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Category: Speeches

  • Lisa Nandy – 2024 Statement at Bradford City of Culture’s Programme Launch

    Lisa Nandy – 2024 Statement at Bradford City of Culture’s Programme Launch

    The statement made by Lisa Nandy, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on 12 September 2024.

    I just wanted to say what an absolute pleasure it is to be here tonight.

    In my first couple of weeks in the job, I held a reception for a lot of our biggest stakeholders in the culture world, and I met Shanaz at an event, who left me in absolutely no doubt about how amazing this was going to be, not just for Bradford, but for the whole country.

    And standing here tonight, feeling the energy in this room, walking down the street earlier, feeling a city that is buzzing with its sense of self, it is just such an enormous privilege to be part of it.

    It takes a bit of getting used to this, because I’m used to coming up here and saying things like: the government should get behind this.

    What you’re doing here is really, really special. And I want other people to see what you’re doing here, not just what you’ve done already, but how you’ve gone about it, involving the whole city and every single community, with all people, especially young people, driving and shaping not just this coming year, but the legacy that it will leave for a very long time.

    You know, a reflection on the last few months is that I’ve had two groups of people through my door. One set of people say, there’s a lot of problems, and there are, and you need to fix them. And the other group of people, people like Tracy and Susan, come through the door and say: we’re solving this country’s problems, and we need your help. And I can’t tell you how exciting it is when that happens.

    To be here in this young, vibrant, diverse city with its proud, rich cultural inheritance, from the South Asian community to David Hockney, who proudly hangs on my wall as a symbol of what Bradford has always contributed to this country and to the world and will do again.

    And that’s what’s so special about next year, is that for the first time, some people in our country are going to know what Bradford has to offer, having never known that before.

    And more than that, it’s our ambition as a new government that for far too long, too many people in our country haven’t seen themselves reflected in our national story, and it’s our ambition and our determination that that is going to change. So that when we turn to face the country again in five years time, we face a country that is far more self-confident, knows that it isn’t just comfortable in its diversity, but knows that it is far, far richer for it.

    A self-confident country at ease with itself, where people in every part of our country, no matter where you’re from or the background that you come from, knows that your contribution is seen and is valued and sees you reflected in the story that we tell ourselves about ourselves as a nation again.

    And what you’re building here will really put rocket boosters under that. It will be a model for others to follow in the future. But it isn’t just that. Tracy talked about the economic legacy that this will lead. Susan talked about the economic investment that it’s already brought.

    But the creative industries are amongst the fastest growing industries in the country, whether it’s film or TV, arts and culture, heritage, video games. These are the sorts of well-paid, good jobs in every part of the country.

    And you know what? For far too long, the assets and the potential in places like Bradford and Wigan, where I live, have been scandalously ignored by too many decision makers.

    But there’s a reason why the film industry wants to invest in Sunderland, because of those amazing backdrops that you see right up across our coastline. You only have to walk around this city to see the beautiful buildings and the open landscapes and how much potential there is here, if we could only see it.

    And if you don’t think Bradford has that to offer, if you don’t think Sunderland has that to offer, if you don’t think the Welsh valleys have that to offer, then you’ve never been to them, and you have no business making decisions about where our funding is going.

    I just want to say thank you particularly to Susan and Tracy, who I’ve known a long time, who are absolute powerhouses, forces to be reckoned with. They’re the most difficult people to deal with. They never take no for an answer, and they always do it with smiles on their faces.

    But our government is determined not to come in and tell you what you need as a community, but to walk alongside you, to help you realise your own ambitions for your city, for your region, and for the whole of the north of England.

    Finally, I just want to say to the young people that I’ve met tonight, who are the most incredible group of young people, there are moments in these jobs that stay with you forever, and those conversations I’ve just had over there will stay with me forever.

    Whether you’re a member of a youth board, whether you’re on an apprenticeship, whether you’re here on a work placement, or whether you’ve come to volunteer because you just want to be part of something really special, I wanted to say to you all that Bradford holds a very special place in my heart, because it’s where my stepdad, who went on to become a leading investigative journalist, a working class lad from Bury, first in his family to go on to grammar school and then make it to university. It’s where he started his career on the Bradford Telegraph and Argus.

    Until the day he died, he said to me: it would never have happened if that pipeline and those opportunities hadn’t been there. Well, what you’re doing as a generation is creating opportunities and richer, larger lives for children who you will never meet, who will never know your names, but their lives will be changed forever because of what you’ve done here and what you’ll continue to do over the coming year.

    I couldn’t be more proud to be a part of it, I’m right behind you, the whole power of government is right behind you. What is it? Be brave. Be bold. Be Bradford.

  • Keir Starmer – 2024 Keynote Speech on the NHS

    Keir Starmer – 2024 Keynote Speech on the NHS

    The speech made by Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, at the King’s Fund on 12 September 2024.

    [NB, this is the redacted speech issued by 10 Downing Street with political comment removed]

    As you have heard today, Lord Darzi has published his independent report on the state of our NHS.

    It is an incredibly comprehensive analysis. Some of you will have seen it, there are copies available, please read it.

    A raw and honest assessment. That is what we asked for.

    And that is why I wanted to come here to the King’s Fund.

    Home to many of our country’s leading healthcare experts.

    Because your contributions are going to be vital.

    As we get this precious institution back on its feet,

    And build an NHS that is truly fit for the future.

    And look, our starting point couldn’t be further from that goal.

    Public satisfaction in the NHS has fallen…

    [Please note political content redacted here.]

    To an all-time low today.

    Think of the impact that has on staff who are putting in so much day in day out, knowing that confidence is at an all-time low.

    And that is because, as everybody in the country knows, the last government broke the NHS.

    But until this morning, we didn’t know the full scale of the damage, which is laid bare in the report.

    Even Lord Darzi, with all his years of experience.

    Is shocked by what he discovered.

    It is unforgiveable.

    And people have every right to be angry.

    It’s not just because the NHS is so personal to all of us.

    Or because when people can’t get the care they need…

    They’re off work sick, with huge costs for our economy.

    It’s because some of these failings are literally life and death.

    Take the waiting times in A&E…

    More than 100,000 infants waited more than 6 hours last year…

    And nearly a tenth of all patients are now waiting for 12 hours or more…

    That’s not just a source of fear and anxiety…

    It’s leading to thousands of avoidable deaths….

    And that phrase avoidable deaths should always be chilling.

    That’s people’s loved ones who could have been saved.

    Doctors and nurses whose whole vocation is to save them…

    Hampered from doing so.

    It’s devastating. Heartbreaking. Infuriating…

    And that’s just scratching the surface.

    High-risk heart attack patients waiting too long for urgent treatment.

    Cancer diagnosis patients waiting too long….

    With cancer death rates higher than other countries

    And when it comes to getting help for mental health …

    …. 345,000 are waiting over a year.

    That’s roughly the entire population of Leicester.

    [Please note political content redacted here.]

    Covid hit our NHS harder than healthcare systems in other countries.

    The NHS delayed, cancelled, or postponed far more routine care during the pandemic than any comparable health system.

    And why?

    Because our NHS went into the pandemic in a much more fragile state.

    Fewer doctor, fewer nurses and fewer beds than most other high income health systems

    [Please note political content redacted here.]

    What Lord Darzi describes as a “calamity without international precedent”.

    A “scorched earth” approach to health reform, the effects of which are still felt to this day.

    And at the same time, they inflicted what the report describes as:

    “the most austere decade since the NHS was founded”

    Crumbling buildings.

    Decrepit portacabins.

    Mental health patients in Victorian-era cells infested with vermin.

    When we say they broke the NHS…

    That’s not performative politics.

    Just look at it.

    The 2010s were a lost decade for our NHS.

    [Please note political content redacted here.]

    And it’s not just the state of our National Health Service in crisis.

    It’s also the state of our national health.

    We’re becoming a sicker society.

    Spending more of our lives in ill-health than ten years ago.

    There are 2.8 million people economically inactive because of long-term sickness.

    As today’s report makes clear –

    “The NHS is not contributing to national prosperity as it could.”

    But perhaps Lord Darzi’s most damning finding is about the declining physical and mental health of our children.

    Fewer children getting vaccinated…

    While those from the most deprived backgrounds…

    Are twice as likely to be obese by reception age.

    And much of this is a direct result of wider social injustices..

    Poor quality housing

    Lower incomes,

    Insecure employment.

    All of it, not just damaging the health of our nation…

    It’s piling up the pressures on our NHS.

    That’s the report.

    But look, I haven’t come here just to set out this appalling inheritance. Though it is really important that we know it and properly understand it in detail.

    Getting people back to health and work would not only reduce the costs on the NHS.

    It would help drive economic growth – and fund public services.

    My government was elected on a mandate for change so I’m also here to talk about how together we fix it.

    I feel very deeply the profound responsibility for this.

    And indeed, the opportunity of this moment.

    The NHS may be broken, but it’s not beaten.

    As the report says, the NHS may be in a “critical condition”.

    But “its vital signs are strong”.

    And we need is the courage to deliver long-term reform.

    Major surgery not sticking plasters.

    We’ve got to face up to the challenges….

    Look at our ageing society.

    And the higher burden of disease.

    Look, the NHS is at a fork in the road.

    And we have a choice about how it should meet these rising demands.

    Don’t act and leave it to die.

    Raise taxes on working people.

    Or reform to secure its future.

    Working people can’t afford to pay more.

    So it’s reform or die.

    So let me be clear from the outset, what reform does not mean.

    First, it does not mean abandoning those founding ideals.

    Of a public service, publicly funded, free at the point of use.

    That basic principle of dignity.

    Inspired of course by Bevan,

    That when you fall ill,

    You should never have to worry about the bill.

    That is as true today as when the NHS was founded 76 years ago.

    And I believe that so deeply.

    As some of you will know, my mum and my sister both worked for the NHS.

    My wife works for the NHS.

    The NHS cared for my Mum throughout what was a very

    But “its vital signs are strong”.

    long illness…

    The NHS runs through my family like a stick of rock.

    And you know, this isn’t just about emotion.

    It’s about hard facts too.

    The NHS is uniquely placed for the opportunities of big data and predictive and preventative medicine.

    So the problem isn’t that the NHS is the wrong model.

    It’s the right model.

    It’s just not taking advantage of the opportunities in front of it.

    And that’s what needs to change.

    Second, reform does not mean just putting more money in.

    Of course, even in difficult financial circumstances.

    My government will always make the investments in our NHS that are needed.  Always.

    But we have to fix the plumbing before turning on the taps.

    So hear me when I say this.

    No more money without reform.

    I am not prepared to see even more of your money spent

    On agency staff who cost £5,000 a shift

    On appointment letters, which arrive after the appointment,

    Or on paying for people to be stuck in hospital

    Just because they can’t get the care they need in the community.

    Tonight, there will be 12,000 patients in that very position.

    That’s enough to fill 28 hospitals.

    So we can’t go on like this.

    As Lord Darzi has said –

    NHS staff are “working harder than ever”

    But “productivity has fallen.”

    Because patients can’t be discharged,

    And clinicians are spending their time trying to find more beds.

    Rather than treating more patients.

    That isn’t just solved by more money – it’s solved by reform.

    And third, reform does not mean trying to fix everything from Whitehall. It really doesn’t.

    When Lord Darzi says the vital signs of the NHS are strong.

    He’s talking about the talents and passion of our NHS workforce.  That’s what he’s talking about.

    The breadth and depth of clinical talent.

    The extraordinary compassion and care of our NHS staff.

    If we are going to build an NHS that is fit for the future…

    Then I tell you, we are going to do it with our NHS staff.

    And indeed, with our patients too.

    We are going to change it together.

    Now, that starts with the first steps,

    40,000 extra appointments every week.

    But we’ve got to do the hard yards of long-term reform.

    So this government is working at pace

    To build a Ten-Year Plan.

    Something so different from anything that has gone before.

    This plan will be framed around three big shifts,

    Three fundamental reforms,

    Which are rooted in what Lord Darzi has set out today.

    First, moving from an analogue to a digital NHS.

    Already we can see glimpses of the extraordinary potential of technology,

    Like the world’s first ever non-invasive, knifeless surgery for Kidney cancer… Just imagine that.

    Pioneered by Leeds Teaching Hospitals.

    Or the precision cancer scanners…

    I saw just yesterday.

    Or simply for transforming how we manage a condition.

    We went to Kingsmill Hospital earlier this year and met a 12-year old called Molly.

    She used a smartphone to monitor her glucose levels…

    Instead of being forced to repeatedly prick her fingers.

    It made such a difference to her daily life and gave great reassurance to her mum who could remotely check on the settings and the findings.

    We’ve got to make these opportunities available to everyone.

    We’ve got to use technology to empower patients and give them much greater control over their healthcare.

    Take an innovation like the NHS app.

    This could be a whole digital front door to the NHS.

    Appointments, self-referral, reminders for check-ups and screenings.

    Patients in control of their own data,

    Healthcare so much more transparent,

    So you always know your options,

    And the standards that you should expect.

    And you know, earlier this year I went to Alder Hey Hospital. Many of you will know it, it’s a fantastic hospital, where they carry out heart surgery on infants, which is really humbling to see.

    I met the parents of a two-year old who had extremely complicated heart surgery. A tiny infant, an incredible surgery.

    I asked them about their child’s history and condition, how did he come to be here, what’s the story behind it,

    And as they told me, I could see them welling up as they went through the history, conditions, all the background through all of that over and over again.

    They really struggled to tell the story and they have to do this every single time.

    Because the records weren’t held electronically.

    We’ve got to have fully digital patient records.

    So that crucial information is there for you.

    Wherever you go in our NHS.

    And while I’m on technology

    We’re also going to throw the full weight of the British Government behind our world leading life sciences.

    Second, we’ve got to shift more care from hospitals to communities.

    Now The King’s Fund has long called for this.

    Successive governments have repeatedly promised it.

    But what’s happened?

    The opposite.

    The share of the NHS budget spent on hospitals has actuallyincreased.

    Now this Ten-Year plan has to be the moment we change this.

    The moment we begin to turn our National Health Service

    into a Neighbourhood Health Service.

    That means more tests, scans, healthcare offered on high streets and town centres.

    Improved GP access.

    Bringing back the family doctor.

    Offering digital consultations for those who want them,

    Then they told me that every time they went to a different hospital, they had to go virtual wards.

    And more patients can be safely looked after in their own homes.

    Where we can deal with problems early,

    Before people are off work sick and before they need to go to hospital.

    And we’ve got to make good on the integration of health and social care.

    So we can discharge those 28 hospitals worth of patients.

    Saving money.

    Reducing the strain on our NHS,

    And giving people better treatment.

    And third in terms of the shifts, we’ve got to be much bolder in moving from sickness to prevention.

    Now we’ve already announced NHS health checks in workplaces.

    Blood pressure checks at dentists and opticians.

    And that is just the beginning.

    Planning for ten years means we can make long-term investments in new technologies

    That will help catch and prevent problems earlier.

    And there are some areas in particular

    Where we’ve just got to be more ambitious.

    Like children’s mental health.

    Or children’s dentistry.

    You know, one of the most shocking things that I saw, I’ve ever seen…

    This was actually when I was at was at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital again.

    As I mentioned earlier, I went to the ward where they do heart operations.

    The single biggest cause of children going into that hospital…

    Between the ages of 6 and 10…

    Was to have their rotting teeth taken out. I couldn’t believe it. I was genuinely shocked.

    All politicians say they are shocked too often, but I was honestly shocked, the single biggest cause of going into hospital of children between 6 and 10 is having their teeth taken out.

    Can you think of anything more soul-destroying?

    For those children what a price to pay.

    And for that brilliant NHS team who want to use their talents to save lives.

    Instead spending their time taking out rotting teeth.

    Something that could be so easily prevented.

    And look, I know some prevention measures will be controversial.

    I’m prepared to be bold even in the face of loud opposition.

    So no, some of our changes won’t be universally popular.  We know that.

    But I will do the right thing – for our NHS, our economy, and our children.

    Now, the task before us is the work of our generation.

    We’ve already hit the ground running.

    Negotiating an offer to end the strikes

    [Please note political content redacted here.]

    Strikes that were costing us all a fortune.

    And we inherited 1,000 trainee GPs who were set to graduate into unemployment…

    Instead we hired them.

    But only fundamental reform and a plan for the long-term can turn around the NHS and build a healthy society.

    It won’t be easy, it won’t be or quick.

    It will take a ten-year plan.

    Not the work of just one Parliament.

    But I know we can do it.

    Because we’ve done reform before.

    [Please note political content redacted here.]

    To deliver better outcomes for patients and better value for taxpayers.

    [Please note political content redacted here.]

    My Government has a huge mandate for change.

    We are mission-driven.

    And I think the themes of this conference today are fitting for this moment.

    Challenge. Change. And hope.

    Because the challenge is clear before us.

    The change could amount to the biggest reimagining of our NHS since its birth.

    And the hope, well that’s what’s really exciting and galvanising about this moment.

    Because if we get this right,

    People can look back and say –

    This was the generation that took the NHS from the worst crisis in its history.

    Got it back on its feet and made it fit for the future.

  • Peter Kyle – 2024 Speech at the Science and Engineering Conference

    Peter Kyle – 2024 Speech at the Science and Engineering Conference

    The speech made by Peter Kyle, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology on 11 September 2024.

    Good afternoon.

    It’s a real pleasure to be here.

    Thank you for having me along. It really does mean the world to connect with people on the front line of R&D.

    Something you notice quite quickly when you get appointed to this job, is you do feel quite distant from the front line of some of things you’re making big decisions about, so it’s great to be here to connect with as many people as possible.

    Since I’ve got this job, people have constantly been asking me how it connects to people’s lives and is science really relevant to the daily lives and lived experiences of people.

    It is quite surprising for me to hear that question put in so many different ways.

    But the answer for me has never changed because anyone who has stepped foot into a secondary school classroom can see in a heartbeat how important science is to energising and inspiring young people.

    Anyone who has felt the sheer excitement of students setting up an experiment for the first time can see how important science is to inspiring young people.

    And they’ll tell you: not connecting with people’s lives just isn’t true.

    Because if you accept the idea that the only people interested in science are the professionals.

    The people with PhDs and post-docs.

    Then you’ve lost the argument about science before it has even started.

    Our challenge is not about persuading people to care about science.

    It is about what happens to science if you are forced to make difficult decisions.

    If you inherited – for example – a state with broken public finances and broken public services.

    How many of those young people would say that science should be first priority?

    And that’s the challenge we’ve got to overcome.

    We can’t just tell them that it is interesting or important.

    They already know that.

    We must show them why it matters so much for the things that they care about most.

    That is what our missions collectively is to achieve.

    They set out a clear plan for tackling the country’s greatest challenges together.

    A plan with R&D at its foundation.

    We know that the young people in that classroom want to live fulfilling and happy lives.

    So we must show them we can use science to build an NHS fit for the future.

    An NHS where doctors can use quantum scanners to detect diseases invisible to the human eye, giving them back precious years with their grandparents.

    Those young people care about achieving their own potential.

    So we must show them that technology such as AI can break down the barriers to opportunity.

    Helping teachers use AI to plan lessons that help every pupil go as far as their talents will take them.

    They care about the future of their planet, too.

    So we must show them that innovation can transform the way we generate clean energy and combat climate change.

    The success of our missions will be measured by the meaningful difference we make to everyday people’s lives.

    And every one of them will depend on growth.

    Because, more than anything else, it is growth that will shape those young people’s future.

    It is growth that determines whether they can get a good job in the place they grow up.

    Whether we can fix our hospitals and schools.

    Today, a decade of lost growth means that British people are earning less than a tenner more each week than they did in 2008.

    Taxes are at a seventy-year high.

    National debt is the highest its been since the 1960s.

    Stagnant growth and productivity has come at a profound cost to our country, our communities and individuals.

    A cost that is felt in our public services and in working people’s pockets.

    We are faced with a systemic problem and challenge.

    A problem the same old sticking plasters cannot fix.

    So we have got to do things differently.

    And science, it must be part of the solution as it has done every single time our country has moved forward.

    Because long-term, sustainable economic growth is impossible without innovation.

    You simply cannot make people better off without investment in R&D.

    A couple of months ago, I went to Glasgow to see what success could look like.

    There, I met some of the extraordinary people working in the city’s space sector.

    Some of them will have grown up as the children of shipbuilders, in a place that once built a fifth of the world’s ships.

    Now, they are building more satellites than anywhere else in Europe.

    Satellites that could transform the way we understand climate change.

    Or provide Internet access to some of our most remote communities.

    Later this year, I am heading to South Wales.

    The collapse of heavy industry there hollowed out cities, towns, and villages.

    Hundreds of thousands were left unemployed.

    Unable to do the only job they – or their parents – had ever done, many of them never worked again.

    Now, the region is home to the world’s first compound semiconductor cluster.

    And those same cities, towns and villages are once again at the beating heart of the global economy.

    Home to people who are designing and making the chips that are powering the digital revolution and driving forward our net zero ambitions.

    Their children might one day do the same.

    If I wanted to show people why science matters, I would point to places like that across our country.

    Places where R&D is providing good jobs in industries built to last.

    And giving communities their future back.

    The success of Glasgow and South Wales is testament to the power of partnership.

    Between the public and the private.

    World-leading universities working with bold, dynamic businesses.

    Too often, though, government has been missing in action.

    Some of the people I spoke to in Glasgow told me that the relationship with the state has felt less like a partnership – and more like a one-way street.

    Ever-shifting funding settlements have made it impossible to plan into the future and give the stability they need.

    A maze of unwieldy regulation has held business back, preventing them from developing products that could change people’s lives for the better.

    Universities have been treated like political footballs, rather than celebrated as a public good that they are.

    That is bad for innovation. It is bad for growth. And it is bad for working people.

    So it’s time to turn the page.

    In our national missions, I see an opportunity to build a long-term, strategic partnership in which we can both invest.

    A partnership anchored in stability – and in a belief that science and technology can benefit every single one of us, wherever we live in the country.

    It begins in the places where research happens: in labs and lecture halls across the country.

    Sometimes, life-changing discoveries can take decades to develop.

    Earlier this week, I spoke at the Terrence Higgins Trust.

    In 1982, Terrence Higgins became of the first people in the UK to die of an AIDS-related illness.

    It was almost thirty years before the treatment now used to prevent HIV infection became available to the public.

    For thirty years, scientists worked tirelessly to find a cure, often without the support they deserved – or, worse – in the face of outright opposition to even working on those solutions.

    If we want to see more breakthroughs like this.

    Breakthroughs that can bring back hope to millions.

    Then we need a coherent, clear-sighted approach.

    An approach grounded not in short-term decisions, but in a realistic, hopeful vision of a future where science makes life in Britain better.

    That is why we are introducing 10-year budgets for certain R&D activities.

    By giving researchers the long-term funding, they need to remain right at the heart of the cutting edge, we will end the uncertainty that undermines innovation.

    We will restore strength and stability to the relationship between industry and our research institutions.

    And we will give businesses in Britain the confidence to invest wholesomely in R&D.

    Above all, our approach will be determined by a relentless focus on delivery.

    We have already commissioned our AI Action Plan which will set out how we can make the very best use of artificial intelligence to grow the economy and improve public services, and the relationship between citizens and the public services that they depend on.

    And we have unlocked new investment in essential R&D infrastructure like the UK Biobank, the world’s leading biomedical database.

    That funding that will supporting scientists who are trying to find cures to devastating diseases like Parkinson’s, dementia and cancer.

    We know that discoveries this could take decades.

    But once they happen, it shouldn’t take decades for people to benefit.

    Because every day of dither or delay is another day that someone misses out.

    On the job that could change their life.

    Or the treatment that could save their life.

    The Regulatory Innovation Office will cut the time it takes for businesses to bring new ideas onto the market and into our lives.

    And Skills England will give them access to a home-grown workforce with the talent to take on the challenges of tomorrow.

    By fixing the foundations of our broken skills system, it will give every young person – no matter where they live – the opportunity to get on life.

    This week, hundreds of thousands of those young people will step into a science lab for the very first time.

    Each of them will have come home full of stories, of what they have done that day.

    The excitement of that first experiment.

    Or the disaster of an attempting a discovery gone wrong.

    As they get older, many of them will hold onto that kernel of inspiration.

    But they will begin to wonder – what does science do for me?

    When I can’t get a good job in my town.

    And my parents have been waiting weeks to see the doctor.

    Science means something different to all of us.

    Whether we are investing in new products in the lab.

    Or putting them to use on the factory floor.

    Our challenge remains the same.

    Not simply to tell people about the power of innovation.

    But to show them, by putting that power to use for the public good.

    In our missions, we have the promise of a partnership with a purpose.

    A partnership with people at its heart.

    Now, we must get on with the job and deliver for them.

    Thank you very much.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2024 Speech on the Government’s Vision for the Future of UK Capital Markets

    Tulip Siddiq – 2024 Speech on the Government’s Vision for the Future of UK Capital Markets

    The speech made by Tulip Siddiq, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, at the London Stock Exchange on 6 September 2024.

    Good morning and thanks for the invitation. It’s so lovely to be here today, and it’s one of my first addresses in my new role as City minister.

    And it’s a very deliberate decision that I’ve taken, because growth is the defining mission of this government, which you’ve probably heard us say over and over again. From the top down to the centre out, we recognise the importance of capital markets to delivering this growth mission that we’ve consistently talked about for the last few years. And As the Chancellor herself said – many of you will have heard at Barclays CEO forum recently – “when the City succeeds, Britain succeeds”. Nothing demonstrates that better than our capital markets.

    It’s not just that when our markets do well, our economy does well. Already this year, more than £20 billion worth of equity capital has been raised in London alone, more than three times what has been raised in the next three European exchanges combined – to support businesses to invest, to innovate and to grow.

    And according to a New Financial report from 2020, 90% of large UK companies regularly use capital markets, supporting some 5.5 million jobs. It’s not just large companies which benefit from our markets. Over the last five years combined, more than half of all capital raised in European growth markets was raised in London. And although these facts speak for themselves, I’ll spell out what they say: that UK capital markets will underpin our mission of sustained and meaningful economic growth.

    But I also know that for our capital markets, stability and just the right amount of risk is the formula for economic growth. Whilst too much political change can unbalance that formula by moderating the market’s ability to signal opportunities for profit and risks of loss.

    So let me be clear to everyone who has raised this with me. We will not pursue change for its own sake. The economist Adam Smith once wrote about an invisible hand, a metaphor for the forces that guide decision-making in the market. Well, I want you to be in no doubt – because in the marketplace of ideas, evidence will be the hand that guides our decision making in policy making generally and capital markets policy specifically. You can describe our approach to the existing program of capital markets reform with this timeless saying, which is ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’. I hope that reassures some of the people who’ve raised this with me about continuity.

    And while reviewing the existing plans for reform to a capital markets there’s three things that I was struck by. Firstly, the proposals are technically rigorous. Secondly, they have the support of our financial services industry and its regulators. But lastly, and this is most importantly, I know they will support our mission of sustained and meaningful economic growth. And so I, and this government, will support them.

    And I’ll begin that support by highlighting some of the most exciting policy initiatives. Some of which Julia and I were discussing when we came in. For example, the FCA’s changes to our listing rules will revolutionise our markets. By making changes to rules on dual-class share structures, related party transactions and introducing a new international secondary listing category, we will directly align our markets with leading international counterparts and provide greater flexibility to firms and founders raising capital.

    The impact of some of these changes are already being felt, and I’m delighted that some firms are already taking advantage of them.

    The government will also continue to collaborate with a number of industry driven initiatives. Working closely with our Industry Technical group led by Andrew Douglas, and building momentum towards faster settlement of securities trades. And I look forward to the final report of the Task Force led by Sir Douglas Flint on improving the current system of share ownership and eliminating the use of paper share certificates.

    And we remain fully committed, as I just said before we came on, to take forward the new Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System – or PISCES – a world-first bespoke regulated market for private company shares. This will help investors to invest in exciting private companies and support innovative companies to grow – and ultimately to an IPO.

    To my mind, government works best when it’s underpinned by honest and open conversation. And that’s why it’s very important to me to thoroughly examine the feedback from the consultation earlier this year, and to ensure that all of your opinions are properly reflected in our decision-making process.

    And while it’s clear to me that there is huge support for the PISCES project, it is also clear that on the issues of disclosure and market abuse we need to tailor our thinking further. So please be assured that my officials and I will continue working with you. And in that spirit, my officials will be in attendance at the roundtable on PISCES later today, and I’ll ensure that all the conclusions from this roundtable are considered in our final proposal to ensure that PISCES does deliver on its promise.

    But I know that we can go even further to restore competitiveness to our capital markets.

    And of course, a lot of you will be looking forward to the Mansion House speech and the Budget later on, which will set out the plans for our sector in more detail. But I would urge you, if you haven’t already, to look at the report “Financing Growth” – that I published earlier this year – which unapologetically puts really reinvigorating our capital markets at the heart of this government’s growth mission. It’s what we campaigned on, and it’s what we intend to deliver in government.

    They include proposals to encourage the investment of capital freed by Solvency II reforms into UK infrastructure and green industries. To empower the British Business Bank with a more ambitious remit, for example, providing match funding to spin out seed funds. And a landmark review of the UK’s pensions and retirement saving landscape to explicitly consider the role of pension funds in capital and financial markets to boost both their returns and broader economic growth.

    Confirming this review was one of the first announcements made by the Chancellor, and this phase will be led by my colleague Emma Reynolds, who is the Minister for Pensions. She will be speaking here later today. And I encourage you to join this, which is the session on the UK pensions landscape, because Emma will outline the exciting plans that we’ve undertaken as a government.

    So, I do recognise that these proposals are challenging. I’m not naive about it.

    But I am confident looking around this room today and seeing the expertise here, that if we work together, we will be delivering this, because sustained and meaningful economic growth is not just the government’s mission, it’s a mission that we share with everyone in this room.

    So now let’s go out and deliver it.

  • Bridget Phillipson – 2024 Speech on Fixing the Foundations of Opportunity

    Bridget Phillipson – 2024 Speech on Fixing the Foundations of Opportunity

    The speech made by Bridget Phillipson, the Secretary of State of Education, at the Carlton House Terrace in London on 10 September 2024.

    Thank you so much. I’m so pleased to be here with you today at the launch of such an important report.

    And the temptation with reports like these, the ones that deal in international comparisons, is to try and score cheap political points by doing each other down.

    But I think that’s a mistake. They are a chance for collaboration, not competition. Partnership, not rivalry.

    Educational standards, opportunity itself, is a shared global endeavour. I want countries to come together to educate our children to form, not just the citizens, but the society of tomorrow.

    And so I’d like to thank the OECD for this excellent report. And I’d also like to thank the Sutton Trust for hosting us today.

    And I know that Sir Peter Lampl – you are stepping down as chair soon.

    And I know that you’ve spent the last quarter of a century campaigning tirelessly to level the playing field where it comes to access to education and career opportunities, so that no young person is held back by their background.

    So thank you for all that you have done, Peter. I was going to wish you a happy retirement from your role, but it sounds like you’ve got lots of plans lined up and lots that you intend to achieve in the months and years to come.

    I’m an optimist. So I want to be positive, but I do have to be honest about the inheritance of a new government.

    And as data published today shows, around a third of children leaving primary school do not meet the expected standard in reading, writing and maths following assessment.

    There are pockets across our country where only every other child is leaving primary school meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

    Lurking beneath all of these separate challenges is a common denominator of distress: child poverty – the stain on our society that has seeped into the fabric of far too many families.

    One in 10 pupils in this country miss at least a meal a month because their parents can’t afford to buy food.

    Back in August I visited a sixth form college in Manchester for level 3 results day.

    And during that visit I sat down with teachers to listen to their reflections on what it is to be a teacher today.

    One told me that he had been a teacher for over a decade. But in that time his job had changed beyond all recognition.

    With more and more kids bringing out of school issues into the classroom, his role had expanded.

    The children’s need for pastoral support took up so much more of his time.

    More and more children were prevented from learning in his lessons because they were hungry, or because of other problems at home.

    Despite that teacher’s best efforts, going far beyond his job description, the life chances of those children were shrinking.

    As politicians we like to talk about our own story.

    But proud as we may be of that, too often the story of why some of us make it to stand on platforms like this today, while others never get that chance, is not one of hard work and talent.

    It’s one of luck, and all too often of bad luck.

    That’s the story for those children in that teacher’s classroom in Manchester, and thousands of other classrooms across the country.

    The ones arriving too hungry to learn.

    The ones arriving too tired to concentrate.

    The ones arriving not having done their homework because they don’t have a quiet space at home.

    Whereas others arrive ready and raring to go – and in the evenings they go back to homes where they are encouraged to continue learning, where their education is prized.

    Nowhere is the stickiness of these disparities clearer than in the persistence of poverty, infecting generation after generation.

    It takes five full generations for families in poverty just to reach average pay in the UK.

    And in today’s Britain, it’s the luck of your background, rather than how hard you work, that all too often delivers success.

    And the British people know it: three in four of adults agree that a person’s background influences their outcomes in life.

    The foundations of opportunity in Britain may be rotten.

    But aspiration – that desire to achieve and to succeed – is in rude health.

    It isn’t just the reserve of the wealthy, even if the opportunity to fulfil those aspirations remains rationed to a lucky minority.

    Working people want to know that success belongs to them, to look into the eyes of their children and grandchildren and tell them that if they work hard, they’ll be able to get on and have a good life.

    So this government is on an urgent mission to make that a reality once more…

    … an urgent mission to fix the foundations of opportunity

    … to restore the heritage of hope passed from generation to generation.

    It can be done.

    But to do it we must eradicate child poverty from our society.

    That’s why I came into politics, that’s why I’m proud to be leading the new government’s child poverty taskforce as co-chair, together with the Work and Pensions Secretary.

    Work has already begun, we held our first meeting of the taskforce last month, and we’ll publish our strategy in the spring.

    I’m glad to see that the theme of today’s report is equity in education.

    Tackling child poverty is one piece of the puzzle – and it’s a top priority for this parliament. But fixing the foundations of opportunity demands equity in education too.

    For this new government, it means high and rising standards across the length and breadth of education:

    Not for some of our children, but for all of our children

    Not in some of our schools, but in all of our schools

    Not just in London and the south east, but right across our nation

    Every village, every town, every city on the map. Every child, every young person, every adult in this country.

    And to do that we need great teachers – the ones who inspire, who guide, who shape the futures of all of their students.

    They are vital to our opportunity mission, so we’re restoring teaching as the profession of choice for the very best graduates and recruiting 6,500 new expert teachers.

    That’s why we’re giving teachers and school leaders a 5.5% pay award, starting this academic year.

    Great teachers in every classroom – that’s one way we’re fixing the foundations of opportunity.

    But our opportunity is about parents as well as children – it’s about families.

    We need to get early education and childcare right – so that all children get the very best start in life and all parents get the power to pursue their careers.

    But, as your report shows, the gap in enrolment in childcare between rich families and poor families in the UK is one of the biggest in the OECD.

    So how can we spread opportunity more widely?

    Part of the answer does lie in the childcare rollout.

    And I’m delighted that last week hundreds of thousands of working parents started receiving 15 funded hours for their young children for the first time.

    And I was pleased to confirm that the 2025 childcare commitment to increase this to 30 funded hours will go ahead.

    We have worked tirelessly this summer alongside childcare providers to deliver the promises government made, because trust in government is vital.

    That of course means being open about the scale of the challenge to roll out this commitment in full.

    It won’t be simple. It won’t be easy.

    But I will work with our parents and workforce to see it through.

    All of early years education is vital for our mission, not just childcare.

    Those first steps into education are so important for a child’s life chances.

    And the sad truth is that a significant part of the attainment gap is already baked in by the age of 5.

    But what happens next in a child’s life, what they are taught in the classroom, is vital too.

    So we are bringing together expert education leaders and staff in an expert-led review to help us deliver a cutting-edge curriculum fit for the future.

    True equity in education requires breadth and depth, and ours has been thin and shallow for too long.

    A foundation in reading, writing and maths, yes.

    Of course.

    But let’s go further. I want every child in our country to benefit from the wonders of music, sport, art and drama.

    A curriculum that reflects the issues and diversities of our society, ensuring that every child is represented.

    Never compromising on standards in the basics.

    Quite the opposite.

    That’ll be the strength with which we drive high and rising standards for all of our children.

    Those standards must be for each and every child.

    When they slip, it’s not middle-class parents who miss out – they can pay for tutors to pick up the slack.

    It’s the children without support at home who fall further behind.

    To deliver those standards in all our schools we need an accountability system that is fit for purpose.

    A system built on support, and focused on driving improvement at the earliest point.

    High standards, not high stakes.

    Broad and rich, not narrow and reductive.

    And last week I took the first steps to reform accountability. I announced the end of single headline Ofsted grades for state-funded schools, with immediate effect.

    Instead, a clearer, broader, more transparent report card approach, in place by September ‘25.

    Equity in education, from early years up to university and beyond, is the seed for opportunity in our society.

    We can’t focus just on one part of the system, one area of the country, one group of people.

    We can’t let excellence in education be the reserve of a lucky few.

    It has to be for all, for everyone, forever.

    Now I said before that I’m an optimistic person. And even given the challenge ahead, I am optimistic.

    I believe that this country’s best days lie ahead of us; that our country with its proud history can have a brighter future yet.

    September signals the end of summer, but a new beginning for education.

    The work to fix the foundations, to build a new nation of opportunity, has now begun.

    Thank you.

  • Diana Johnson – 2024 Speech at the Police Superintendents’ Conference

    Diana Johnson – 2024 Speech at the Police Superintendents’ Conference

    The speech made by Diana Johnson, the Crime and Policing Minister, in Kenilworth on 10 September 2024.

    Hello everyone and thank you for having me.

    Given this is my first time addressing your conference, I’m tempted to ask you to take that into account, particularly in the Q+A.

    But having spent much of my time before the election asking uncomfortable questions as chair of the Commons Home Affairs Committee, including to ministers and policing leaders, I guess I need to get used to the roles being reversed.

    But – seriously speaking – my time in that role gave me a window into your world. The engagement we had with police bodies, including the PSA, helped to strengthen my understanding of the realities and challenges of policing today.

    And one thing I also just wanted to let you know was that I’ve been an MP for 19 years, and one of the very best things I have ever done as a member of parliament was the Police Parliamentary scheme, where I got the opportunity to spend 24 days with my local police force, Humberside, and it gave me a real opportunity to see what was happening on a kind of day-to-day basis for police officers. And I remember doing the kind of early morning shift, and I did nights, and I went out on public order, and I went out with the dogs, and it was just fascinating. So, I’m really pleased I did that, and I have that experience now I’m a Police Minister. So I want to say as well, as the Home Secretary just did, I want to say a heartfelt thank you to all of you.

    From the most routine acts of policing to national-scale operations and painstaking investigations, you make an immeasurable contribution to our society.

    And I do also want to say a few words about the summer disorder. And as you know, it has been an incredibly busy few weeks for this government, since the general election, and the events of the summer have left us all, I think, with much to reflect upon.

    The attack in Southport rocked that community to its core and the impact was felt around the country.

    For three little girls to lose their lives is just unspeakably horrific, and my thoughts are of course with their loved ones. I cannot begin to imagine the anguish they are going through.

    I want to take the opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to every officer involved in responding to that terrible incident. They showed tremendous courage in the most difficult of circumstances, and their actions saved lives.

    We all know what came next; at a time when we should have been focused only on supporting those affected by the attack in Southport, and allowing the urgent police investigation to get under way, we instead found ourselves responding to an outbreak of widespread violent disorder.

    The various incidents around the country have been catalogued in extensive detail so I will not get into a new blow-by-blow account.

    I will simply say that the hijacking of those poor families’ grief at that time was utterly shameful…

    …as was the violence directed towards police officers working to maintain order and protect the community.

    The immediate priority was to get back control of the streets and restore order.

    That’s why the Prime Minister and Home Secretary made clear from the beginning that you had our unqualified support in taking all necessary action to quell the disorder.

    And we sent the message loud and clear that anyone involved in criminality should expect to be caught and face the consequences of their actions.

    The swiftness of the response by policing and the wider criminal justice system was fundamental to getting the situation under control and restoring order.

    As part of the national mobilisation plan coordinated by NPoCC, more than 40,000 officer shifts were worked by public order officers over that 10-day period, with over 6,600 public order officers deployed on one day alone. Rest days, as you know, were cancelled and additional hours were worked.

    The fact that arrests were being made within hours and convicted offenders behind bars facing prison time within days not only showed we were serious when we said there would be a price to pay for criminality on our streets, but it also demonstrated to the law-abiding public that this behaviour will not be tolerated.

    So, I want to echo the Home Secretary’s words of enormous thanks to everyone across policing for your tireless efforts during what was an exceptionally difficult period.

    But I also want to say this: I’m appalled that new figures revealed today show that assaults on our women and men in uniform are still far too high.

    Even preceding the violent disorder of this summer – assaults on police officers are up, with a quarter of those incidents resulting in injury.

    The Home Secretary was right to call this a ‘stain on our society’ and to say that it will not be tolerated.

    So, we recognise your service and your sacrifice.

    Whether it’s responding to violent disorder, running towards danger, attending emergencies or investigating serious crimes, we know that the heroic daily work of the police exerts a huge strain on officers and their families.

    That’s why we will always support you, as you support your teams to serve our communities.

    It’s why we support the Police Covenant and why we are determined to work with you to ensure it delivers for all officers, staff and volunteers, recognising that wellbeing and mental health support is vital in maintaining a healthy and engaged police workforce who can effectively serve and protect the public.

    Turning now to the safer streets mission, which the Home Secretary referred to, I think it’s clear that those unacceptable attacks on the police speak directly to this Government’s wider Safer Streets mission.

    And that is to restore respect for the rule of law on British streets, including restoring respect for the police, which has sadly been eroded over many years.

    To do that, we will ensure that you have everything you need to get back to tackling the issues that matter most to the public.

    Too many town centres and high streets across the country have been gripped by an epidemic of anti-social behaviour, theft and shoplifting, which is corroding our communities and cannot be allowed to continue.

    There are thousands of incredible police officers and support staff doing an admirable job. But we do have to face the reality that there are still too many victims of anti-social behaviour who feel that when they call the police, no one listens, no one comes and nothing is done.

    Our neighbourhoods and police forces have suffered enough after a decade of decline, and this government will help restore neighbourhood policing, with skilled, resilient and dedicated local cops.

    We must rebuild these bonds of trust and respect between the police and local communities that have always been so central to our proud British tradition of policing by consent.

    That’s why we will implement a new Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, restoring patrols to town centres, recruiting thousands of additional police personnel, and ensuring every community has a named local police officer to turn to.

    And as part of that plan, I can announce today that the government has agreed initial funding to support the College of Policing in rolling out a specialist new training programme for neighbourhood officers.

    The Neighbourhood Policing Programme Career Pathway will focus on anti-social behaviour, community engagement and problem solving and equip neighbourhood officers with the skills, knowledge and confidence they need to build local relationships and to tackle the issues that damage communities the most.

    Every community deserves local officers who understand what is needed to keep them safe, and with this new training and our Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, we will deliver the change our towns and villages are desperate for.

    Supers are the operational leaders, you know what is going on in  forces day to day, and we want to tap into your insight and expertise as we restore neighbourhood policing and crack down on corrosive crimes like anti-social behaviour and shoplifting, which will help to restore public confidence that there will be consequences for criminality in their communities.

    But to deliver on the promise of change we have made to the British people, we also need to crack down on the serious crimes that devastate lives and communities across the country.

    That is why we are acting to address the deadly cycle of knife crime by getting more dangerous weapons off our streets and preventing young people from being drawn into violent crime in the first place, with a radical new Young Futures prevention programme and early intervention for those at-risk.

    And it is why we have set out an unprecedented mission to halve violence against women and girls over the next decade, working right across government, as well as with the police and the criminal justice system, on everything from prevention work in schools, to pursuing dangerous perpetrators and to getting survivors the support and the justice they need.

    Underpinning all of this is an unwavering commitment to protecting our national security, and those working to counter threats from terrorism, hostile states or any other source, and they have our full and enduring support.

    Law enforcement has an instrumental role in delivering this ambitious mission. So as with neighbourhood policing, we will be looking to you and your teams to work with us so we can deliver real and lasting improvements for the public.

    As the Home Secretary has said to many policing colleagues since the election – we will not be politicians who just shout from the sidelines. We will work in lockstep with you to deliver change – championing your successes, recognising your sacrifices and, yes, of course, holding you to account and asking difficult questions along the way to ensure that progress is being made in every corner of the country.

    Because for this mission to be successful, it will be critical to secure and maintain the confidence of the people you serve.

    The vast, vast majority of officers I know are decent, hardworking and professional. When standards are not met or powers are abused, I know that you all feel it deeply and it undermines your excellent work.

    That is why, together, we have to ensure behaviour and cultures are beyond reproach, right across the system.

    In charting a new path, I know that none of this is easy. There are deep-rooted issues that need to be reckoned with.

    One thing we know for sure is that none of our goals will be achieved unless there is close alignment between government and policing.

    But with the Home Secretary’s knowledge and leadership, I wholeheartedly believe we can chart a new, successful way forward.

    And I know this because I have seen first-hand how dedicated the Home Secretary is to supporting each and every member of the policing family.

    I know how keenly she feels her responsibility to ensure you have the powers and tools to fulfil your critical functions.

    And I can assure you that when she says she wants to work with you to get British policing performance at its very best, she means it.

    As superintendents and chief superintendents, but also as police leaders, you have an important and rightful role to play in helping us deliver safer communities.

    You have a wealth of knowledge, insight and expertise that we absolutely want to tap into to help us deliver on our mission.

    Whether that’s about the threats you and your teams are tackling day in and day out, or about more strategic policing issues, we want to and we need to hear from you in shaping our approach.

    In conclusion, again I want to offer my thanks again to the PSA for all the work they do and for giving me the opportunity to address you today.

    As Policing Minister, I intend to be your voice within government.

    And I do want to champion your successes, understand your needs and support your teams.

    As the Prime Minister and Home Secretary have made clear, we are serious. We are very serious about tackling crime, rebuilding confidence and putting neighbourhood policing back at the heart of our communities.

    You and your colleagues will all have an integral part and role to play in that mission.

    And I know it’s not going to be delivered overnight.

    I’m conscious – I think I’ve been post about 11 weeks, so I know that you know this is going to take some time,

    But what I have seen in my short time in my role has given me a renewed confidence that we will succeed.

    The dedication, the skill, the bravery, the willingness to make sacrifices…these are the core elements of British policing at its best and they have been on display in abundance over recent weeks.

    I will finish by saying how grateful I am to everyone across the service, and I very much look forward to working with you all as we strive to protect the public and make our country safer.

    Thank you very much for your time.

  • David Lammy – 2024 Statement on Edmundo González Urrutia’s Decision to Leave Venezuela

    David Lammy – 2024 Statement on Edmundo González Urrutia’s Decision to Leave Venezuela

    The statement made by David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, on 10 September 2024.

    Edmundo Gonzalez’s decision to seek political asylum abroad follows months of repression and intimidation against opposition figures and civil society in Venezuela. It is a decision that no politician should ever have to make.

    The UK continues to pay testament to the millions of Venezuelans who turned out to vote in the presidential election on 28 July. Along with the UN and international allies, we remain deeply concerned about allegations of serious irregularities in the declared results. Despite repeated calls, Venezuela’s National Electoral Council has still not produced full results or credible evidence of a victory for Nicolas Maduro. Publicly available records appear to show Edmundo Gonzalez secured the most votes by a significant margin. The UK has also publicly expressed the unacceptability of the ongoing repression in Venezuela. Human rights must be protected, and arbitrary detentions and harassment must stop.

    The UK continues to work with international partners to achieve a peaceful solution in Venezuela. Dialogue remains the only solution to ensure that the will of all Venezuelans is respected.

  • Hilary Benn – 2024 Speech at the British-Irish Association Conference

    Hilary Benn – 2024 Speech at the British-Irish Association Conference

    The speech made by Hilary Benn, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, on 7 September 2024.

    Thank you very much to Dominic and to all of you, for your kind invitation.

    And my heartfelt thanks to you Micheál, not only for your warm and extremely wise words, but also for the way in which you have embraced the opportunity we now have for a genuine and lasting reset in the relationship between our two countries.

    It is a privilege for me to be here, for the first time since my appointment as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.

    I’ve only ever been to one other BIA conference, that was two years ago when I was a late substitute for my good friend Peter Kyle. I suspect it was my work as Chair of the Brexit Select Committee that made him think of me.

    And over many years Dominic, you and I have shared many views about the choices the then-Conservative government made about our departure from the European Union, and the consequences of that decision still reverberate – and will continue to do so.

    It was William Faulkner who once said: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”

    But what a remarkable history the BIA has borne witness to, over these past 52 years, as this truly unique annual conference has continued to provide an opportunity for a very wide range of people to come together and reflect on the ties that bind our two countries together.

    Two countries that share so much… history, culture, ideas, politics and friendships.

    And it’s a story that runs like a thread through these islands and through the lives of so many of our families, including my own: on my side, it was an Ulster Scot from Fermanagh who made that journey that millions made across the Atlantic to Ohio which is where my mother came and, on my wife’s side, Irish Catholics from Cork, Mayo and Kilkenny including her grandfather who was born in your constituency.

    Now the history of these islands has not been benign. Over the centuries there have been terrible wrongs, great violence, revolution, bitterness but in recent years – reconciliation.

    And throughout all that time that thread has remained in place, and it has found new expression in ways that would truly have seemed unimaginable to us in the past.

    I must be frank, The Good Friday Agreement was something I never believed that I would see in my lifetime. But I did. We did.

    It ushered in an end to three decades of bloody violence, and its founding commitment was to self-determination and the principle of consent.

    Unionists and Nationalists sitting side by side in government. As you said Micheál, the seemingly impossible made possible.

    And what happened on that Good Friday 26 years ago was, and remains, an inspiration to many around the world, precisely because it was a triumph of political courage and patient diplomacy over bitter sectarian fatalism. And of compromise over intransigence.

    Mo Mowlam’s words during the negotiations still resonate today, she said:

    “Everybody is going to get something. No-one is going to get 100% of what they want. That is the nature of negotiation and accommodation”.

    And all of those involved chose to do that in order to get something far more valuable.

    Today the UK and Irish Governments stand on the shoulders of those who negotiated the Agreement. We are the co-guarantors of it and all of us in these islands are its custodians.

    The Good Friday Agreement, and the peace and prosperity it has brought to Northern Ireland, is in my view the greatest achievement of the last Labour Government which I had the privilege to serve.

    So let me be absolutely clear. This Labour Government’s commitment to the Good Friday Agreement – in letter and in spirit – is absolute.

    Our support for the European Convention on Human Rights, which underpins the Agreement, is unwavering.

    We will implement the Windsor Framework with pragmatic good faith, not least because we need to do so in order to negotiate a veterinary agreement with the European Union, but also in order to protect the open border on the island of Ireland.

    The Prime Minister and the Taoiseach have agreed to hold annual summits as part of a renewed commitment to the strand 3 institutions.

    And the Prime Minister and I – indeed the whole Government – will work with all parties and all communities in Northern Ireland to support reconciliation, equality, respect for human rights and parity of esteem.

    Now, the stability of Northern Ireland’s devolved government – a government that can work for all the people of Northern Ireland – is absolutely fundamental to making these things happen.

    And I want to pay a warm and genuine tribute to the First and deputy First Ministers – to you Emma and to Michelle – and indeed to the whole Executive, for the positive start that you have made, the impression you have created and I warmly welcome the draft programme for government that was announced this week.

    The Executive now has the foundation provided by that programme. It has a needs-based funding formula that was agreed with the previous government, and we are committed to putting in place a longer-term fiscal framework.

    But like every government, difficult decisions need to be taken about how to balance the books and raise additional revenue, not least because there are deep-seated deep-seated challenges that Northern Ireland faces.

    You highlighted one of those Emma yesterday in your wonderful contribution, the economic inactivity rate which is 27% of the working age population which is 5% higher than the UK as a whole.

    The longest health service waiting lists in the UK, a third of patients waiting more than two years for treatment. And only 47% of A&E waits meeting the 4-hour target.

    I think all of us agree that can’t really continue. That is why we are absolutely committed as the government to working with the Executive as it seeks to transform Northern Ireland’s public services.

    It is also incumbent upon all of us to uphold the devolved institutions, to ensure they endure and that they act for all the people in Northern Ireland.

    Now I recognise that mandatory coalition is really difficult, imagine those of us with different political persuasions were having to cope with mandatory coalition in Westminster. But we all know that for over a third of the time since 1998, the institutions have not functioned fully. I don’t think this would be accepted anywhere else.

    My feeling is surely the people of Northern Ireland and the political parties and all of us must recognise that what’s happened in the past cannot happen again and were it to occur, our two governments as co-guarantors of the Good Friday Agreement, working with all the parties, would need to find a new way forward.

    Turning to the economy, we should clearly look at the opportunities for the UK and Irish Governments to work collaboratively on projects to help improve growth in Northern Ireland including in its border regions.

    And, while being strong supporters of the Union, this Government and this Secretary of State see no contradiction in also being supporters of North-South cooperation.

    And in that context, I applaud you Micheál for your work in developing and taking forward the Shared Island Programme which you referred to and the Fund, which makes a valuable contribution in so many ways. And when it comes to the all-island economy, and I know this is up for some debate, my feelings are very simple, it is a fact it is a success.

    And I don’t quite understand why there should be an argument about somehow denying its existence when so many businesses and livelihoods are sustained by it: the all-island dairy industry, big multinationals, like Lidl, McDonalds, Coca-Cola and so many small and medium-sized businesses which operate on an all-island basis.

    On the Windsor Framework, let me be absolutely frank. There have been some very painful moments in the UK-Ireland relationship in recent years.

    I bear too many scars from the approach of the previous UK government to our departure from the European Union, but this Government will ensure the smooth flow of goods within the UK internal market.

    So, as I have said, we will implement the Windsor Framework in good faith while seeking the maximum pragmatism and proportionality. It is not without its challenges – I think that is probably the understatement of the year – but it is necessary because we do want to do more to improve our trading relationship with the EU, in particular to negotiate a sanitary and phyto-sanitary agreement with the European Union which really would help. I think everybody knows that.

    And with a sustained period of stability, political and economic, the opportunities are enormous, not least because of the talent, ingenuity and enterprise that exists right across Northern Ireland, and the unique trading position that Northern Ireland enjoys – what a wonderful opportunity for foreign direct investment – all within the UK internal market.

    As I have travelled around Northern Ireland, both in opposition and now in Government and seen some of the world class businesses operating in life sciences, high-tech engineering, making composite aircraft wings and the buses of the future – electric and hydrogen – services and film and television, education – I am struck that all these firms have seen something in Northern Ireland and its people.

    With continued political stability and optimism – and I’m the third speaker at the forum who will say I am an optimist. It is the only way, I don’t know how you can get up if you are not an optimist. We can help others to see the same thing and so encourage them also to invest in Northern Ireland’s future.

    Now, the other rift in the relationship in recent years has been over ofcourse how we approach the terrible legacy of the Troubles.

    I have met many families who lost loved ones in the most appalling circumstances. I have to be honest with you. I have found it very difficult to listen to their stories. To look them in the eye. To hear about the sheer brutality of the killings. The way some of them were treated afterwards. The search for answers, and the passing of the years without finding them.

    The abandonment by the previous Conservative Government of the Stormont House Agreement, and the unilateral approach taken in the Legacy Act, were wrong. From my first visit to the Wave Trauma Centre, and that had a profound impact on me, many of those families have told me about the deep hurt and upset and anger it has caused them. And it was legislation of course that was rejected by all of the Northern Ireland political parties and by the Irish Government.

    It could never be the basis for reconciliation or progress on legacy.

    And that is why the Prime Minister and I committed to repeal and replace the Legacy Act.

    Now as you know earlier this year its central provision – the conditional immunity scheme – was ruled by the High Court in Belfast to be incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.

    In July, we wrote to the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal to withdraw the previous UK Government’s appeal on ECHR grounds.

    I also set out to Parliament our commitment to reverse the Legacy Act’s ban on bringing civil litigation, to propose measures to allow – in the first instance – halted legacy inquests to continue, and to strengthen the Independent Commission on Reconciliation and Information Recovery.

    That body, which is being ably led by Sir Declan Morgan, was deemed by the court to be capable of conducting human rights compliant investigations. It was an important – and often overlooked – finding.

    But I believe that measures to strengthen the Commission, we talked about these yesterday when we met, are also necessary, and I am committed to working with you on this.

    Because there is more we can do to address concerns about the Commission’s independence. To strengthen its powers. And to ensure there is the capacity for effective cooperation with the Gardaí over investigations.

    This is the work we have now begun – but its success in the end, all of this legislation will be judged by those families many of us have met, who have waited so long for answers.

    So we are now undertaking a period of consultation with victims and survivors, the Northern Ireland political parties, the Irish Government, veterans and others in seeking to find a practical way forward that can command support, the broadest support across communities in Northern Ireland and beyond.

    I recognise, I am not naïve, that this process will involve difficult conversations, and many stakeholders do, and will hold different views about the best way forward.

    But it is also clear that a resolution to addressing the legacy of Northern Ireland’s painful past will not be reached without a willingness, by all, to listen, to understand the perspectives of others, and in the spirit of Mo Mowlam’s wise words to compromise.

    I also want to acknowledge the dedicated service of the vast majority of police officers, members of the armed forces, and the security services who did so much during the Troubles to keep people in Northern Ireland safe. Also the work of the Police Service of Northern Ireland for their continuing efforts to do the same for communities right across Northern Ireland.

    The scenes we saw last month in Belfast, in Derry/Londonderry and in many other parts of the UK, were shocking, there’s no other word for it and we must stand resolutely against senseless violence, intimidation and – let’s be blunt – racism.

    I visited three business owners who had been attacked on that terrible day. I saw the Café that was burnt out. Three people that come to Northern Ireland to make their lives, to make it their home specifically targeted because of who they were.

    The Prime Minister and I had the opportunity three weeks ago to convey our thanks directly to some of the officers of the PSNI who were injured when standing up to that violence, when we visited the PSNI training college in Belfast. It was a great honour to be able to do so.

    The similarities with the scenes we saw in Dublin last year are hard to ignore.

    The willingness of far-right thugs and online agitators to whip up hatred and spread misinformation online pose a shared threat, but I know it is a threat which I know our two governments, with the Executive, will continue to face down together.

    There are other areas in which the UK and Irish Governments can do more.

    Not only because it is in our mutual economic interest, but in these febrile and uncertain times, we have shared values, and a shared commitment to democracy and the rule of law.

    And given our geography, and the ties of friendship and kinship that bind us, look at the opportunities.

    Just to take one example, energy infrastructure, cooperation on energy resilience, climate – where are both blessed with huge potential for more renewable wind power – and investment in Northern Ireland by GB Energy, which in turn will support the Shared Electricity Market.

    And given increasingly uncertain geopolitics of the world, and I agree with every word you said about the threat to the international order which created out of the actions of the second World War and which has stood us in reasonable good stead is being undermined by people and political forces, it also makes sense to collaborate further on security.

    The UK has a range of world-class capability and we will continue to work with Ireland as we together grapple with threats like cyber security, terrorism, organised crime and the threats posed by Russia and other states to the security of our nations.

    On a much happier note, the UK-Ireland Euros in 2028 will allow us to celebrate our nations working together to put a once-in-a-generation footballing spectacle before a worldwide audience, although I must admit that at 5pm precisely this evening that co-operation will temporarily be suspended as Ireland take on England at the Aviva stadium.

    So, in conclusion there is a lot for us to do.

    Northern Ireland stands at a crossroads.

    And the sense I get is that the vast majority of people just want to move forward to embrace a better future.

    So let us be bold, let us get on with it and let us take inspiration from those who did make the impossible possible 26 years ago.

    Thank you very much.

  • David Lammy – 2024 Speech on 75 years of the Modern Commonwealth

    David Lammy – 2024 Speech on 75 years of the Modern Commonwealth

    The speech made by David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, on 4 September 2024.

    Well your Excellencies, guests, friends,

    It’s wonderful, really, really quite wonderful to host so many remarkable people here today. Together, you tell a wonderful, modern, diverse story about what is our Commonwealth.

    A network which connects people around the world – athletes, artists, activists, authors. An organisation which I believe is vital to tackling the challenges before us today. And a family which I am very, very proud to call my own.

    This is personally a very, very special moment for me as Foreign Secretary. As many of you will know, my parents came to Britain from Guyana, as part of the Windrush generation.

    And I stand before you as Foreign Secretary, tracing my lineage back to Africa through of course the trans-Atlantic slave trade. So I feel the pain and anguish of that heritage, as did my parents.

    But I share with them a keen awareness of my Commonwealth roots, a sense of belonging and solidarity with all members of the Commonwealth diaspora and the powerful optimism for what a multicultural society can be.

    And this spirit drives me as Foreign Secretary, as I seek to reconnect Britain with the world. A task in which I believe a revived, reinvigorated Commonwealth has a significant role to play. This belief reflects the fact that the world has changed radically in 75 years since the Commonwealth was born.

    You could argue there have been 3 phases to our organisation’s history:

    • an imperial phase under His Majesty George VI
    • a post-colonial phase under Her Majesty Elizabeth II
    • and now, under His Majesty Charles III, we have entered a new multipolar phase

    And this mirrors changes in the wider world. We are now well and truly in a multipolar age. And we face global challenges which can only be overcome if we all – all of us, the Global North and the Global South – focus on tackling them together.

    The Commonwealth must show how we can contribute then to achieving that unity of purpose. In doing so, we benefit from an array of legacies.

    Like that of my dear friend Baroness Scotland, who has overseen the establishment of the Climate Finance Hub and the Blue Charter, the growth in our membership, and ensured the Commonwealth’s voice is heard at the top tables of diplomacy across the world.

    And that of the late, great Guyanese Secretary-General, Sir ‘Sonny’ Ramphal, Who embedded the Commonwealth’s reputation as a unique platform for taking action on global challenges, for giving a voice to small states, for helping to forge closer, more equitable, relations between the Global North and the Global South.

    Next month, we will select our new Secretary-General. Africa is central to the world’s future – demographically, economically, and of course geopolitically. So I am excited that our next Secretary-General will hail from one of our African members. And I look forward to working with them to build on their predecessors’ efforts.

    Of course, we are also building on the enormous legacy of Her late Majesty The Queen. Two years since her passing, we treasure her role in cementing ties between us. The warmth and affection in which she is held across the Commonwealth testifies, both to her skills as a diplomat – she was, quite simply, the greatest diplomat of our time and to her vision for how to do diplomacy – a vision, frankly, far ahead of its time.

    A vision of leaders in the Global North and Global South working together, in a spirit of partnership. A vision that the Commonwealth exemplifies, as a forum in which voices from all corners of the globe – one third of the world’s population – are heard and respected.

    His Majesty the King, as Head of the Commonwealth, has been clear that he shares the vision of a family of nations in tackling the challenges of our time, strengthened by sharing diverse perspectives and experiences. And it is a vision embraced by the new British Government as well.

    This government will only succeed in reconnecting Britain with the world on the basis of mutual respect. And so it is natural for us to want to seize the opportunities the Commonwealth offers, particularly with leaders gathering in Samoa in October.

    Friends, at that meeting, I believe passionately that leaders should come together, listen to one another, engage in a spirit of respect.

    But it is also vital that we:

    • focus on the existential challenges we share
    • focus on the actions which can make the biggest difference
    • focus on how we maximise the Commonwealth’s enormous, enormous potential

    And I set just 3 priority areas that we could look at.

    The first of these is supporting economic growth. The Commonwealth’s combined GDP is expected to reach nineteen-and-a-half trillion dollars by the end of 2027 – nearly double what it was ten years before. We should take advantage of that, focusing more on increasing investment flows.

    In Samoa, with other members, I will launch a comprehensive plan of action to pool our shared expertise, boost investment opportunities, and harness new technologies for all over the next 2 years. Growth must be shared. Growth must be sustainable. And we must deliver it together.

    The next area, of course, is tackling the climate emergency. There is no long-term geopolitical stability without climate stability. And there can be no climate stability without a common sense of purpose coordinated action in the Global North and Global South. I therefore want the Commonwealth to play a clearer, more powerful role in building a green and sustainable future.

    In Samoa, we must further raise our ambitions for the Climate Finance Access Hub commit to stronger support for Small Island Developing States and step-up action to protect nature and the ocean. Climate action is essential for passing a liveable planet to future generations. And we must deliver it together.

    And the final area that we could focus on is education of course and the skills of wonderful, beautiful young people. As Member of Parliament representing an inner city constituency here in London, I know what it does to young people to be told that they have no future.

    And as someone who was fortunate enough because of that hard work of my parents, that great Windrush generation I was fortunate enough to have the chance to study at Harvard University, I know how educational opportunities can set you on a completely different path.

    In Samoa, we must support even more scholarships, places and learning via our various excellent education programmes. Sixty percent of Commonwealth citizens are not yet 30 years old. They deserve the chance to benefit from greater opportunities in life. And we must deliver this together.

    Delivering together – I have tried to give a small flavour of how we can do this in Samoa. I am very grateful to the Government and people of Samoa for preparing so effectively for CHOGM and our gathering – and welcome the first such meeting in a Pacific Island Country.

    In his final address as Secretary-General, Sir ‘Sonny’ Ramphal reflected on how such gatherings feel like a bit of a club. Members share a special relationship, an intimacy, with one another. And this creates a particular chemistry.

    In Samoa, leaders with different points of view, facing different circumstances, will nevertheless come together, understand each other’s point of view and perspective, and agree to deliver things together.

    That is what makes the Commonwealth unique. That is the vision of Her Late Majesty The Queen. The vision she championed. And that is the spirit which I engage with the Commonwealth, in Samoa and beyond.

    Thank you so much for the privilege to serve.

  • Hilary Benn – 2024 Statement Following the Resignation of the Northern Ireland Veterans Commissioner

    Hilary Benn – 2024 Statement Following the Resignation of the Northern Ireland Veterans Commissioner

    The statement made by Hilary Benn, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, on 5 September 2024.

    I would like to thank Danny Kinahan for his dedicated work on behalf of veterans and families living in Northern Ireland.

    Over the last four years, he has worked on a range of important issues that affect veterans in everyday life, including health, housing and welfare and we will continue to engage with him on these issues.

    We are committed to continuing to support veterans in Northern Ireland through the Veterans Welfare Service NI and the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust.