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Category: Speeches

  • Theresa May – 2019 Speech on the State of Politics

    Below is the text of the speech made by Theresa May, the Prime Minister, at Chatham House on 17 July 2019. It is expected to be the last keynote speech made by Theresa May in her role as Prime Minister.

    This will most likely be the last time I will speak at length as Prime Minister and I would like today to share some personal reflections on the state of politics in our country and around the world.

    I have lived politics for half a century. From stuffing envelopes for my local party in my school years to serving as a local councillor, fighting a by-election, winning a seat, to serving for 12 years on the opposition front bench, and for nine years in the Cabinet as Home Secretary and Prime Minister.

    Throughout that time, in every job I have done, I have been inspired by the enormous potential that working in politics and taking part in public life holds.

    The potential to serve your country, to improve peoples’ lives, and – in however big or small a way – to make the world a better place.

    Looking at our own country and the world of which we form a part, and there is great deal to feel optimistic about.

    Globally, over the last 30 years extreme poverty and child mortality have both been halved.

    Hundreds of millions of people are today living longer, happier and healthier lives than their grandparents could even have dreamed of.

    As a world, we have never cared more deeply about the ecology of our planet’s environment.

    From treating the earth as a collection of resources to be plundered, we have within a generation come to understand its fragile diversity and taken concerted action to conserve it.

    The UK is leading the way in that effort with our commitment to net zero emissions.

    Social attitudes in our country and many other western countries have transformed in recent decades.

    There are more women in senior positions today than at any time in history.

    When I was born, it was a crime to be a gay man, legal to discriminate on the basis of sex or race, and casual bigotry was a socially acceptable fact of daily life.

    All that has changed – and greatly for the better.

    There remains a long, long way to go to achieve what we should rightly seek – an economy, a society and a world that truly works for all of its people.

    Where everyone has the security of a safe home and enough to eat; the opportunity to get a good education and a satisfying job to support their family; and the freedom of thought, speech and action to do and be everything their talents and hard work fit them for.

    The generation of young people growing up today – in the UK and around the word – have it within their grasp to achieve more in the decades ahead than we today can imagine.

    They will have the chance to harness the great drivers of change in the world today – from artificial intelligence and the data economy; cleaner forms of energy and more efficient modes of transport; to the technological and medical advances that will extend and improve our quality of life.

    The twenty-first century has the potential to be a pivotal point in human history – when economic, social and technological progress reach a combined apogee with the benefits multiplied and with everyone enjoying a share.

    It will not come about without effort.

    We will all have to work hard – individually and collectively to reach that better future.

    Crucially, the full power and potential of a small, but strong and strategic state must be brought to bear in that effort, establishing and maintaining the legal and economic structures that allow a regulated free market to flourish.

    Co-ordinating its own interventions to maximum effect – supporting science and innovation, supplying crucial public services and infrastructure, leading and responding to social progress.

    At our best, that has been the story of the democratic century that we celebrated last year when we marked the first votes for women and working men in 1918.

    It has been democratic politics, an open market economy and the enduring values of free speech, the rule of law and a system of government founded on the concept of inviolable human rights that has provided the nexus of that progress in the past.

    And a healthy body politic will be essential to consolidating and extending that progress in the future.

    It is on that score that today we do have grounds for serious concern. Both domestically and internationally, in substance and in tone, I am worried about the state of politics.

    That worry stems from a conviction that the values on which all of our successes have been founded cannot be taken for granted.

    They may look to us as old as the hills, we might think that they will always be there, but establishing the superiority of those values over the alternatives was the hard work of centuries of sacrifice.

    And to ensure that liberal inheritance can endure for generations to come, we today have a responsibility to be active in conserving it.

    If we do not, we will all pay the price – rich and poor, strong and weak, powerful and powerless.

    As a politician, my decisions and actions have always been guided by that conviction.

    It used to be asked of applicants at Conservative candidate selection meetings, ‘are you a conviction politician or are you a pragmatist’?

    I have never accepted the distinction.

    Politics is the business of turning your convictions into reality to improve the lives of the people you serve.

    As a Conservative, I have never had any doubt about what I believe in – security, freedom and opportunity. Decency, moderation, patriotism. Conserving what is of value, but never shying away from change. Indeed, recognising that often change is the way to conserve. Believing in business but holding businesses to account if they break the rules. Backing ambition, aspiration and hard work. Protecting our Union of nations – and being prepared to act in its interest even if that means steering a difficult political course.

    And remaining always firmly rooted in the common ground of politics – where all great political parties should be.

    I didn’t write about those convictions in pamphlets or make many theoretical speeches about them.

    I have sought to put them into action.

    And actually getting things done rather than simply getting them said requires some qualities that have become unfashionable of late.

    One of them is a willingness to compromise. That does not mean compromising your values.

    It does not mean accepting the lowest common denominator or clinging to outmoded ideas out of apathy or fear.

    It means being driven by, and when necessary standing up for, your values and convictions.

    But doing so in the real world – in the arena of public life – where others are making their own case, pursuing their own interests.

    And where persuasion, teamwork and a willingness to make mutual concessions are needed to achieve an optimal outcome.

    That is politics at its best.

    The alternative is a politics of winners and losers, of absolutes and of perpetual strife – and that threatens us all.

    Today an inability to combine principles with pragmatism and make a compromise when required seems to have driven our whole political discourse down the wrong path.

    It has led to what is in effect a form of “absolutism” – one which believes that if you simply assert your view loud enough and long enough you will get your way in the end. Or that mobilising your own faction is more important than bringing others with you.

    This is coarsening our public debate. Some are losing the ability to disagree without demeaning the views of others.

    Online, technology allows people to express their anger and anxiety without filter or accountability. Aggressive assertions are made without regard to the facts or the complexities of an issue, in an environment where the most extreme views tend to be the most noticed.

    This descent of our debate into rancour and tribal bitterness – and in some cases even vile abuse at a criminal level – is corrosive for the democratic values which we should all be seeking to uphold. It risks closing down the space for reasoned debate and subverting the principle of freedom of speech.

    And this does not just create an unpleasant environment. Words have consequences – and ill words that go unchallenged are the first step on a continuum towards ill deeds – towards a much darker place where hatred and prejudice drive not only what people say but also what they do.

    This absolutism is not confined to British politics. It festers in politics all across the world. We see it in the rise of political parties on the far left and far right in Europe and beyond. And we see it in the increasingly adversarial nature of international relations, which some view as a zero sum game where one country can only gain if others lose. And where power, unconstrained by rules, is the only currency of value.

    This absolutism at home and abroad is the opposite of politics at its best. It refuses to accept that other points of view are reasonable. It ascribes bad motives to those taking those different views.

    And it views anything less than 100 per cent of what you want all the time as evidence of failure, when success in fact means achieving the optimum outcome in any given circumstance.

    The sustainability of modern politics derives not from an uncompromising absolutism but rather through the painstaking marking out of a common ground.

    That doesn’t mean abandoning our principles – far from it. It means delivering on them with the consent of people on all sides of the debate, so they can ultimately accept the legitimacy of what is being done, even if it may not be the outcome they would initially have preferred.

    That is how social progress and international agreement was forged in the years after the Second World War – both at home with the establishment of an enduring National Health Service and, internationally, with the creation of an international order based on agreed rules and multilateral institutions.

    Consider, for example, the story of the NHS. The Beveridge Report was commissioned by a Coalition Government.

    The Health Minister who published the first White Paper outlining the principles of a comprehensive and free health service was a Conservative.

    A Labour Government then created the NHS – engaging in fierce controversy both with the doctors who would work for the NHS, and with a Conservative opposition in the House of Commons which supported the principles of an NHS, but disagreed with the methods.

    But the story does not end there. Just three years after the NHS was founded, Churchill’s newly elected Conservative Government was faced with a choice, a choice between going back over old arguments or accepting the legitimacy of what had been done and building on it.

    They chose to build on what had been established.

    Today, because people were willing to compromise, we have an NHS to be proud of – an institution which unites our country.

    Similarly, on the international stage, many of the agreements that underpinned the establishment of the rules-based international order in the aftermath of the Second World War were reached by pragmatism and compromise.

    The San Francisco Conference, which adopted the United Nations Charter – the cornerstone of international law – almost broke down over Soviet insistence that the Security Council veto should apply not just to Council resolutions and decisions, but even to whether the Council should discuss a matter.

    It was only a personal mission to Stalin in Moscow from US President Truman’s envoy Harry Hopkins that persuaded the Soviets to back down.

    Many States who were not Permanent Members of the Security Council did not want the veto to exist at all. But they compromised and signed the Charter because of the bigger prize it represented – a global system which enfranchised the people of the world with new rights, until then only recognisable to citizens in countries like ours.

    It’s easy now to assume that these landmark agreements which helped created the international order will always hold – that they are as permanent as the hills.

    But turning ideals into practical agreements was hard fought. And we cannot be complacent about ensuring that they endure.

    Indeed, the current failure to combine principles with pragmatism and compromise inevitably risks undermining them.

    We are living through a period of profound change and insecurity. The forces of globalisation and the pursuit of free markets have brought unprecedented levels of wealth and opportunity for the country and for the world at large. But not everyone is reaping the benefits.

    The march of technology is expanding the possibilities for humanity in ways that once could never have been conceived. But it is changing the nature of the workplace and the types of jobs that people will do. More and more working people are feeling anxious over whether they and their children and grandchildren will have the skills and the opportunities to get on.

    And although the problems were building before the financial crisis, that event brought years of hardship from which we are only now emerging.

    Populist movements have seized the opportunity to capitalise on that vacuum. They have embraced the politics of division; identifying the enemies to blame for our problems and offering apparently easy answers.

    In doing so, they promote a polarised politics which views the world through the prism of “us” and “them” – a prism of winners and losers, which views compromise and cooperation through international institutions as signs of weakness not strength.

    President Putin expressed this sentiment clearly on the eve of the G20 summit in Japan, when he said that the “liberal idea has become obsolete”…because it has “come into conflict with the interests of the overwhelming majority of the population.”

    This is a cynical falsehood. No one comparing the quality of life or economic success of liberal democracies like the UK, France and Germany to that of the Russian Federation would conclude that our system is obsolete. But the fact that he feels emboldened to utter it today indicates the challenge we face as we seek to defend our values.

    So if we are to stand up for these values that are fundamental to our way of life, we need to rebuild support for them by addressing people’s legitimate concerns through actual solutions that can command public consent, rather than populist promises that in the end are not solutions at all.

    In doing so, we need to show that, from the local to the global, a politics of pragmatic conviction that is unafraid of compromise and co-operation is the best way in which politics can sustainably meet the challenges we face.

    We know it is free and competitive markets that drive the innovation, creativity and risk-taking that have enabled so many of the great advances of our time. We know it is business that pioneers the industries of the future, secures the investment on which that future depends, and creates jobs and livelihoods for families up and down our country.

    And we know that free enterprise can also play a crucial role in helping to meet some of the greatest social challenges of our time – from contributing to the sustainability of our planet to generating new growth and new hope in areas of our country that have been left behind for too long.

    But you do not protect the concept of free market capitalism by failing to respond to the legitimate concerns of those who are not feeling its full benefits. You protect free market capitalism and all the benefits it can bring by reforming it so that it works for everyone.

    That is why I have introduced reforms to working practice and workers’ rights to reflect the changes in our economy. It is why I launched the Taylor Review into modern forms of employment like the gig economy – and why we are delivering the biggest improvements in UK workers’ rights for twenty years in response to it.

    It is why I have advanced changes in corporate governance – because business must not only be about commercial success but about bringing wider benefits to the whole of our society too.

    And it is why we have put in place a Modern Industrial Strategy – a strategic partnership between business and government to make the long-term decisions that will ensure the success of our economy. But crucially, a strategy to ensure that as we develop the industries of the future, so the benefits of the trade and growth they will give rise to will reach working people – not just in some parts of the country, but in every part of our country.

    These are steps rooted in my Conservative political convictions. They are not a rejection of free enterprise. But rather they are the very way to restore the popular legitimacy of free enterprise and make it work for everyone.

    I believe that taking such an approach is also how we resolve the Brexit impasse.

    The only way to do so is to deliver on the outcome of the vote in 2016. And there is no greater regret for me than that I could not do so.

    But whatever path we take must be sustainable for the long-term – so that delivering Brexit brings our country back together.

    That has to mean some kind of compromise.

    Some argue I should have taken the United Kingdom out of the European Union with no deal on 29th March. Some wanted a purer version of Brexit. Others to find a way of stopping it altogether.

    But most people across our country had a preference for getting it done with a deal. And I believe the strength of the deal I negotiated was that it delivered on the vote of the referendum to leave the European Union, while also responding to the concerns of those who had voted to remain.

    The problem was that when it came time for Parliament to ratify the deal, our politics retreated back into its binary pre-referendum positions – a winner takes all approach to leaving or remaining.

    And when opinions have become polarised – and driven by ideology – it becomes incredibly hard for a compromise to become a rallying point.

    The spirit of compromise in the common interest is also crucial in meeting some of the greatest global challenges of our time – from responsibly harnessing the huge potential of digital technology to tackling climate change; and from preventing the further proliferation of nuclear weapons to upholding and strengthening international rules in the face of hostile states.

    During my premiership, the UK has led the way both domestically and internationally in seeking a new settlement which ensures the internet remains a driver of growth and opportunity – but also that internet companies respond more comprehensively to reasonable and legitimate demands that they take their wider responsibilities to society more seriously.

    That is why we are legislating in the UK to create a legal duty of care on internet companies, backed up by an independent regulator with the power to enforce its decisions.

    We are the first country to put forward such a comprehensive approach, but it is not enough to act alone.

    Ultimately we need a realistic global approach that achieves the right balance between protecting the individual freedoms of those using the internet – while also keeping them safe from harm.

    That also holds the key to further progress in the fight to protect our planet.

    Here in the UK we have recently built on the 2008 Climate Change Act by becoming the first major economy to agree a landmark net zero target that will end our contribution to climate change by 2050.

    Of course, there were some who wanted us not just to make that net zero commitment but to bring it forward even earlier. And there are others who still question the science of climate change or the economic costs of tackling it.

    But we were able to come together to agree a target that is supported across the political spectrum, across business and civil society – and which is both ambitious and also deliverable.

    Just as the nations of the world were able to come together and agree the historic Paris Agreement of 2015, a settlement which if unravelled would damage us all and our planet.

    And just as we seek to protect the hard fought Paris Climate Agreement, so I also believe we must protect the similarly hard fought JCPOA – the nuclear deal with Iran, whatever its challenges.

    Once again it took painstaking pragmatism and compromise to strike that deal.

    Of course, there are those who fear a reduction in sanctions on a country that continues to pursue destabilising activity across the region, and we should address that activity head on.

    But whether we like it or not a compromise deal remains the best way to get the outcome we all still ultimately seek – to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, and to preserve the stability of the region.

    Being prepared to compromise also means knowing when not to compromise – and when our values are under threat we must always be willing to stand firm. Just as we did when Russia deployed a deadly nerve agent on the streets of Salisbury, and I led international action across the world to expel more than 100 Russian intelligence officers – the largest collective expulsion of Russian intelligence officers in history.

    We are here today at St James’ Square – the location from which Dwight Eisenhower led the planning for D-Day. And it was standing on the beaches of Normandy with other world leaders last month – remembering together all that was given in defence of our liberty and our values – that most inspired me to come here today to give this speech.

    Eisenhower once wrote: “People talk about the middle of the road as though it were unacceptable…Things are not all black and white. There have to be compromises. The middle of the road is all of the usable surface. The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters.”

    I believe that seeking the common ground and being prepared to make compromises in order to make progress does not entail a rejection of our values and convictions by one iota, rather it is precisely the way to defend them.

    Not by making promises you cannot keep, or by just telling people what you think they want to hear. But by addressing the concerns people genuinely hold and showing that co-operation not absolutism is the only way to deliver for everyone.

    For the future, if we can recapture the spirit of common purpose – as I believe we must – then we can be optimistic about what together we can achieve.

    We can find the common ground that will enable us to forge new, innovative global agreements on the most crucial challenges of our time – from protecting our planet to harnessing the power of technology for good.

    We can renew popular support for liberal democratic values and international co-operation.

    And in so doing, we can secure our freedom, our prosperity and our ability to live together peacefully now and for generations to come.

  • Roberta Blackman-Woods – 2019 Speech on Town and Country Planning

    Below is the text of the speech made by Roberta Blackman-Woods, the Labour MP for the City of Durham, in the House of Commons on 15 July 2019.

    I thank the Minister for his outline of this statutory instrument. The important first part of the SI ensures that the fee regime set out in the 2012 regulations is able to continue. Secondly, and perhaps more controversially, the SI amends regulation 14 of the 2012 regulations to include a £96 fee for an application for prior approval to build a larger rear extension to a dwelling house without the need for a full planning application to be made.

    The Opposition do not seek to prevent the 2012 regulations from continuing, but we point the Government to their own consultation on devolving fee setting to local authorities. It would be good to have an explanation as to why the Government have failed to act on the outcome of their planning consultation, particularly on full cost recovery. As the Minister will know, the consultation found that there were substantial cross-party concerns that local authority planning departments do not have sufficient resources to provide an effective and wide-ranging service. The majority of respondents from all sectors supported increasing planning fees beyond the 20% increase already given by Government, often citing concerns about the low level of resourcing in local authority planning departments.

    There are issues with local fee setting, as it may help resource planning departments better in areas of high growth but does little for those where development is more difficult to achieve. Nevertheless, the issue of getting more money to planning needs to be resolved urgently. Labour’s planning commission has found that poor resourcing of planning departments is the most significant issue raised by communities, planners and developers alike. The Government need to set out clearly what they are going to do to ensure that all planning departments are properly funded.

    Total expenditure on planning has fallen by almost 20% since 2010. That fall would be far higher were it not for the fact that spending has been propped up by a 50% rise in planning income. If we remove income from the equation, total net expenditure on planning has fallen by 42% on average, and by up to 60% in some regions, and that of course has led to a huge reduction in the number of public sector planners. In a recent report, the Royal Town Planning Institute showed that when a high number of applications are permitted, with fewer resources committed to each, the main loser may be local communities. Another crucial issue is that planning officers may, as a consequence, have less time truly to engage communities. The impact of austerity on planning is felt keenly by planning officers, who have to operate with fewer resources and to deal with the public dissatisfaction that can arise from that. It would be useful to hear how the Minister intends to address that issue.​

    The second part of the SI causes significant problems for us and, we think, for the country at large. Since 2013 Labour has been consistently against the ever increasing moves by the Government to replace proper planning permission with permitted development. The fee proposed here, £96 for prior approval for a large extension, is derisory. Large extensions, as the Minister should know from his mailbag, often cause considerable problems for neighbours and the issues involved can be complex, necessitating a great deal of work by local planning officers which will not be covered by the £96 fee by any stretch of the imagination. Large extensions should have to obtain planning permission, and bypassing communities with greater use of permitted development is just wrong.

    A recent report from Shelter has made clear the enormous damage the ever increasing use of permitted development has had on the quality of our built environment, highlighting that local authorities can turn down PDR developments only in very limited circumstances, and cannot require social housing contributions or enforce space standards covering minimum sizes, leading to the delivery of rabbit-hutch homes. PDR allows developers to build the slums of the future.

    An open letter from the Local Government Association in January 2019 made clear the extensive problems caused by permitted development, as did the large number of people who responded to the Government’s consultation on the extension to permitted development rights just recently. That includes the loss of more than 10,000 affordable homes in the last three years.

    We think that the time is long overdue for the Government to get rid of permitted development and ensure proper planning and decent quality homes through the planning determination system and enabling local authorities to charge on a cost-recovery basis. Planners do a difficult and at times a controversial job, and it is time for the Government to resource the system properly.

  • Kit Malthouse – 2019 Statement on Town and Country Planning

    Below is the text of the speech made by Kit Malthouse, the Minister for Housing, in the House of Commons on 15 July 2019.

    I beg to move,

    That the draft Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2019, which were laid before this House on 10 June, be approved.

    The regulations were laid before the House on 10 June 2019. If approved and made, they will remove a sunset clause in the existing 2012 fees regulations, thereby ensuring that local planning authorities can continue to charge fees for planning applications. Planning fees are an important source of income, supporting local authorities to have the resources and capacity to make effective planning decisions. It is therefore vital that the fees regulations remain in force. The regulations introduce a fee of £96 for prior approval applications for a larger single-storey rear extension to a house. If approved by this House, this new charge will come into effect 28 days after the regulations are made.

    Planning application fees are crucial for a well-resourced, effective and efficient planning system. They provide local planning authorities with much-needed income to consider planning applications, which in turn provide new homes and deliver economic growth for our country. In January 2018 we raised planning application fees by 20%—the first uplift since 2012. This has increased income for the planning system and has enabled local planning authorities to improve their performance. We estimate that in England the total income raised through planning applications fees is £450 million. If there was no application fee, this cost would have to be funded by the council taxpayer.

    I turn to the details of the regulations. First, the regulations propose to remove the sunset clause of 21 November 2019 contained in the existing 2012 fees regulations, the Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) Regulations 2012. By removing the sunset clause, local authorities will be able to continue to charge planning application fees, in accordance with the 2012 fees regulations, beyond that date. If the sunset clause were not removed, the fees regulations would cease to have effect after 21 November. This would mean that local planning authorities would no longer be able to charge fees for planning applications.

    The 2012 regulations provided that there should be a review of their operation within five years, to ensure that they continued to achieve their objectives. The accompanying sunset clause meant that no action would be required if it was decided that the regulations were no longer necessary. I am pleased to confirm that the review was undertaken in 2017 and the outcome report ​laid before Parliament in December 2017. The review concluded that the 2012 fees regulations had achieved their objective. It confirmed that they ensured an effective planning application fee regime, which benefited both applicants and local planning authorities in providing for the proper consideration of planning applications. It is therefore appropriate that I bring these regulations before the House, to ensure that the planning application fees regime continues. The regulations will also ensure that those wishing to take forward development pay a fair fee and that local planning authorities have the resource and capacity they need to make high-quality and timely decisions.

    Secondly, the regulations introduce a £96 fee for applications for prior approval for existing permitted development rights for a larger single-storey rear extension to a house. The prior approval process means that a developer has to seek approval from the local planning authority that specified elements of the development are acceptable before work can proceed. The matters for prior approval vary depending on the type of development, and those are set out in the relevant part of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015. A local authority cannot consider any other matters when determining a prior approval application.

    The permitted development right for a larger single-storey rear extension to a house was made permanent by way of amendments to the general permitted development order on 25 May, but currently the associated application for prior approval required to exercise this permitted development right attracts no fee. Now that the right is permanent, it is appropriate that we should enable local planning authorities to charge and receive a fee for the work they undertake to process and determine the applications they receive.

    Other comparable applications for prior approval have a £96 fee, and we consider that that would also be an appropriate fee for a larger single-storey rear extension to a house, as the cost to the local planning authority of handling these is similar. Although a fee of £96 is an additional cost on homeowners wanting to extend their homes, it is not considered fair that the cost of the applications should continue to be subsidised by all taxpayers. The fee is modest, at less than half of the £206 fee that would be required for a planning application to carry out works to a house were it not for the permitted development rights. It will provide local planning authorities with resources that may otherwise have been diverted from other planning applications.

    In line with existing fees for planning applications to alter or extend a home, the draft regulations provide that the fee will not apply where the application is for development designed to provide means of access for a disabled person or facilities designed to secure that person’s greater safety, health or comfort. That will mitigate the potential direct impact of the new fee on disabled persons, who might be considered more likely to make use of the permitted development right for larger home extensions.

    We continue to keep the resourcing of local authority planning departments and where fees can be charged under review. We announced in the spring statement ​that the accelerated planning Green Paper, to be published later this year, will look at new approaches for local authorities to meeting the costs of their planning service and delivering improved performance. In the meantime, the draft regulations will ensure that local authorities can continue to charge planning fees after 21 November, including the new prior approval fee, thus providing them with the important resources they need to consider such applications. I commend the regulations to the House.

  • David Lidington – 2019 Statement on Detainee Mistreatment

    Below is the text of the speech made by David Lidington, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, in the House of Commons on 15 July 2019.

    As my right hon. and learned Friend indicates, this issue has a lengthy history. It was in July 2010 that Prime Minister Cameron announced Sir Peter Gibson’s inquiry into allegations that the United Kingdom had been implicated in the improper treatment of detainees held by other countries in the aftermath of 9/11.

    In December 2013, the Government published Sir Peter’s preparatory work and asked the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament to follow up on the themes and issues which that work had identified, to take further evidence and to make a report. At the same time, the Government said that they would:

    “take a final view as to whether a further judicial inquiry still remains necessary to add any further information of value to future policy making and the national interest.”—[Official Report, 19 December 2013; Vol. 572, c. 916.]

    In June last year, the Intelligence and Security Committee, its work having been interrupted by two general elections and the task of reconstituting the Committee after those elections, published two reports: “Detainee Mistreatment and Rendition: 2001-2010” and “Detainee Mistreatment and Rendition: Current Issues”.

    In response to an urgent question from my right hon. and learned Friend on 2 July last year, the Minister for Europe and the Americas, my right hon. Friend the Member for Rutland and Melton (Sir Alan Duncan), said that, in responding to the ISC reports, the Government would:

    “give careful consideration to the calls for another judge-led inquiry and will update the House”.—[Official Report, 2 July 2018; Vol. 644, c. 26.]

    The Government responded formally to the ISC on 22 November last year, and my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister, in a written statement, said:

    “The Government continues to give serious consideration to the examination of detainee issues and whether any more lessons can be learned and, if so, how.”

    That serious consideration has included the question of a further judge-led inquiry.

    As the House will understand, this has been complex work, which has involved some of the most sensitive security issues. I confirm to the House today that the Government will make a definitive statement setting out their decision about a judge-led inquiry later this week and, at the same time, we will announce to the House our response to Sir Adrian Fulford’s recommendations on the consolidated guidance.

  • Theresa May – 2019 Speech at England Cricket Team Reception

    Below is the text of the speech made by Theresa May, the Prime Minister, in Downing Street, London on 15 July 2019.

    The final was not just cricket at its best but sport at its best – courage, character, sportsmanship, drama, incredible skill and even the odd slice of luck…

    All combining to create a real thriller, one of the great sporting spectacles of our time.

    It was a fitting end to what has been a great tournament – and I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved in once again making our country a sporting showcase for the world.

    The players and coaching staff.

    The organisers and volunteers.

    The incredible spectators from 10 nations who brought such colour and passion to England and Wales this summer.

    The runners-up yesterday, New Zealand.

    Real champions show their true character not just in victory but also in defeat, and I am sure everyone here agrees that their response on the field yesterday shows what Black Caps are made of, what New Zealanders are made of.

    They are a credit to their team, a credit to their sport and a credit to their nation.

    Then of course, there is England.

    Or “World Cup-winning England”, as we can get used to saying.

    You are a team that represents modern Britain – and that plays like no other side in the world.

    In the group stage you responded to setbacks not by giving in but by coming back stronger than ever.

    And, when the odds were against you in the biggest game of your lives, you simply and stubbornly refused to lose.

    It is that determination, that character, that has made you world champions.

    But more than that you have made history.

    You have helped the nation fall in love with cricket once again.

    And, perhaps most important of all, as we saw across the country last night and at the Oval this morning, you have inspired countless future Morgans, Rashids and Archers.

    This was a record-breaking World Cup.

    Yesterday we saw a final for the ages.

    And here today we have a team that will be spoken of in awe for generations to come.

    Thank you all once again.

    On behalf of the whole country congratulations to – and I just want to say this one more time – England’s World Cup winners.

  • Theresa May – 2019 Speech at Positive Opportunities Reception

    Below is the text of the speech made by Theresa May, the Prime Minister, at a Positive Opportunities Reception on 15 July 2019.

    Good afternoon everyone, and a very warm welcome to Downing Street.

    A little while ago I received a letter from a young girl named Zahra, who lives in East London.

    Zahra – who I am very pleased to say is with us here today – is still at primary school.

    But in her letter she told me she is concerned about starting secondary school later this year because knife crime in her local area means she does not always feel safe when she is out and about.

    And she is also worried about her teenage brother.

    “I don’t want him to be another statistic,” she wrote; “I want him to feel safe”.

    As you can imagine, we get quite a lot of letters here at No 10.

    But it is absolutely heart-breaking to read one like that.

    The most important job of any government is to make sure everyone in this country is safe and feels safe.

    And if there is such violence on our streets that an 11-year-old girl is scared of going to school, or worried about her brother being in the wrong place at the wrong time – that tells me we have to do better.

    So we are making more than a billion pounds of extra funding available for the police, have tightened up the law on offensive weapons, and have set up a cross-government task force dedicated to tackling serious violence – I have just come here straight from its latest meeting this afternoon.

    But by the time a crime has been committed, by the time a young life has already been taken, it is already too late.

    If we are going to make our streets safer, if children like Zahra are going to feel happy going to school, then we have to steer people away from gangs and violence in the first place.

    Every young person – regardless of where they live or what community they come from – needs somewhere to go, something to do and good people around them.

    And that is why I am delighted to be hosting you all here today.

    It has been a pleasure to hear first-hand about some of the great work being done by the coaches, artists, teachers, business leaders and role models, all of you, in this room.

    And, at a time when the headlines about young people are all too often bleak, it has been simply inspiring to talk to those of you who have benefited from that work.

    Because what this event proves more than anything is that nothing is set in stone.

    Nobody should assume that their future leads only one way, nobody should be written off as a hopeless case.

    If, like John McAvoy, you can go from serving a life sentence for armed robbery to becoming one our leading Ironman triathletes…

    If, like Jamal Edwards, you can shatter the expectations of your teachers, your friends, even your family by creating a multi-million pound business…

    If, like the people helped by Centrepoint who are helping out today, you can go from sleeping on the streets to working at Downing Street…

    …then anything is possible.

    And that is not only a powerful message for young people in communities struggling with gangs and violence – it is also a reminder for everyone in politics of the difference we can make if we support those people who are offering positive activities and alternatives.

    That’s why the government is putting almost £300 million into our Youth Endowment Fund and Youth Futures Foundation, making sure the money is there for groups and projects that can make a difference.

    Because I do want this to be a country that works for everyone, where all of our young people – all of you – can grow up optimistic about their futures.

    Where people are not held back by expectations – either their own or society’s – about what can and cannot be achieved in life.

    Every child is born with potential – we just have to make sure it’s unlocked and allowed to flourish.

    People here today are working hard to do just that.

    So, on behalf of the whole country, I want to say thank you to all of you.

    Thank you for making a difference.

    Thank you for setting an example.

    And thank you for making the UK a better, safer, stronger place not just for the young people here today, but for girls like Zahra, and her brother, and millions more like them right across the country.

    Thank you once again for coming, thank you for everything you are doing, and enjoy the rest of the day.

  • Liam Fox – 2019 Speech on India Day

    Below is the text of the speech made by Liam Fox, the Secretary of State for International Trade, on 16 July 2019.

    1. Introduction

    Thank you – and in particular my thanks to the Indian business leaders and of course Piyush Goyal, [Minister of Railways of India] who have flown a long way to attend today – and to the City of London co-hosting this event.

    Just two months ago, India was the home of the greatest democratic exercise in the history of mankind: a truly extraordinary beacon to the world of India’s freedom, democratic values and independence.

    And I would like to offer my sincere congratulations to Piyush Goyal, [Minister of Railways of India] and the Indian Government for their fresh mandate and, in particular to welcome the programme of economic reform and development. There is a clear momentum emerging.

    I also welcome the announcements in India’s Budget last week of plans for further liberalisation of foreign direct investment and financial markets.

    This is a moment of great opportunity for both UK and Indian companies, and we must seize it together.

    2. The strength of UK-India relations

    India is due to become the world’s third largest economy by the end of the next decade and is currently the fastest growing G20 economy.

    As two modern, diverse democracies, the UK and India are natural partners, working together to help drive this transformation: promoting our people’s prosperity, improving global security and tackling our common challenges.

    The total number of people employed by British companies in India currently stands at 788,000 – 50,000 of which were jobs created within the last 2 years.

    But there are also 800 Indian companies employing nearly 105,000 people in the UK.

    And Indian inward investment to the UK has brought more than just capital. It has also brought skills, exports, good corporate citizenship, and entrepreneurialism.

    UK subsidiaries of Indian parent firms represent some of the UK’s largest tech companies such as Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and exporters, such as JLR.

    And the latest figures show UK-India overall bilateral trade increased by 14% last year to £20.5 billion. And since 2010, the UK and India are among the top five investors in each other’s economies.

    3. The strength of UK financial services

    So we have a remarkable record on which to build.

    And as we look to the future, I believe the United Kingdom has complementary strengths to propel India’s economic growth and transition towards a more services orientated economy: not just as a partner of choice, but the partner of choice.

    We meet today at the historic centre of the world’s greatest and most international financial hub: the City of London.

    And please don’t be fooled by the historic grandeur of our venue. Behind it lies a very modern, innovative and unique ecosystem: with a deep and liquid global capital pool, pioneering regulatory framework, and world-class advisory, legal and related professional services.

    London alone hosts over 250 foreign banks, more than New York, Paris or Frankfurt.

    The UK is the world’s largest centre for cross-border banking.

    We account for fully 37% of global foreign exchange trading, well ahead of other international centres. Twice as many dollars are traded in the UK as in the US, and twice as many euros are traded in the UK as in the Eurozone.

    London continues to be a major global centre for the issuance and trading of bonds, with around 39% of global secondary market turnover in 2017.

    And of course, as we have just heard, the United Kingdom is the home of the FinTech revolution, making sweeping changes, delivering more control, access and increased competition.

    It has been estimated that we have more software developers here in London than Berlin, Dublin and Stockholm all combined.

    And we have a unique chance to build on these strengths in partnership with India. This includes access to the Adhaar personal biometric ID card platform: the greatest in the world, giving UK FinTech firms the opportunity to globalise their product and bring credit to people who have not had access before.

    The UK also ranks number 1 in Europe and first among non-Muslim-majority nations for Islamic finance.

    And in Green Finance the UK is uniquely well placed to provide the complex solutions required to assist the transition to a low-carbon economy and boost clean growth investment.

    4. The City’s offer to India

    So we already have a strong record on which to build with India in particular.

    UK financial markets have helped support the development of whole new product classes, helping Indian firms prosper, grow and go global.

    For example, the internationalisation of the rupee will be a crucial issue in ensuring the Indian economy plays its full role in international trade in the years to come.

    And I was delighted to learn in last week’s Budget that India is considering issuing sovereign bonds abroad. And as I said this morning when I opened the exchange, I hope you will consider issuing on the London Stock Exchange.

    There are over 400 sovereign bonds listed on the exchange, and we are able to offer a low cost, efficient listing process, with access to one of the deepest financial markets in the world.

    The London Stock Exchange is already the world’s largest rupee denominated Masala bond centre: most recently, it hosted an issue by the state of Kerala. It sells more than half of all the rupee denominated bonds issued to overseas buyers globally.

    That’s more than Singapore, more than New York, more than Hong Kong, and more than Frankfurt, all put together.

    I think this demonstrates the scale of what the UK can do for India’s economic transformation: and the potential of what we can achieve together in the future.

    5. DIT/HMG’s offer to India

    Now, the Department for International Trade is here to take these links further: with the sector expertise, financial support and networks in both countries to unleash the vast potential in the strong ties between India and the United Kingdom.

    That is why we have a network of advisers in locations across India, helping to reduce barriers to market access, helping connect UK and Indian firms and sharing advice on local regulations, business practices and consumer tastes.

    That is why last year we appointed Crispin Simon who is with us here today, as Her Majesty’s first ever Trade Commissioner for South Asia, based in Mumbai, and why UK Export Finance, our world-leading export credit agency, can now provide up to £4 billion for British companies doing business in India –available in Rupee’s, so that Indian firms can ‘buy British, pay Indian’.

    It is also why the UK Government has its Ease of Doing Business in India programme, centred on the sharing of UK practical expertise with Indian Central and State Governments, removing barriers to economic growth and supporting India’s meteoric rise up the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business rankings.

    6. Conclusion

    All these efforts stem from a simple premise: the strength of the India-UK relationship and the complementarity of our economies’ strengths, opportunities and potential for the future. But what are these strengths?

    As I have mentioned: Britain’s position as a world-leading finance hub.

    India’s ambitious growth and reform plans – and aspirations to develop its financial infrastructure and tap into global sources of capital.

    The UK’s government vision to build a Global Britain – with stronger links with the world beyond Europe after we leave the European Union.

    And together, these realities are an unrivalled opportunity for our mutual prosperity.

    Tagore once spoke of a world where ‘mind is without fear and the head is held high’.

    And I am confident that with India and the United Kingdom, we can move forward in partnership together, doing just that. Thank you.

  • Theresa May – 2019 Speech on India Day

    Below is the text of the speech made by Theresa May, the Prime Minister, on 16 July 2019.

    Good afternoon everyone and thank you all for joining us today, in particular to Minister Goyal – it is a real pleasure to have you here and to have been able to speak with you.

    Mansion House is an historic venue.

    But from where I stand today I see the very modern face of UK-India relations.

    World-leading businesses.

    Cutting-edge technology.

    The innovators and entrepreneurs, the thinkers and the do-ers, who are working hand-in-hand with colleagues and counterparts on the other side of the world to grow our economies and, in doing so, help all our people grow too.

    Our nations are many thousands of miles apart, our cultures in many ways very different.

    But for all that diversity, the UK and India have much in common.

    Our countries are twin pillars of the Commonwealth.

    Each is built on shared values of democracy and the rule of law.

    We are equally committed to open markets, to free trade and the international order.

    Both governments are dedicated to tackling the global challenges – from security to climate change – that no one nation can defeat alone.

    And, of course, we both share an extraordinary love of cricket.

    After what happened at Lord’s on Sunday I’d be quite happy to give you an entire speech about cricket.

    But given that India’s tournament ended a little earlier than hoped for, I am sure that half the room would rather I didn’t say anything too much about the World Cup too so I’ll move on.

    But those shared values, that shared outlook, make possible a strong and lasting bond between our nations.

    That is why in 2019 the story of the UK and India is not a story of our complex and intertwined history, but of the flows of capital, technology and business.

    Of the “living bridge” of people and ideas that make us, in the words of Prime Minister Modi, an “unbeatable combination” – both today and for the future.

    And what a combination it is.

    In 2018, the combined turnover of Indian companies in the UK reached almost £50 billion, more than trebling in just five years.

    Indian FDI in the UK is growing faster than that from any other country, soaring by an incredible 321 per cent in just 12 months.

    Bilateral trade rose by 14 per cent last year.

    The British Development Finance bank, CDC Group, invests more in India than anywhere else in the world – more than 300 investments totalling over £1.3 billion and directly supporting around 350,000 jobs.

    And, with the support of the UK-India Financial Partnership, our world-leading financial sectors continually exchange capital and expertise.

    Venture capital firms like Pontaq and Blume are seeking out innovative start-ups in both nations.

    Joint ventures such as HDFC Life and ICICI Prudential are India’s leading private sector insurers.

    London-based companies like Greensill are expanding their financing platforms in India.

    And, in the past three years, Indian issuers have raised over £7.5 billion of bonds on the London Stock Exchange.

    It is a story of incredible success for both our nations – and both our nations are committed to ensuring that it continues.

    Over the past three years I have worked closely with Prime Minister Modi to make that happen.

    Together, we’ve developed an ambitious UK-India Tech Partnership, which is already creating new jobs and supporting thousands more across the UK.

    Together, we’ve launched a programme of collaboration on financial services, marrying the best of British expertise with India’s global leadership in technology.

    Together – just last week, in fact – we have opened a £40 million Fast-Track Start-Up Fund, supported by both the UK and Indian governments, to invest in Indian start-ups focussed on emerging technology.

    And together, we’ve launched a Green Growth Equity Fund – co-investing £240 million of anchor capital to invest in green and renewable energy.

    That fund is particularly important and symbolic.

    Because India and the UK do not only share values – we also, as I said at this month’s G20 meeting, share a responsibility to our planet.

    Last month, the British Parliament passed a law requiring us to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 – the first major economy to make such a commitment.

    Making a great step forward in renewable energy is the key to doing so, which is why we are proud to be joining the India-led International Solar Alliance…

    Why the joint UK-India Clean Energy Centre is addressing the challenge of integrating intermittent renewable energy sources with energy storage…

    And why the UK Government’s ground-breaking joint venture, UK Climate Investments, has so far made three investments in India, including £30 million for the country’s largest commercial rooftop solar developer.

    There is no false choice to be made between cutting carbon emissions and raising living standards.

    No contradiction in doing what is right for business and what is right for the environment.

    Clean growth and economic growth can go hand-in-hand, as you can see right here in the Square Mile, where London’s unrivalled financial markets are raising huge sums to invest in a cleaner greener future for both our countries.

    Over the past three years, Indian companies have raised £2 billion through green bonds listed on the LSE.

    We are in the midst of an immensely productive period of economic relations between India and the UK.

    And I am immensely proud of the work I have done with Prime Minister Modi over the past three years both to strengthen the ties between our nations, and to make sure that very special relationship works for all our people.

    But I am nonetheless confident that the business links between our nations will continue to grow stronger and deeper, drawing us together and creating jobs and prosperity from Manipur to Manchester.

    When the Indian government raises its first ever international sovereign bond later this year I hope they do so in the City of London – whose capital markets, with their unrivalled depth and liquidity, are the best in the world.

    Yesterday saw the latest edition of the highly successful JETCO trade dialogue, at which representatives from both our nations discussed our approach to the removal of trade barriers in the years ahead.

    And once we leave the EU, our new immigration rules will see an individual’s right to work in the UK determined not by where they were born, but by what they can bring to our nation – a boost for Indian employers who want to do business in the UK.

    Such steps, along with the hard work and commitment of the people in this room, will ensure that the economic ties between our nations continue to thrive.

    For many decades, the UK and India have been old friends.

    Today, as we see here at Mansion house, we are increasingly working together as new partners.

    So, while the months and years ahead will bring much change and many challenges, let us continue to build that relationship.

    Let us support one another, bringing together people, capital and ideas to benefit the UK and India alike.

    And let us turn the shared values that make our nations great into shared prosperity for all of our people.

    Thank you.

  • Nigel Dakin – 2019 Inaugural Speech

    Below is the text of the speech made by Nigel Dakin, the Governor of the Turks and Caicos Islands, on 15 July 2019.

    His Honour the Speaker, Your Ladyship the Chief Justice, the Honourable Premier, the Honourable Leader of the Opposition, Her Excellency the Deputy Governor, the Honourable Attorney General, Honourable Ministers, Honourable Members of this Honourable House, the Commissioner of Police, Ladies and Gentlemen, Family.

    And, through your various representational roles, my greetings to the people of these islands, a community I hope I will soon be able to call ‘friends’.

    Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity of addressing this House a thank you I extend to the Honourable Premier, and to the Honourable Leader of the Opposition, for their welcome, not only to myself but also my family.

    As experienced leaders you will have chosen your words with care and I look forward to weighing those words accordingly.

    To reply today to the important points you make would suggest I have arrived with an agenda prepared in London; you will all be relieved to hear that I don’t. My views can wait until I am better informed, through detailed conversations with you.

    In truth, I come with only one idea: ‘To preserve and to improve’. I’ll explain this in a moment.

    Let me first though properly introduce you to my family, supporting me here today. Mandy my extraordinary wife, who you will find ready to contribute a great deal to these islands. Charlie – our daughter – an ‘International Relations’ graduate now deeply engaged on environmental issues and Fraser – our son – an Undergraduate studying Engineering.

    You, I know, understand the importance of family in the way I’ve just described a family. You also use the imagery of family – rather beautifully I think – to describe the wider islands that I’m now Governor of: “the family islands”. I look forward to getting to know this new family.

    A word about first impressions.

    This is not our first time in these islands; our family have previously arrived in a particularly important capacity. We arrived as tourists; the economic engine of this country and on which so much of these islands future depends.

    We expected the beauty – we’d of course seen the pictures. We anticipated the weather – we’d consulted the forecast. What we didn’t expect was the genuine warmth of the people we met. If it’s the beaches that bought us here it’s the people that would bring us back.

    Every person: the immigration officer; the representative of the car hire firm in Provo; the taxi driver in Grand Turk; the waitress; the bartender; the police officer that helped us at the fish fry; the owner of the accommodation we stayed at; the power boat skipper who took us down the islands; all were outstanding Ambassadors for this country. All four of us are delighted to be back.

    To substance. The greatest courtesy I can now pay you is to be both brief (I will take little more than 5 minutes) – and to be clear – (I will make just 6 points). Four words that you may choose to hold me to account to, one thought about the Constitution and I’ll end talking about my priorities.

    The first word is ‘Care’. I may be a True Brit, but I’m a Brit who cares deeply about the UK’s relationship with the Caribbean, and the Caribbean’s relationship with the UK. With a Bajan wife, whose family has lived on that island for centuries, and children who enjoy joint Bajan / British nationality how could I be anything, but.

    I’ve been in the Caribbean every year for the last 35 years and visited many of the islands in this region. Nearly 33 years ago I married Mandy in St Georges Church, Barbados. One of our children was christened in St Ambrose Church, St Michael, Barbados.

    I therefore promise to ‘care’ about the people and the future of these islands, an easy promise to make, and an easy promise to keep, because both myself and my family have cared about the future of this region for a very long time.

    You will find I will take my responsibility to represent the interests of the Turks and Caicos Islands seriously and diligently.

    The second word is ‘Listen’. Long standing connections to this region ensure that I at least know how much I don’t know. I have some insight to island life. I know how hard I will have to work to understand a rich and complex society that few – who have not lived in the Caribbean – can properly understand.

    As a result you will find me inquisitive, I aspire to be one of the most informed people on these islands. Whoever you are, you will find that I will ask a lot of questions. You all, I think, have a right to be heard – and I have a duty to listen.

    So I promise to seek to understand the collective wisdom of these islands by listening to as many people as I can – from as many different walks of life as I can; I promise to ‘listen’.

    The third word is ‘Service’. I was introduced to public service in 1982 when I joined the British Army. Six months later, at the age of 19, I was leading thirty soldiers on operations. That was 37 years ago and this word ‘service’ has been tested every day since then.

    The cap badge at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst – where I started my first career aged 18 – does not read “Lead to Serve”. You do not ‘serve’ through your ‘leadership’ – quite the opposite. The cap badge at Sandhurst reads: “Serve to Lead”.

    The truth is that the quality of a person’s leadership is based only on the quality of their service, and the quality of their service boils down to putting others first. So I promise, as your Governor, that I will not only be Her Majesty’s servant in these islands, but I will also be your servant.

    Being clear and straight: This final word, and we need not dwell on this because you will – in the end – judge me as you see it – is that you will find me ‘clear’ and by being clear you fill find me ‘straight’.

    To ‘care’, to ‘listen’ to ‘serve’ and to be ‘straight’ seem to me four good words, four good anchors, to be held accountable to.

    I promised a word about the constitution. I am the 15th Governor of these Islands. Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth, has appointed all 15. She had been crowned twenty years before the first Governor – Alexander Mitchell – was appointed by her. All fifteen Governors received their commission from her, to be her representative as Head of State.

    I am genuinely touched by the spotlight you place on me today, but in truth whoever the individual Governor is, is not the issue. It is instead what the office of Governor represents: continuity, the link to the Crown and to Britain, and the Governor’s application of the constitution that is important.

    It is important because it ensures everyone in these islands, and anyone wishing to travel to her, or invest in her, understands that through the Constitution it is the rule of law that prevails here and all are equal here before the law.

    An investment here is safe, because the law keeps it safe. A persons human rights are in the end guaranteed here because the law demands those rights be protected.

    Conversations about the constitution become immediately complex but let me – for the moment – keep things simple. The key test is that a Constitution has to be good enough to weather the bad times as well as the good. To take in its stride not just the sort of outstanding leaders who spoke before me today, the Premier and the Leader of the Opposition, but those whose intentions, perhaps long in the future, may be less selfless than the standard that all of us in this room aspire to now.

    It’s why the oath I swore at the start of these proceedings is taken by all of you so seriously and why it is – to me – the islands sword and shield; something I must steward diligently.

    I am acutely aware that as Head of State I am appointed rather than elected. I have the greatest respect for those politicians amongst you, who face an electorate. As a result you – as well as Her Majesty who appointed me as her representative – have every right to demand, in your Head of State, Statesman like qualities. Today is my first step on a journey to earn the right to be judged in that way.

    In the 18th Century the political philosopher Burke offered advice. His definition of a statesman was: “A disposition to preserve and an ability to improve”. That seems to me to remain a good aiming mark in the 21st Century Turks and Caicos Islands. To preserve and improve. You will find that I’m interested in making a practical, positive, difference.

    So I’m interested in supporting all those helping educate, protect, develop and care for all that call these islands home, including the most vulnerable. I’m equally interested in supporting those who are focused on business, tourism and diversifying the economy. We all rely on wealth creators.

    We can all learn from the next generation – I have – and there will be a particular place, in my heart, for those who understand that the stewardship of our environment offers not just benefits here, but also the opportunity for the Turks and Caicos Islands to have a genuine global voice.

    That’s a global voice in what will be one of the predictable themes of this century, something critical we must steward for those that come behind us. Fortunately it’s a fast developing UK priority. On the environment we – the Turks and Caicos Islands, Britain and all the Overseas Territories – are more influential and stronger together than we can ever be apart.

    In starting a new role though it’s critical to have early focus – my early focus will be on properly understanding issues relating to crime, illegal immigration and hurricane preparedness. My programme has been prepared with that in mind.

    That’s enough talk. I start my agenda – such as it is – to work with you all to ‘preserve and to improve’. In the end this is going to be a Governorship based on values. Whether I ‘care’, ‘listen’, ‘serve’ and whether I’m ‘straight’ will best be judged by my actions rather than my words. I’m now keen to get to work.

    And may God bless the Turks and Caicos Islands.

  • Matt Hancock – 2019 Speech on Social Media, Young People and Mental Health

    Below is the text of the speech made by Matt Hancock, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on 15 July 2019.

    An Irishman, a Barbadian and a Kiwi…

    Sorry, there’s no punchline – I just wanted to talk about our England cricket team, who I met on the way over here at Downing Street.

    And our brilliant England captain, star bowler and star batsman, and this entire generation of England cricketers, who come from so many different backgrounds to play for our country.

    Because these guys – like the England Women’s World Cup team – are role models to so many boys and girls in this country.

    And it’s a sign of how far we’ve come since Norman Tebbit’s infamous ‘cricket test’ that nobody cares where you come from, only where you want to call home. And I hope that we call it a new cricket test that we are a meritocracy as a country wherever you come from.

    I thought it was worth starting with the England cricket team, not only to cheer everybody up but also because we have to make sure that we remember what the recent past was like when we decide on the future.

    Our sporting role models now reflect what our country looks like – and this itself is a huge sign of progress. I think we can take that analysis into the space we’re talking about tonight.

    Because things weren’t always better for children and teenagers before smartphones and social media. We often discuss the impact of social media and the challenges it brings but as mentioned in the introduction we must also remember the great advances it brings.

    By most metrics it’s never been better: smoking is down, alcohol misuse is down, drug abuse is down. More young people are staying in school and going to university than ever before.

    You see the thing is, no matter how much we care about improving our country, we’ve always got to base those improvements on an honest assessment of where we are. An honest assessment means also reflecting that each age brings new challenges and our task is to rise to those new challenges and harness those for the benefit of our society.

    This afternoon some of the biggest social media companies in the world – Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Google, YouTube, Tumblr and Snapchat – all came together at the Department for Health and Social Care…

    …the Matt Hancock app was also represented.

    And what we discussed is exactly what we’re talking about tonight – young people, social media and the impact on mental health. And the word that kept coming up in the meeting – and not just from me – was responsibility.

    It was clear: the penny has now dropped – social media companies get that they have a social responsibility, and that we all have a shared responsibility for the health and wellbeing of our children.

    This was the third social media summit I’ve called this year, and so far we’ve managed to get the big tech firms – which includes Twitter – to agree to remove suicide and self-harm content, and start addressing the spread of anti-vax misinformation, Instagram have introduced a new anti-bullying tool, and they’ve all repeated to me that they recognise they have a duty of care to their users, particularly children and young people.

    The next step from the work we’ve been doing is research. Today, we agreed that we must build a scientifically-rigorous evidence base so we can better understand the health impact of social media, and so we can better identify what more we need to do to keep our children safe online.

    We will use the data that social media companies hold for social good. Because, while we’ve made significant progress in these past few months, there is still much more to do.

    And ultimately we need to ensure we allow those who express themselves on social media as a cry for help to make that cry while not subjecting others to the damaging impact of viewing material that promotes self-harm or suicide.

    And I have made it crystal-clear that if they don’t collaborate, we will legislate.

    So today, we agreed to start a new strategic partnership between the Samaritans and ‘the big 6’: Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Google, YouTube and Twitter.

    We want the social media companies to contribute at least £1 million to get this partnership off the ground. The government is playing a leading role in bringing this partnership together, and has also contributing funding.

    Our mission will be to follow the evidence: develop a scientifically based understanding of what the challenge is, and what resources, support and guidelines we need to establish and better protect children and young people online.

    And the key will be to ensure we have a clinically credible analysis of what should and shouldn’t be online and ensure when social media companies want to take down content that is harmful, or are required to take down content that is harmful, the boundary of what should and shouldn’t be online is defined by clinical standards. There’s a clear need for a partnership here to make sure we get that line right.

    Ultimately technology isn’t the problem: cars don’t kill people because of a design flaw. People die in car crashes, most of the time, due to human error.

    The challenge with social media is also a human challenge.

    I’m well known for caring about driving technological upgrades through the NHS and before that across the economy as culture secretary. The reason I care about technology is because I care about people.

    Ultimately, harnessing people to harness technology – that is the challenge that we face. The challenge we face online is to ask the question: are humans going to do the right thing?

    Are social media companies going to play their part by making their services safer?

    Are governments going to hold these companies to account?

    And how are we going to support parents and carers to keep their children safe and healthy online?

    Essentially, how are we all going to live up to our responsibilities?

    And I believe we will. For 2 reasons.

    First: history shows us that new technologies sometimes develop faster than our ability to fully understand their impact, but when we do catch up, we act successfully.

    It took a century of speed limits, vehicle inspections, traffic lights, drink-driving laws, seatbelt legislation, to make driving as safe as it is now. And now, per mile driven, cars have never been safer.

    And we’re still not done, because driver-less cars will be the next step – proof that progress is driven both by advances in understanding and improvements in the technology itself.

    And of course that progress, itself, is never complete.

    I take inspiration from the first modern labour law in this country, introduced by a Conservative: Robert Peel, father to Sir Robert Peel, one of our greatest prime ministers.

    The 1802 Health and Morals of Apprentices Act recognised that cotton mill owners needed to better protect the children working with this new-fangled machinery.

    Now, it took a few more decades, and a few more factory acts, before child labour was outlawed altogether, but that first Factory Act, introduced by a Conservative mill owner, started the course of gradual improvements to make the world of work safer for children, women and men.

    This task of harnessing new technology for the benefit of society does not take one act of parliament – it is a constant effort to make sure our rulebook is up to date, to allow for the great innovations of our age but to also ensure the benefit of that innovation is brought to the whole of society.

    The history of technology, the history of humanity itself, is one of constant and gradual improvements. Now, gradual does not mean slow – that’s not to say we need to wait decades for change to happen.

    The pace of technological transformation is faster now than at any point in history so we must pick up the pace of progress to make this technology safer, sooner.

    Look at it this way: Facebook is 15 years old now, which in tech years is about… 46. They’ve even appointed Nick Clegg – and you don’t get more of a grown-up than Sir Nick.

    So this technology is maturing, there’s more middle-aged people now using Facebook than teenagers, and through improving our understanding and improving the technology, we can make it safer for everyone. That’s the first reason I have confidence that we will get this right, but it requires constant effort to upgrade the laws by which we live.

    Second: Mental health, thanks to the actions of this Prime Minister, and her predecessor, is finally being talked about, and taken as seriously as physical health.

    We’ve started a fundamental shift in how we think about mental health in this country, and the approach the NHS is taking to preventing, treating and supporting good mental health in the future.

    This fundamental shift is important but it is by no means complete. We’ve put a record amount of funding into mental health services but there is so much more to do.

    And I think it’s very important that we talk about the impact of social media, and the wellbeing of young people, in this wider context of good mental health: how do we promote and encourage good mental health?

    So the third, and final thing, I’d like to touch on tonight is resilience, which is really another way of saying prevention: the guiding principle of the NHS over the next decade.

    How can we help people, particularly children and young people, to become more resilient in the first place?

    This isn’t about telling people to toughen up – it’s about teaching people the cognitive and emotional skills they need to deal with adversity.

    It’s about promoting positive mental health and preventing problems from causing illness.

    Because life will throw at you challenges, times of stress and adversity – losing a job, divorce, bereavement. It’s how we respond, how resilient we are, that ultimately determines the impact on our mental health.

    The child development expert, Professor Ann Masten, puts it brilliantly:

    Resilience does not come from rare and special qualities, but from the everyday magic of ordinary, normative human resources in the minds, brains, and bodies of children.

    Everyday magic, but it is not automatic. Resilience isn’t a fixed attribute. It’s something we can teach. It’s something that can be learned, it’s something that must be nurtured.

    It’s an essential life skill that we should equip every child and young person with, so they can meet challenges head-on, face adversity, learn and grow, and improve as a person.

    I’m delighted we’re working with our colleagues at the Department for Education to equip and empower children, from a young age, with this essential life skill.

    Teaching resilience, along with self-respect and self-worth, learning about the importance of honesty, courage, kindness, generosity, trustworthiness and justice.

    Values to live by, and vital to our mental health.

    We’re also teaching children about the dangers of fake news and why truth matters – whether it’s falsehoods about vaccines or falsehoods about people.

    As a parent, I want to protect my children from the dangers in this world, but I know I can’t be with them every minute of the day – I don’t think they’d like it very much if I tried.

    But I hope that what I’ve taught them will help prepare them for the challenges they will face in the future.

    As parents, as a society, we can’t remove every challenge, but we can teach young people how to overcome them, how to cope with adversity, and how to become more resilient.

    So it comes down to this:

    Responsibility: everybody playing their part – social media companies, government, parents and carers.

    Research: building the evidence base to improve our understanding, and improve the new technology.

    Resilience: teaching the right way to respond to challenges.

    That’s how we protect our children. And that’s how we build a safer, healthier world for them to grow up in.

    And it is an area in which we can succeed – we are leading the world and we must not fail if we’re going to ensure the next generation grows up to live the happy and fulfilling lives that we all want to see.