work.

And that this can transform their lives.

Our task is urgent.

Not just because we have only four more years of this Parliament, which is no time at all – although this is true.

Not just because we must deliver real change to fight the rise in support for populists – although we must.

But because the people who we came into politics to serve cannot and should not wait any longer for a chance to build a decent life, because they have waited far too long already.

This is why we fought for 14 long hard years in opposition – for the chance to change our country.

So now let’s get on with the job.

Thank you.

May 22, 2025
Calum Miller – 2025 Speech on Israel

The speech made by Calum Miller, the Liberal Democrat spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, in the House of Commons on 20 May 2025.

I also thank the Foreign Secretary for advance sight of his statement. I know that he, like me, has been horrified by the scenes coming out of Gaza. Tom Fletcher, the UN’s humanitarian chief, has indeed highlighted and predicted the imminent death of thousands of infants without immediate aid, and said that the amount of aid entering the strip is but “a drop in the ocean”.

Let us be clear that mass starvation will do nothing to remove Hamas or secure the release of the hostages, so I welcome yesterday’s joint statement with Canada and France. In it, the Prime Minister spoke of taking further action if Israel does not fully lift its aid blockade and draw back from its expansion of military activity. Will the Foreign Secretary confirm whether the expanded sanctions list includes extremist Ministers Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, who have advocated illegal actions to dispossess Palestinians across the occupied territories, and if not, why not? Will the Government go beyond reviewing the 2030 bilateral road map and urgently suspend it unless the Government of Israel change path? Will they now finally block the export of all UK arms to Israel?

In response to my letter to the Foreign Secretary last week, the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, the hon. Member for Lincoln (Mr Falconer), reaffirmed the Government’s position that they consider that Israel only “risks” breaching international law through its blockade. I ask the Secretary of State what more Israel would have to do to the people of Gaza for its actions to constitute not simply a “risk”, but an actual breach of international law.

The Minister also stated in his reply that the Government would only proceed with recognition of the state of Palestine at

“a time that is most conducive to the peace process”.

Does the Foreign Secretary agree with me and the Liberal Democrats that the time to recognise Palestine is now and that immediate recognition—ideally jointly with France at next month’s summit—would send the strongest possible signal about the UK’s commitment to the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination?

Mr Lammy

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman. I have condemned the statements of Ben-Gvir and Smotrich in the past. On 6 May, Israel’s Finance Minister Smotrich said:

“Gaza will be entirely destroyed, civilians will be sent to…the south to a humanitarian zone without Hamas or terrorism, and from there they will start to leave in great numbers to third countries”.

We condemn that language. We condemn the language of Minister Ben-Gvir and, of course, we keep that language under review and continue to discuss these issues with our international partners.

The hon. Gentleman asks about recognition and the work that we see France and Saudi Arabia doing. Of course, we are in close dialogue with our P5 partner of France and with Saudi Arabia, in fact. I touched on these issues with the Saudi Arabian PM in Rome at the weekend. The hon. Gentleman asked about the road map. As I have said, we will review the road map. He will recognise that there are elements of that road map, particularly as they pertain to security issues and the work we do jointly on Iran, that would not be right to suspend, but we are reviewing it—as we should, given the circumstances. I have said time and again that we have suspended arms sales that could be used in Gaza, notwithstanding those we must necessarily retain that particularly pertain to the supply chain on F-35s and their use in warfare in other theatres with which we have an interest.

May 20, 2025
Priti Patel – 2025 Speech on Israel

The speech made by Priti Patel, the Conservative MP for Witham, in the House of Commons on 20 May 2025.

I am grateful to the Foreign Secretary for giving me advance sight of his statement. The humanitarian situation in Gaza is appalling and we continue to see the intolerable suffering of life being lost. A sustainable end to this terrible conflict is urgently and desperately needed, and that means the release of the remaining 58 hostages from the cruel Hamas captivity that we have all witnessed for too long; it means a significant increase in aid getting into Gaza; and it means a new future for Gaza, free from the terror and misery caused by Hamas, who bear responsibility for the suffering we have seen unfolding since 7 October 2023. I will take each of those three issues in turn.

First, on the hostages, will the Foreign Secretary explain what recent engagements he has had to try to secure their release and return to their loved ones? Is Britain contributing to an overall strategy to free the hostages? Are we in the room for these critical discussions? We know the hard work that went into all this at the beginning of the year.

Secondly, on aid, I have been asking the Government for weeks for clarity over the way they are using their influence to get aid into Gaza. On 6 and 14 May, we questioned the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, the hon. Member for Lincoln (Mr Falconer), on the steps being taken to unblock aid delivery. We have asked the Government for details of their engagement with Israel, about their response to Israel’s plans for an alternative aid delivery model, and about what practical solutions the UK has worked on with Israel to address concerns about aid diversion, but no substantive answers were given. What have the Government been doing in recent weeks to facilitate the delivery of aid and find practical solutions with other countries to get aid in?

Have the Government just been criticising Israel, or have they been offering to work constructively to find solutions on aid delivery and securing a ceasefire? We see from the joint statement issued yesterday that the Government and other international partners may not be supporting or participating in the aid delivery model proposed by Israel, so can the Foreign Secretary explain why that conclusion has been reached?

Melanie Ward (Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy) (Lab)

Shameful!

Priti Patel

If I can return to my remarks, how does that non-participation help to get aid into Gaza and stop the suffering that is being experienced by everyone? [Interruption.] Members shake their heads, but we should all be focused on securing—[Interruption.] Labour Members should be ashamed of themselves, because the focus of this House should be on getting aid into Gaza. The UK—[Interruption.] I can speak as someone who has supported aid getting into Gaza and other humanitarian crises. The hon. Member for Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy (Melanie Ward) might want to intervene rather than calling me out and saying that my comments are shameful. The UK has consistently been a world leader when it comes to aid delivery. We should be at the forefront of finding practical solutions and supporting the delivery of aid to those in need, so has the Foreign Secretary, in the approach that he has just outlined towards Israel, done all he can to secure an increase in aid? Has the UK’s influence fallen in this aid discussion and in the dialogue with Israel?

Thirdly, on the future of Gaza, the Government have agreed with our position that there can be no future for Hamas—that is completely non-negotiable—so what practical steps are being taken to end their role in Gaza and dismantle the terrorist infrastructure? What co-ordinated international steps are being taken to stem the flow of money, weapons and support bankrolled by Iran? We are still awaiting an Iran strategy from the Government. Can the Foreign Secretary expand upon this?

We had a statement last month from the Foreign Secretary on the memorandum of understanding with the Palestinian Authority. Can he give an update on what steps are being taken to improve the governance of the PA? The MOU posed many questions, but I do not need to go over them again as I have raised them previously. The UK obviously needs to be involved in this process, given our historical role in, for example, the Abraham accords. This may be our best shot when it comes to regional peace, and the Foreign Secretary must convince us that we have influence when it comes to the ceasefire and negotiating a better future in this part of the world. What discussions have taken place with Administration of the United States—one country that does have influence—on peace efforts and getting aid into Gaza?

In conclusion, strong words will do little to resolve the real challenges and the suffering that we are seeing day in, day out—[Interruption.] That is a matter for the Government to address. It should be a cause for concern that we have reached a situation where the statements and actions that have been echoed by the Government today—I am referring to the Prime Minister’s joint statement with France and Canada—have now been supported by Hamas, a terrorist organisation that I proscribed as Home Secretary—[Interruption.] They have actually put out a statement, and I am sure the Foreign Secretary has seen it.

The Foreign Secretary’s decision to tear up trade negotiations with Israel and stop the bilateral road map will not—[Interruption.] It is not shocking. These are important questions. If the Foreign Secretary finds this—[Interruption.] If he cannot answer these questions, that is fine—[Interruption.] Then please do answer the questions, because they are important—[Interruption.] I would if Members did not keep interrupting me. It is quite obvious that the Government do not want to respond to these important questions, but this is important because there is so much human suffering. I understand the Foreign Secretary’s points about the steps he is taking with Israel, but how is this going to help now when it comes to wider security issues and threats from Iran? How do we know that this will not be self-defeating in any way?

Mr Lammy

For decades there has been a cross-party commitment to a two-state solution and the pursuit of peace from friends of both Israel and the Palestinian people across this House. It was the Thatcher Government that imposed an arms embargo after Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982. It was David Cameron who first called Gaza a prison camp, and it was Theresa May’s Government that championed UN resolution 2334 on settlements. It was William Hague who worked with John Kerry on the push for peace and condemned the idea of moving the British embassy to Jerusalem. Sadly, today, it seems that the Conservative party, or at least its current Front Bench, is refusing to confront the appalling reality of what is happening in Gaza and what the Netanyahu Government are doing.

The right hon. Lady seems incapable of offering any serious criticism about the egregious actions of the Netanyahu Government, unlike many hon. Members on her own side. The whole House should be able to utterly condemn the Israeli Government’s denial of food to hungry children. It is wrong. It is appalling. Will she condemn it? Well, the whole House has seen her response. Opposing the expansion of a war that has killed thousands of children is not rewarding Hamas. Opposing the displacement of hundreds of thousands of civilians is not rewarding Hamas. On this side of the House, we are crystal clear that what is happening is morally wrong and unjustifiable, and it needs to stop.

That is why we have taken the actions we have. The right hon. Lady knows hostage families are deeply concerned about what is happening and about their loved ones—she knows that. She knows we oppose the blockade on aid—does she? It was not clear from her statement whether she does oppose the blockade of aid to children. She should note that our diplomats led that call, with 27 countries joining us, to condemn what is happening and stand on the side of truth and history. What a shame she could not bring herself to do so today.

Yasmin Qureshi (Bolton South and Walkden) (Lab)

I welcome the Foreign Secretary’s statement. Just last week, the UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher warned that the Security Council must act “decisively” to prevent genocide. Today, he said that 14,000 babies could be dead in the next 48 hours. The level of destruction we have seen of the Palestinian people and their land is remarkable. Israel has shown that it will not respond to diplomatic appeals. We now need the continuation of a full arms embargo, sanctions, accountability for war crimes, immediate recognition of the state of Palestine, and the return of UNRWA. What additional steps will the Foreign Secretary take to stave off this genocide?

Mr Lammy

I draw my hon. Friend’s attention to the announcement I have made today on further sanctions, building on the announcement I made back in October. It is very important that we send a clear message to Israel that it should allow the full resumption of aid into Gaza immediately and should enable the UN and humanitarian organisations to work independently and impartially to save lives, reduce suffering and maintain dignity. She will have noted the co-ordinated statement of 27 countries, including Canada, Denmark, Finland, France and many others, who came together to make their views crystal clear about what we now see happening, what we expect to see happen, and the further action that will have to take place if we do not.

May 20, 2025
David Lammy – 2025 Statement on Israel

The statement made by David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, in the House of Commons on 20 May 2025.

With permission, Madam Deputy Speaker, I will make a statement on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. This weekend, the Israel Defence Forces started a new, extensive ground operation throughout Gaza: Operation Gideon’s Chariots. Five Israeli divisions now operate there. Prime Minister Netanyahu says that they are going to take control of the strip, letting only minimal amounts of food reach Gazans; to quote Mr Netanyahu,

“just enough to prevent hunger.”

Fewer than 10 trucks entered Gaza yesterday. The UN and the World Health Organisation have issued stark warnings of the threat of starvation hanging over hundreds of thousands of civilians. This is abominable. Civilians in Gaza facing starvation, homelessness and trauma, desperate for this war to end, now confront renewed bombardment, displacement and suffering. The remaining hostages, kept apart from their loved ones by Hamas for almost 600 days, are now at heightened risk from the war around them.

Two months ago the ceasefire collapsed. Since then, the humanitarian catastrophe has rapidly intensified. For 11 weeks, Israeli forces have blockaded Gaza, leaving the World Food Programme without any remaining stocks. Israel has repeatedly struck hospitals, and three more in northern Gaza ceased operations this weekend. Yet more aid workers and medical workers have been killed, after last year proved the deadliest year on record for humanitarian personnel.

The diplomatic deadlock between Israel and Hamas has also hardened. Despite the efforts of the United States, Qatar and Egypt, which we of course support, no ceasefire has emerged. We repeat our demand that Hamas release all the hostages immediately and unconditionally, and reiterate that they cannot continue to run Gaza.

We are now entering a dark new phase in this conflict. Netanyahu’s Government plan to drive Gazans from their homes into a corner of the strip to the south and permit them a fraction of the aid that they need. Yesterday, Minister Smotrich even spoke of Israeli forces “cleansing” Gaza, of “destroying what’s left” and of resident Palestinians being “relocated to third countries”. We must call this what it is: it is extremism, it is dangerous, it is repellent, it is monstrous and I condemn it in the strongest possible terms.

Israel suffered a heinous attack on 7 October. The Government have always backed Israel’s right to defend itself. We have condemned Hamas and their abhorrent treatment of the hostages. We have stood with the families and demanded that their loved ones be released. Israel’s plan is morally unjustifiable, wholly disproportionate and utterly counterproductive, and whatever Israeli Ministers claim, it is not the way to bring the hostages safely home. Nearly all the hostages have been freed through negotiations, not military force. That is why hostage families themselves, and many other Israelis, oppose this plan so strongly. It will not eliminate Hamas or make Israel secure either. This war has left a generation orphaned and traumatised, ready for Hamas to recruit. As we learned in Northern Ireland, to defeat terrorists and their warped ideology, we cannot just rely on military might; we have to offer a viable political alternative. Opposing the expansion of a war that has killed thousands of children is not rewarding Hamas.

Since entering office, we have taken concerted action on Gaza. We have restored funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, supported the independence of international courts, suspended arms export licences, provided food and medical care to hundreds of thousands of Gazans and worked with Arab partners on a plan to ensure a reconstructed Gaza no longer run by Hamas. Since Israel restarted strikes on Gaza, this Government have demanded that Israel change course.

Privately, in my conversations with Foreign Minister Sa’ar and Strategic Affairs Minister Dermer, and publicly, in repeated joint statements with my French and German counterparts, we have made clear that Israel’s actions are intolerable. We have raised our concerns in the UN Security Council and before the International Court of Justice. Yesterday, my right hon. and learned Friend the Prime Minister joined leaders from France and Canada in strongly opposing the expansion of Israel’s military operations. The UK also led a further statement with 27 partners criticising Israel’s proposed new aid delivery mechanism and defending the essential humanitarian principles of the international system that the UK did so much to establish in the first place.

Our message is clear. There is a UN plan ready to deliver aid at the scale needed, with mitigations against aid diversion. There are brave humanitarians ready to do their jobs. There are over 9,000 trucks at the border. Prime Minister Netanyahu: end this blockade now and let the aid in.

Regrettably, despite our efforts, this Israeli Government’s egregious actions and rhetoric have continued. They are isolating Israel from its friends and partners around the world, undermining the interests of the Israeli people and damaging the image of the state of Israel in the eyes of the world. I find this deeply painful, as a lifelong friend of Israel and a believer in the values expressed in its declaration of independence. As the Prime Minister and fellow leaders said yesterday, we cannot stand by in the face of this new deterioration. It is incompatible with the principles that underpin our bilateral relationship, it is rejected by Members across this House, and frankly, it is an affront to the values of the British people. Therefore, today I am announcing that we have suspended negotiations with this Israeli Government on a new free trade agreement and we will be reviewing co-operation with them under the 2030 bilateral road map. The Netanyahu Government’s actions have made this necessary.

Today, the Minister for the middle east, my hon. Friend the Member for Lincoln (Mr Falconer) is summoning the Israeli ambassador to the Foreign Office to convey this message. I say now to the people of Israel that we want—I want—a strong friendship with you based on shared values, with flourishing ties between our people and societies. We are unwavering in our commitment to your security and to your future, to countering the very real threat from Iran, the scourge of terrorism and the evils of antisemitism. However, the conduct of the war in Gaza is damaging our relationship with their Government and, as the Prime Minister has said, if Israel pursues this military offensive as it has threatened, failing to ensure the unhindered provision of aid, we will take further action in response.

The UK, will not give up on a two-state solution: Israelis living within secure borders, recognised and at peace with their neighbours, free from the threat of terrorism; and Palestinians living in their own state, in dignity and security, free of occupation. The two-state solution remains the ideal framework; indeed, it is the only framework for a just and lasting peace. Yet as the House knows, its very viability is in peril, endangered not only by the war in Gaza but by the spread of illegal Israeli settlements and outposts across the occupied west bank with the explicit support of this Israeli Government.

There are now weekly meetings to approve new settlement construction. Settlement approval has accelerated while settler violence has soared. Here, too, we have acted: repeatedly pressing for a change in course and direction, sanctioning seven entities in October and signing a landmark agreement to bolster support for the Palestinian Authority when Prime Minister Mustafa visited London last month. But here too, we must do more. Today, we are therefore imposing sanctions on a further three individuals and four entities involved in the settler movement. I have seen for myself the consequences of settler violence, the fear of its victims and the impunity of its perpetrators. Today, we are demonstrating again that we will continue to act against those carrying out heinous abuses of human rights.

Despite the glimmer of hope from January’s ceasefire, the suffering in this conflict has worsened. January showed that another path was possible, and we urge the Netanyahu Government to choose this path. The world is judging. History will judge them. Blocking aid, expanding the war and dismissing the concerns of their friends and partners is indefensible and it must stop. I commend this statement to the House.

May 20, 2025
Keir Starmer – 2025 Comments at Business Reception in Downing Street

The comments made by Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, in Downing Street on 19 May 2025.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

Commissioner Sefcovic.

It’s fantastic to welcome you all to mark the strategic partnership that we have agreed today with the EU.

Trade deals are much talked about.

People tried for a long time to get a trade deal with India, and it didn’t happen for eight years. We came along and did that deal with India.

People tried and talked about a deal with the US, we came along and did that deal with the US.

Nobody believed we could do a better deal with the EU, and we’ve just done a better deal with the EU.

I always said, I’m not particularly keen on the performance side of politics. I think it’s the delivery that matters.

And this has happened because of the serious, pragmatic way that we’ve gone around our negotiations, and when I met Ursula and Antonio at the beginning of the exercise, we committed to each other that we wouldn’t do it by megaphone diplomacy.

We would do the hard yards of real diplomacy and negotiation, and that’s the base on which we got this deal today.

And so, in the space of just under two weeks, three trade deals.

That tells you something about serious pragmatism.

It tells you something about our commitment to growth, but it also tells you something about the country, because others only want to do trade deals with businesses and economies that they want to tie themselves to going forward.

It reflects the strength of all those that are represented here and many, many others, because we have dramatically improved our trading ties with the largest economy in the world, the US, the fastest growing economy in the world, India, and the largest trading bloc in the world, the EU.

And that is, as I say, a vote of confidence in this country.

We’re living in a different world. It’s a different era, and notwithstanding that instability, that uncertainty, the decisions that we’ve taken to stabilize the economy and lead the way internationally have made Britain a place that people want to do business with once again.

And I’m really proud to be leading a government and a country where others are telling me that they’re very pleased to see the UK back leading on the world stage, whether it’s defense and security, whether it’s trade or the economy or many of the other global issues that face us.

And to underline that Britain is a place where people want to do business. Once again, I’m delighted that we’re announcing major new European investments into Britain today.

Rheinmetall investing £60 million in Telford.

Knauf Insulation…

Investing £170 million in North Wales.

And NewCold investing £235 million in Corby.

Together, creating hundreds of new jobs across the UK.

We also have news today of great British companies – like Octopus energy – expanding in Europe.

So I want to say a huge thank you to everyone here…

For backing Britain.

And let’s just take a closer look at the deal we’ve struck today.

It gives us unprecedented access to the EU market –

The best of any country outside the EU or EFTA.

All while sticking to our red lines.

It’s good for bills, good for jobs, good for borders…

Good for businesses large and small.

By 2040 it will increase Britain’s GDP by around £9 billion.

Our SPS agreement will make food and agriculture trade cheaper and easier…

Cutting admin costs that can reach thousands for a single lorry…

Opening up EU markets for British food exporters…

Lifting the de facto ban on British burgers, bangers and shellfish…

And bringing down prices for British consumers.

Our new Defence and Security Partnership…

Will strengthen our security…

And open the door to working with the EU’s new defence fund –

Boosting Britain’s defence industry.

By increasing our co-operation on emissions trading…

We’re saving UK businesses…

From having to pay £800 million in EU carbon taxes.

By increasing cooperation on energy…

We’re bringing down bills over the long term,

And boosting our renewables industry in the North Sea.

The deal also protects our steel exports from new EU tariffs,

Saving the industry £25 million each year.

And it puts the fishing industry on a stable footing…

Protecting our access, rights and fishing areas…

With no increase in the amount that EU vessels can catch in our waters.

And our fishing industry will also benefit from that new SPS agreement, slashing costs and red tape.

So this a new deal for a new era…

One that will bring huge benefits to the British people.

And by the way –

For business travellers – and tourists –

We confirmed today…

That you’ll be able be able to use e-Gates in Europe –

Ending those huge queues at passport control.

That really is something to celebrate!

You know, when I became Prime Minister…

Almost a year ago…

I said I would deliver in the national interest.

And I think we’ve shown today, once again –

That I meant it.

So thank for you for your support –

Now let’s build on this progress…

Let’s keep showing that Britain is open for business…

And working with all our partners –

To deliver for the British people.

Thank you all.

May 20, 2025
Keir Starmer – 2025 Remarks at Press Conference with EU leaders

The remarks made by Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, on 19 May 2025.

Ladies and gentlemen – Britain is back on the world stage.

Working with our partners. Doing deals that will grow our economy and putting more money in the pockets of working people.

In the last two weeks alone, we’ve delivered trade deals with India and the US. That means: jobs saved, jobs created, more growth and a huge vote of confidence in this country.

It shows that – as global instability is rising, the decisions we have taken to stabilise the economy and lead the way internationally have made Britain a place where people want to do business once again.

And from that position of strength – today we have struck this landmark deal with the EU – a new partnership between an independent Britain and our allies in Europe.

This is the first UK-EU summit, that marks a new stage in our relationship. And this deal, is a win-win. It delivers what the British public voted for last year.

It gives us unprecedented access to the EU market – the best of any country outside the EU or EFTA.

All while sticking to our red lines in our manifesto about. Not rejoining the single market, no rejoining the customs union and no return to freedom of movement.

This deal is good for both sides – and let me set out why it is good for Britain. We’ve struck an SPS deal to make food and agriculture trade with the EU cheaper and easier.

Slashing red tape and bureaucracy. That will mean lower food prices at the checkout.

More choice on our supermarket shelves – and more money in people’s pockets.

It will boost British exporters because, once again after a long absence, we’ll be able to sell great British burgers, shellfish and other products into the EU.

We’ve also struck a new Defence and Security Partnership to strengthen our cooperation and strengthen our security – which is vital in this dangerous new era.

And it will open the door to working with the EU’s new defence fund – providing new opportunities for our defence industry, supporting British jobs and livelihoods.

We are also increasing our co-operation on emissions trading. Saving UK businesses from having to pay £800 million in EU carbon taxes. Once again: supporting British businesses, backing British jobs.

Next, we are increasing our cooperation on energy to drive down bills in the long term.

The agreement negotiated by the last government left us with more disconnected with our closest neighbours despite being physically connected to the European grid by our undersea cables.

Today’s deal will see us work to bring these systems together again – benefitting bill payers and boosting our renewables industry in the North Sea.

Today’s deal is also good for British steel, protecting our steel exports from new EU tariffs. Saving the industry £25 million each year. Another example of this government backing our steel sector to the hilt.

We’ve reached a deal today on fish, protecting our access, rights and fishing areas with no increase in the amount that EU vessels can catch in British waters.

Our fishing industry will also benefit from the new SPS agreement which slashes costs and red tape for our exports into the European market. And we already sell 70% of our seafood into that market so it’s really significant. It is also opening the gates to sending shellfish back into the EU.

And I can announce today that we’re investing £360 million into our fishing industry – to help them take advantage of this deal.

We have acted today to strengthen our borders. The previous deal left a huge gap in our ability to work together to tackle illegal migration.

So this deal closes that gap so that we can work across the migration routes to end the migration crisis and smash the criminal gangs.

We are boosting our cooperation on law enforcement. Combating terrorism and serious organised crime with better sharing of intelligence and data – including facial imaging, for the first time.

Today’s deal will also help British holidaymakers as we are confirming that they will able to use e-Gates when they travel to Europe – ending those huge queues at passport control.

And I call on all EU members states to help make this a reality without delay.

Finally – we have agreed today cooperate on a youth experience scheme to allow our young people to travel and work freely in Europe. And I’m clear – this will come with all the appropriate time-limits, caps and visa requirements.

So – it’s a long list – and it just shows how much we have achieved here today – real benefits for the British people.

Because, it’s time to look forward. It’s time to move on from the stale old debates and political fights to focus on delivering common sense, practical solutions which get the best for the British people.

We’re ready to work with all our partners.

If it means we can improve people’s lives here at home.

And that’s what this deal is all about: facing out to the world once again in the great tradition of this nation. Building the relationships we choose, with the partners we choose and closing deals in the national interest.

May 20, 2025
Bridget Phillipson – 2025 Speech at Education World Forum

The speech made by Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, in London on 19 May 2025.

Hello everyone, and thank you all for being here.

It’s wonderful to see everyone together in the same place – the biggest gathering of education ministers anywhere in the world!

And what a fitting location. Just next door is the Methodist Central Hall, where almost 80 years ago the United Nations General Assembly met for the first time.

And we also sit in the shadow of Westminster Abbey, a place which marks the memories of so many inspirational figures, men and women who still light up our classrooms centuries on.

Isaac Newton, Stephen Hawking, and Charles Darwin are all buried there.

Jane Austen and the three Brontë sisters each have a plaque – next to the statue of William Shakespeare.

And close by lies the grave of Charles Dickens, whose stories I grew up reading, whose characters I loved.

Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Pip and his great expectations.

The abandoned children of Victorian London, held back, time and again, by the tough luck of a bad start.

I was always drawn to Dickens because he was never afraid to confront social injustice.

The daily, grinding poverty that kept opportunity out of the reach of millions.

There’s been plenty of progress since those darker days.

And thankfully, London looks very different today.

But much of the inequality, the injustice remains.

Opportunity still lies beyond the grasp of too many people – here in this country and around the world too.

We have so far to go on our journey to cut the link between background and success.

That’s our job as education leaders, to give not just some children but all children the opportunity to succeed, regardless of background, to make that old dream new again for each generation.

There are well over a hundred countries and territories represented here today. Well over a hundred different education systems. Well over a hundred different sets of challenges.

But we can come together around one common cause. Opportunity.

That’s what education is all about. Opportunity for all children – to learn, to discover, to go on and live a good life.

So that every child knows, deep down in their bones, that success belongs to them.

That’s my mission for the children of this country, it’s the mission of our government. Because background shouldn’t mean destiny.

But the barriers we face are huge – here in the UK and across the globe.

250 million children still out of school around the world.

70% of children in low- and middle-income countries unable to read at the end of their basic education.

A pandemic that saw schools all over the world close their gates, classrooms empty, playgrounds silent, a global generation of children falling behind.

Challenges of this scale demand the fresh solutions of the future, not the stale systems of the past.

We must squeeze every last drop of value out of every last pound of funding.

And technology will lead the way.

The opportunities of EdTech are huge. It’s a wave of innovation that can lift the learning of billions.

But to be clear about what technology can do, first we need to be clear what it cannot do.

It can’t replace great teachers.

They are the heart, they are the soul of every school.

That was true 500 years ago. It’ll be true in 500 more.

Education is a deeply human gift, given by one generation to the next.

Opportunity passed from one generation to the next.

But EdTech can take that gift and make it stronger, spread it further, share it with more children.

It can be the radical force that brings the very best education into every city, every town, every village, every school, every classroom in the world.

It can help us to reach learners who might otherwise be left out – because they have a disability, their parents are poor, they don’t speak a certain language, or simply because they’re a girl.

EdTech can help us tear down those barriers.

Here in this country, we’re using it to free up teachers time to spend more time teaching.

For children that means more attention, higher standards, better life chances.

For teachers – less paperwork, lower stress, fewer drains on their valuable time.

My department is continuing to support Oak National Academy, an online hub of resources for teachers, whose AI lesson assistant is helping teachers to plan personalised lessons in minutes.

Making the most of teacher time is one of the challenges we all face.

Another is attendance – getting children back in the classroom, especially since covid.

Our response is rooted in our world-class data, where schools can use an interactive dashboard to drive early intervention.

And it’s working. We’ve lost 3 million fewer days to absence this year than last.

And now we’re using AI to go further and faster.

Just last week we launched a brand new AI-powered tool, which we think is amongst the first of its kind in the world.

Every mainstream school in the country can access reports right now to benchmark their attendance against 20 similar schools.

They highlight what schools are doing well, and where they need targeted intervention and support.

That’s the kind of cutting-edge insight schools need to get attendance moving.

But, despite its huge power, we know that AI isn’t a magic wand.

EdTech can light up the next century of education – and I believe it will – but there are no guarantees.

So getting AI on the right track now is the most important challenge for global education in a generation.

And we have far to go to deliver the scale of progress that I know is possible.

Our evidence-base is too narrow, too shallow, too concentrated in certain parts of the world, too focused on certain parts of the system.

More research is needed; better research is needed.

On impact.

On value.

On sustainability.

And on safety.

We need to come together to grow a global, collective consensus – a suite of effective tools, built on top-class evidence.

That’s how, together, we can make sure EdTech and AI deliver the very best learning for children.

And on this the UK will lead the way.

This government’s EdTech hub – led by our Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office – brings together research and policy organisations working to bridge the EdTech evidence gap.

The Hub is here to support and empower government leaders, giving you the evidence that you need to roll out and scale up EdTech effectively and responsibly.

The Hub is leading, and the UK is funding, the AI Observatory and Action Lab – supporting leaders in low- and middle-income countries to use AI in education.

And we are continuing the change here at home with our new Content Store Project.

We’re pooling a vast range of high-quality content – from curriculum guidance to teaching resources, from lessons plans to anonymised pupil work.

And we’re making it available to AI companies to train their tools – so that they can generate top quality content for use in our classrooms.

And we’re putting AI to work in a way that’s most useful for teachers, and most beneficial for students.

But now we want to go further, to share our expertise, to work with our partners around the world to grow that collective consensus.

So I am delighted to announce today that we are funding the development of global guidelines for generative AI in education.

Working closely with partners at the OECD, we are shaping the global consensus on how generative AI can be deployed safely and effectively to boost education around the world.

But everyone here today will know that guidelines are only ever as good as their implementation.

Because what really matters is firm action in our classrooms, not abstract promises on a page.

That’s why today I can announce that the UK will host an international summit on generative AI in education in 2026.

Education leaders from around the world will come together to implement these guidelines – for the benefit of our children, young people and learners the world over.

And we’ll continue to build the evidence base at home too.

So I’m pleased to announce today that my department is investing more than a million pounds to test the Edtech we’re using in schools and colleges.

Working with the Open Innovation Team, we’ll be engaging the sector to understand what works.

We’ll look at how tools, including AI, can improve things like staff workload, pupil outcomes and inclusivity.

Evidence must be at the heart of all we do, on EdTech and right across education.

Here in the UK, we’re lucky to have the Education Endowment Foundation.

The Foundation is at the forefront of research on how children learn.

And my officials work hand in hand with their experts to make sure all our policies and programmes are driven by the very best evidence.

We need to be at the top of our game.

We’ve spoken about the challenges specific to education, but there are wider global challenges, that spill into our schools and colleges.

Growing economic uncertainty, shifting labour markets, the flood of disinformation around social media.

These are shared challenges that demand shared solutions.

Solutions powered by technology, backed by evidence.

But collaboration is key. We can’t do this alone.

Learning from each other, sharing evidence, sharing data.

The UK is here to convene, to accelerate and to celebrate all that is best in global education.

And in the coming months we’ll publish our refreshed International Education Strategy.

At its heart will be collaboration.

Building partnerships that are meaningful, partnerships that matter, partnerships that, above all else, make a difference in the lives of the people we serve.

That’s what sets apart those men and women whom we remember in Westminster Abbey. They made a difference in people’s lives.

The scientists and engineers, the poets and playwrights, the doctors and nurses.

Most of their deeds were done and dusted centuries ago. But their legacy lives on.

EdTech is now bringing the wonders of the Abbey to a whole new generation of children.

From the Anglo-Saxons to the Tudors, from the majesty of coronations to the drudgery of everyday medieval life.

Abbey experts run virtual classrooms and virtual tours for schools unable to visit in person – so that every child can learn about this building which has been at the heart of our national life for a thousand years.

So that no child has to miss out.

That’s what EdTech is all about, what education is all about, opportunity for all of our children.

Because let’s not forget, this is for them.

For every child, for every young person, for every adult around the world who deserves the opportunity to learn.

That’s why we have to get this right.

That’s why so many of you have come here today from so far away.

And that’s why I am so thankful that you have.

Because together I know that we can make a difference.

So it gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the Education World Forum 2025.

And I look forward to working together with you as we build stronger, bolder, better education together.

Thank you.

May 20, 2025
David Lammy – 2025 Speech in Lviv on the Special Tribunal

The speech made by David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, in Lviv on 9 May 2025.

It is a fitting time and place for this discussion.

It is remarkable that eighty years ago, Allied governments were dealing with detained Nazis, and thinking about accountability for the atrocities.

Some considered simple revenge.   But others favoured a different approach.

Holding those criminals accountable under international law.

Drawing in part on work by two great sons of this great city, Rafael Lemkin Sir Hersch Lauterpacht.

The resulting Nuremberg trials were a milestone in building a global order rooted in the rule of law and human rights.

Today, the pursuit of such a global order again seems a tall order.

Russia is waging a war of aggression, with mounting evidence that Russian soldiers are committing atrocities we would have hoped to consign to history – attacks which rain down on civilians, the deportation of children, torture and sexual abuse of civilians and prisoners of war.

Russian leaders show not the slightest concern for the lives of individuals or the laws of war.

But we need to remember figures like Lemkin were not naïve idealists.  Indeed, Sir Hersch wrote about anchoring his philosophy of international law in the ‘realities of international life’.

Precisely our task today.

We have it in our hands to hold those responsible for the invasion of Ukraine to account.  The UK is proud to have supported the idea of a Special Tribunal since the outset.

A Tribunal is an essential part of the armoury of justice, alongside the efforts of Ukrainian authorities to bring prosecutions inside Ukraine, and the work of the ICC.

As the country where Sir Hersch made his home, we are proud to support the Lviv Joint Statement and endorse the legal foundations for this Tribunal.

It will take time for a Tribunal to become operational. We support using the framework of the Council of Europe. But also believe we must expand the Core Group to more partners from beyond Europe.

The whole world is outraged at Russian crimes. The whole world should now come together to hold Russia to account. We must rally all countries in support of justice.

Our friends in Ukraine are staying true to the legacy of VE Day.

The legacy of Lemkin and Sir Hersch.

Thank you.

May 16, 2025
Wes Streeting – 2025 Speech on Men’s Health

The speech made by Wes Streeting, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, at Central Hall in Westminster, London on 13 May 2025.

It is a genuine pleasure to be here alongside so many friends – people I don’t yet know, but people we want to work with.

It’s great to have such a wide range of people and organisations represented around the room, who are creating spaces for men to fight loneliness.

Encouraging open conversations about masculinity and providing positive role models for boys across our country.

I want to thank you, Richard, for picking up this agenda and helping to force it into the mainstream.

Society has been slow to wake up to the fact that a lot of men and boys are really struggling today, and you’re playing a big role in correcting that.

And, as you alluded to in your remarks, making sure that this is a mainstream agenda and not one that is surrendered to the margins and the extremes.

So, I’m looking forward to working with you and your institute as we begin to develop solutions to the inequalities and injustices that men and boys face in our country today.

The truth is it can be quite tough to be a young man in today’s society.

Lots of boys, particularly those from working class backgrounds like mine, are falling behind at school and are worried about their futures.

The proliferation of toxic influences and content on social media is leading a lot of boys astray.

A lot of content on social media that provided a real challenge for girls in terms of positive body image and what it meant to be a perfect girl or a woman in our society – those challenges are now applying to men and boys in similar if sometimes different ways.

And all of this is contributing to a crisis in masculinity.

Since taking on the health and social care brief in opposition 3 and a half years ago, I’ve been very outspoken about the fact that it takes 7 and a half years for women to receive a diagnosis for a common condition like endometriosis, or that a universal experience like menopause is still treated as if it’s a rare condition affecting alien species.

And I feel just as enraged about the inequalities in men’s health, frankly.

Men are living 4 years less than women.

The gap widens if you just look at working class communities.

Men are disproportionately affected by cancer, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.

The tragedy is that many of these conditions are treatable and even preventable.

Black men are twice as likely to die from prostate cancer as White men.

And suicide is the number one killer of men under the age of 50, which was a fact so shocking that I nearly fell off my chair when I first heard it and actually asked for the statistic to be checked. And the fact that it’s now more commonly cited should not make the fact itself less shocking or outrageous.

Nothing frustrates me more than when men’s health and women’s health are pitted in opposition to each other, as if by focusing on the men’s health strategy, we are in any way detracting from the work we’re doing on women’s health.

This is not an either or.

It very much has to be hand in hand, and we will address both.

And it also does a disservice to lots of women in our society, as if somehow women don’t care about their fathers and grandfathers, their brothers, their sons, their nephews any less than we care about our mothers or grandmothers, our sisters.

It’s really serious.

So I actually think that we are all in this together, and we will succeed as a society if we’re working together to tackle the injustices and inequalities that affect men and women.

There’s a common problem across the NHS that women’s voices are not heard, and women are not listened to.

When it comes to men, I think the problem is often we’re more reluctant to speak up in the first place.

One in 3 men have never had a conversation with a brother, father or grandfather about their health.

The same number would prefer to suffer in silence than go to the doctor about their mental health.

So, I think we’ve got to teach men from a young age that it’s okay to feel, to hurt and to ask for help.

Doing so doesn’t make you any less of a man.

And I think that making sure this generation of young men and boys are aware of that fact is how we make them less likely to channel their emotions into anger, aggression or depression.

This is all why we’re doing the first ever men’s health strategy.

I announced this last year at the Emirates Stadium to coincide with Movember, alongside a large number of men’s groups and organisations, charities and men’s health ambassadors.

It was a great event, but one of the things that came out of it on the day and since has never ceased to amaze me. And that is just how many people said, “thank you”.

That’s not just because as a politician, it’s rare for someone to say thank you.

I mean, to be fair, we’ve got to give people something to be grateful about.

But, actually, I was saying to people, look, you can thank us when we’ve done something.

All I’ve done is say we’re going to have a strategy.

We hadn’t even launched the call for evidence at that point.

When we’ve done something, when we’ve had an impact and we’ve started to change those statistics and change things about their lives and futures.

But actually the pushback I got was, no, actually, we’re genuinely grateful because we’ve been fighting for this for so many years and haven’t had a hearing, let alone someone being prepared to launch a call for evidence that will lead to a strategy.

And that tells us something about the extent to which men’s health has been overlooked, and particularly men’s mental health.

So we launched our call for evidence for the men’s health strategy in April, and I was about to say, I want to ask everyone who hasn’t responded yet to do so and spread the word further.

But actually, we have been really overwhelmed and really struck by just how positive and engaged such a large number of organisations have been.

But nonetheless, we want to make sure we engage as many men, as many organisations and as many different types of men and different parts of the country from different communities as we have.

Which is right.

We have to look at the data and we will take an evidence-based approach.

But as we know, statistics paint a picture to an extent, but what we also need to do is understand the story that we want to tell.

We’re talking about the experience of men and boys today and how we’re going to make it so much better, so we could do with more insight as well as data, especially from those grassroots organisations in this room and beyond, in a range of communities across the country, whether on physical health or mental health, whether we’re talking about White men or Black men, whether we’re talking about class inequality as well, which is at the heart of a lot of mental health. Any serious attempt to address mental health must confront these inequalities head on.

So, we’ve got our work cut out for us. Doing is a lot more important than talking.

We’ve done the easy bit, in my view.

We’ve committed to having a strategy to making a difference and making sure that we’re proud of the impact.

But in order to be successful, this isn’t just a challenge that government can address.

This is about government playing its part, but working in partnership with civil society, with businesses, with all of us as citizens to try and tackle what are a wide range of challenges and problems facing men and boys.

And that’s why this gathering is really important to me, the department and the government, because we need to do this with you rather than to you. And with this level of enthusiasm, this level of energy, we genuinely think we can do something impactful that we’ll be able to look back on for the rest of our lives with pride, knowing that we were prepared to confront the problems and the challenges head on, and make sure that boys growing up in this country today, whoever they are, whatever their background, can achieve their fullest potential and look forward to a life well lived, rather than experience the deep anxiety and despair far too many boys in our country are experiencing today.

So thank you very much in advance.

May 16, 2025