UKPOL.CO.UK

Category: Speeches

  • Keir Starmer – 2023 Speech on the Loyal Address

    Keir Starmer – 2023 Speech on the Loyal Address

    The speech made by Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition, in the House of Commons on 7 November 2023.

    Before I turn to the Humble Address, I am sure the whole House will join me in paying tribute to His Majesty the King on the occasion of his first Gracious Speech as our sovereign. Of course, he gave the speech last year, and has for some time enjoyed the best view in the House on how it should be done. None the less, this is a new chapter for him and our country, so we pay tribute to him.

    I also congratulate both the mover and seconder of the Humble Address for their fantastic speeches. The right hon. Member for Scarborough and Whitby (Sir Robert Goodwill) once again showed us his deep love for his constituency and delivered a truly great speech. He has been a good servant and is well respected across the House, but he is now wanted again on his farm. I can inform the House that he is also one of this country’s leading steam engine enthusiasts and the proud owner of a Fowler K5 ploughing engine, which is not a tractor, but is none the less a beautiful machine that on a good day, when he really steps on it, can still give the TransPennine Express a run for its money. However, I warn him to be careful: there are some weird and wonderful details in all those Network North announcements, and the Prime Minister might commandeer his Fowler—for illustrative purposes only, of course.

    It was great to hear the hon. Member for Stroud (Siobhan Baillie) make a powerful speech to this House. It is only right that the Prime Minister selected someone with good sense to second the Humble Address, and so of course he had to turn to a working-class lawyer with a connection to Camden. I can say from personal knowledge, and from many people in Camden, that as a Camden councillor she was respected across parties, as she is here. A year ago, she rightly pointed out that

    “there are many ways to boost domestic energy security using nuclear, solar, marine energy…and onshore wind”—

    an argument that shows exactly why she has a bright future within her party. It is a shame that, instead of choosing her to second the Humble Address, the Prime Minister did not ask her to write the energy section of the King’s Speech.

    We are lucky enough not to have lost any Members of this House since the last Address, but, as we approach the end of this cycle, it is only right that we once again remember those whom we all still miss so much, who left us earlier in this Parliament. On the Opposition Benches we lost our beloved friend Jack Dromey, a champion of working people for the ages. On the Government Benches we lost Dame Cheryl Gillan, James Brokenshire and of course Sir David Amess, who was taken from us in the vilest and cruellest of circumstances. We on the Opposition Benches still mourn the loss of Jo Cox, one of our brightest lights, seven years ago now in similar fashion, so we reach out across the aisle and say of Sir David, as does the plaque put up in the Chamber in recent weeks, “His light remains.”

    Mr Speaker, it is also customary to welcome new Members to the House—although, given that you are a stickler for parliamentary time limits, that could be difficult. I welcome all 11 new Members to the first of these debates: one for the Conservative party, two for the Liberal Democrats and eight for Labour. Those are victories that show, without question, that Britain is ready for change; victories that have reduced the Conservative party—now nearly 14 years in power—to the desperate spectacle of claiming that it offers change away from itself.

    Today’s speech shows just how ridiculous that posturing is, because what we have before us is a plan for more of the same: more sticking plasters; more division; more party first, country second gimmicks; and no repudiation of the utterly discredited idea that economic growth is something that the few hand down to the many. In fact, today we reached something of a new low, because the Conservatives are not even pretending to govern any more. They have given up on any sense of service. They see our country’s problems as something to be exploited, not solved. In doing that, they underestimate the British people, because what Britain wants is for them to stop messing around and get on with the job. People want action, not inaction; solutions to real problems, not the imaginary ones that haunt the Conservative party’s imagination; a Government who are committed to the national interest, not desperately trying to save their own skin.

    Our schools are crumbling, waiting lists are rising, rivers and streams are dying, infrastructure is being cancelled, violent criminals are being released early, the Conservatives’ mortgage bombshell is blowing up the finances of millions, growth is set to be the lowest in the G7 next year, and taxes are higher than at any time since the war—the Prime Minister raised them himself 25 times. The Tory recipe for British decline: low growth, high tax, crumbling public services, with the Prime Minister serving up more of the same.

    Of course, there are steps we can welcome: Jade’s law, Martyn’s law and an independent regulator in football. We have said that on smoking and public health, the Prime Minister can count on our votes. We will always serve the national interest. That is why this House has stood united in our support for Ukraine since the start of Putin’s aggression, and we must never lose our resolve or focus.

    The speech mentions the terrible events in Israel and Palestine. It is now one month exactly since the senseless murder of Jews by the terrorists of Hamas and the taking of hostages on 7 October. Every new day in Gaza brings with it more pain, more suffering, more agony. Hostages are still held; thousands of civilians are dead, including so many innocent women and children; millions are struggling for the basics of life—food, water, sanitation, medicines and fuel. We cannot and we will not close our eyes to their suffering. We need a humanitarian pause now and for the hostages to be released now. Israel has the right and duty to defend herself, but that is not a blank cheque; it must comply with international law. This House must commit to doing whatever it can to keep alive the light of peace, so we welcome the clear commitment in the speech to supporting the two-state solution.

    To return once more to the Conservatives’ plan for Britain, the biggest question is how they think that this is anywhere near good enough. After all the chaos they have unleashed—after levelling up, “No rules were broken,” “We’re all in it together,” and all the other broken promises of the last 13 years—this is the plan that they put to the working people of this country and say, “Trust us, we’ve changed.” It’s laughable. They cannot see Britain: that is the only possible conclusion. The walls of this place are too high. But let me assure the House that Britain sees them, and Britain sees today that they offer no change on public services, no change on the cost of living crisis, and no change to the economic model that has failed to give working people the security and opportunity that they deserve. That is the change that Britain needs, and today was a missed opportunity.

    We needed a King’s Speech that would draw a line under 13 years of Tory decline—a King’s Speech for national renewal and a serious plan for growth. But instead, we have a party so devoid of leadership that it is happy to follow a Home Secretary who describes homelessness as a “lifestyle choice” and believes that the job of protecting us all from extremists—the most basic job of government—is legitimate terrain for her divisive brand of politics. As Director of Public Prosecutions, I worked closely with the police and counter-terrorism forces. Their job is hard enough already without the Home Secretary using it as a platform for her own ambitions. I say to the Prime Minister: think very carefully about what she is committing your Government to do, and think very carefully about the consequences of putting greater demands on public servants at the coalface of keeping us safe—because without a serious Home Secretary, there can be no serious Government, and he cannot be a serious Prime Minister.

    Homelessness is a choice—it is a political choice. Constant U-turns on no-fault evictions are political choices. Not facing up to the blockers of aspiration on the Government Benches is a political choice. And it is not that there aren’t better choices. On the Opposition Benches, we have a plan to build 1.5 million homes across the country, with a reformed planning regime that will unlock our potential, because you can’t fix homelessness without increasing the supply of housing, you can’t boost growth unless workers have the homes they need, and you can’t escape the cost of living crisis unless there is more affordable housing.

    We all know why the Prime Minister finds himself in this position, but if he is prepared to stand up to the blockers, and if he shows he can radically improve the supply of housing by bringing back national housing targets, then yes, he can count on Labour votes, because that is what this country needs most: a credible plan for growth; a Britain where growth comes from the grassroots and growth serves the grassroots, with higher living standards in every community—an ambition that can only be delivered if we roll up our sleeves and get building. At the moment, just to get a tunnel built in this country can require a planning application 30 times longer than the complete works of Shakespeare. That is why today we needed a planning Bill to strip out the red tape and get Britain building.

    We also needed a bold commitment to train the next generation, with new technical colleges, apprenticeship levy reform and expert teachers in every classroom, giving British businesses the skills they need. We needed a modern industrial strategy on a statutory footing, with a Bill to match—a signal of intent to the world that we are serious about fighting for the jobs of the future. We needed an employment Bill. Time and again, this Bill has been promised; time and again, it fails to materialise, when we could be scrapping fire and rehire, ending zero-hours contracts, making work pay with a real living wage and saying unambiguously that strong workers’ rights are good for growth. What we got instead is an exercise in economic miserabilism: an admission that his Government have no faith in Britain’s ability to avert decline.

    Take the oil and gas Bill announced today—a Bill that everyone in the energy sector knows is a political gimmick and even the Energy Secretary admits will not take a single penny off anyone’s bills. I do not know which of his seven bins the Prime Minister chucked her meat tax in, but this one will follow soon. None the less, it is a gimmick that tells a story: a King’s Speech with no concern for the national interest, wallowing in a pessimism that says the hard road to a better future isn’t for Britain.

    It has been this way for 13 years now: a failure to seize the opportunities, perhaps even to see the opportunities; working people hit because the Conservatives did not build the gas storage, they did not invest in clean British energy, and they scrapped home insulation. And they are doing it all again: moving the targets back, and passing it on to the next generation, even as costs rise and rise. This is sticking-plaster politics—an approach as riven through the foundations of our security as the crumbling concrete in our schools. The never-ending cycle of Tory Britain: party first, country second; drift, stagnate, decline.

    We have to turn the page. The Government are wrong about clean energy—it is cheaper, it is British and it can give us real security against tyrants like Putin. More importantly, they are wrong about Britain. We can win the race for jobs of tomorrow; we can work hand in glove with the private sector and invest in critical infrastructure—the gigafactories, the new ports and the clean British steel that can once again light the fire of renewal in British industrial communities.

    Today was the day we could have struck the match for that light, embraced a new sense of mission and tackled the cost of living crisis with a new plan for growth. There was a chance to get Britain building again—take back our streets, get the NHS back on its feet, deliver cheaper bills with real energy security, and tear down the barriers to opportunity—but for the 14th year in a row, the Government passed it up, severed their relationship with Britain’s future and gave up on the national interest.

    The speech shows with ever greater clarity that the only fight left in the Government is the fight for their own skin—a Government who have given up, dragging Britain down with them, ever more steadily towards decline; a day on which it became crystal clear that the change Britain needs is from Tory decline to Labour renewal.

  • Siobhan Baillie – 2023 Speech on the Loyal Address

    Siobhan Baillie – 2023 Speech on the Loyal Address

    The speech made by Siobhan Baillie, the Conservative MP for Stroud, in the House of Commons on 7 November 2023.

    It is an honour to second the Loyal Address and I am proud that the Stroud constituency is playing its part in history, given that this is the first state opening by His Majesty the King. The late Queen was an inspiration for everyone across this great nation. For Members of this House, she reminded us that, despite the melodrama of politics, we are all here to serve the public. The King is already following in his mother’s footsteps and making us all proud, although when I told my non-political family that I was going to be talking about the King’s Speech, the response I got was, “Oh, great, that’s a really good film.” [Laughter.]

    Talking about hard acts to follow, my right hon. Friend the Member for Scarborough and Whitby (Sir Robert Goodwill) had me doing a fair few “lols”; I know exactly the areas he is talking about. He has definitely landed that promotion with that speech, in his final furlong. We have many connections, which I will touch on today, but Scarborough Athletic FC will play Stroud’s Forest Green Rovers in the FA cup next week, so we have another rumble to come. I know my right hon. Friend will be missed when he gets his pipe and slippers out to retire next year, but his lovely new grandchildren will keep him very busy.

    I went to school in my right hon. Friend’s constituency. If I could tell the younger me in Scarborough, a young fashionista wearing Spice Girl platforms, Adidas trackie bottoms and a second-hand Umbro jumper—it was a very strong look, although I am grateful that there were no camera phones then—that I would have the privilege of representing the beautiful constituency of Stroud, speaking ahead of the Prime Minister, after being in the same room as the King and the Queen, I think young me would have thought I had lost the plot. What did the Conservative party do for a free school meal kid, who left home at 15 and did not go to university? It gave her a seat at the most famous palace in the world, led by the son of a pharmacist, who is also leading the most diverse Cabinet we have ever known.

    The public service bit of this job motivates me, but that is not what hits the headlines. I am often asked, “How do you survive with everybody backstabbing, doing their own thing and out to get each other?” I just smile and say, “I don’t hang around with the Labour party.” [Interruption.] I love you all really. To be honest, the parliamentary Labour party has absolutely nothing on the Stroud Labour party, whose members have all resigned or fallen out with each other. What I actually say is that to survive in this place you have to find some friends, and then fully expect them to push you into the Thames in the run-up to a reshuffle.

    We also get new friends for very short periods of time, come Select Committee elections. I sort of miss the daily messages from the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill (Liam Byrne). His text messages are less famous than his scary handwritten notes about the economy, but they are still persistent.

    Back to navigating a workplace that is mad as a box of frogs. Early on, I came up with “Operation Green Benches”, whereby I shunned history books and Hansard and researched parliamentary sketches instead, because I love them. Quentin Letts once wrote that the area of the Government Benches where I am now sitting is the “naughty corner”, so that sorted out where I would sit. It sounded fun and he was right.

    I then realised that identifying the loudest colleagues to sit with, and effectively hide behind, could be crucial to avoid the wrath of the Speaker. My right hon. Friend the Member for Elmet and Rothwell (Alec Shelbrooke) seemed to fit that bill. He was described as being “expansively waistcoated” and having “lungs like bagpipes” —perfect. He is not in his place. He is watching at home on the tellybox, but no doubt he is wearing a waistcoat.

    My hon. Friend the Member for North Dorset (Simon Hoare) and my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for South Swindon (Sir Robert Buckland) are often depicted as noisy and boisterous. Those two appeared to come free with “bagpipe lungs”, in a creative BOGOF-style deal that probably should be banned, but this strategy has served me well and given me a slightly dysfunctional, but always hilarious and caring Chamber family whom I love dearly. The other five Gloucestershire MPs are also guiding lights, not least my right hon. Friend the Member for Forest of Dean (Mr Harper), who taught me that consistent rebelling does not hinder one’s career. It’s okay, Chief Whip, I’m not going to follow that lead.

    My kids come to work with me, so they support me in their own chaotic way. Gigi, aged 3, dressed as a witch on Hallowe’en. She merrily skipped up the steps of one house, turned to me and said loudly, “Mummy, this is just like canvassing.” Then the door opened and she went, “Trick or treat!” and I said, “I blame those CCHQ canvassing scripts”—an absolute disaster.

    A myriad of female colleagues naturally support each other, on both sides of the House. I especially congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Brecon and Radnorshire (Fay Jones) on her wedding at the weekend. She looked absolutely radiant and I wish her and her husband a long, happy life together.

    I am chuffed to be the first MP from Stroud to be asked to second the Loyal Address. Stroud, with its valleys and vale, is gorgeous, so please visit. We have the quirky bit of the Cotswolds with a creative, innovative and industrial spirit throughout. People rightly expect a lot of their public servants in our neck of the woods, so I mainly sit in the House of Commons Library, as others know, dealing with endless amounts of casework and correspondence. I am having some successes: I am steadily chipping away at 20-year-old problems such as Tricorn House and accessibility at Stroud station and at newer challenges, including Rush skatepark and Stroud Maternity’s postnatal beds.

    People take the mick out of me sitting in the Library, but I really like it. It is never dull. My hon. Friend the Member for Totnes (Anthony Mangnall), another denizen of the Library, excitedly texted me one day, saying, “Come see my tortoise.” I have heard about these public schoolboys and how they like to give nicknames to things, so it was not without fear and trepidation that I came into his bit of the Library to see his tortoise. Happily, Mr Speaker, it was actually your tortoise that I got to see; he was eating merrily on the Terrace. May I also say that your decision to add giant cats and other creatures to this already odd place is very welcome?

    I listened carefully to what His Majesty the King had to say earlier. It is customary to be jolly in seconding a speech, but we all know that these are difficult times. To hear that the Government’s focus is on security challenges, both domestic and international, was extremely important. Thereafter, I can get behind all actions to increase economic growth and help our constituents with day-to-day pressures or injustices. By way of an example, Stroud constituents should not be ripped off by rogue property management companies. I commend the campaigning work of local people and my hon. Friends the Members for North East Bedfordshire (Richard Fuller) and for Cities of London and Westminster (Nickie Aiken) to get leasehold reform and protections for homeowners on the agenda.

    The King’s comments about putting people in control of their futures and the focus on town regeneration give me hope for high streets, businesses and fantastic areas such as Berkeley and Stroud towns. With the Prime Minister gripping artificial intelligence and new technology, we are poised and ready to fly with innovation in renewables, hydrogen internal combustion engines, nuclear and many other science, technology, engineering and maths fields.

    The Government’s NHS long-term workforce plan must get lift-off if we are to help Stroud Maternity midwives. I have long campaigned for more apprentices as well, so let us get rid of all barriers in further education. My excellent friend and constituency neighbour, my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Cheltenham (Alex Chalk), will clearly have a lot to do as Secretary of State for Justice, but I still hope that he will look closely at family law reform to keep cases involving children out of the courts system. Although I was not expecting new childcare announcements, I urge the whole Government to get behind the Chancellor’s investment in families by urgently boosting the early years workforce.

    His Majesty the King said that the Government will lead on action to tackle biodiversity loss. With COP28 approaching, the Prime Minister should get familiar with WWT Slimbridge’s flamingos on our patch. I will take all the help that I can get to have a dedicated domestic wetlands team and strategy in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. If he is not persuaded, flamingos are absolutely marvellous for that wonderful Instagram account of his. The King is the WWT president, and wetlands can genuinely help us to reach our net zero targets.

    I said earlier that public service was a privilege and I genuinely meant it. It gives us the chance to change things for everyday families and champion those who deserve and need our support. It also allows the hardest working Prime Minister that I have known—and I have known quite a few recently; even my baby had met three Prime Ministers by the time she was three months old—to show the country, week in, week out, how we can bring long-term change against global headwinds, and I second this Loyal Address.

  • Robert Goodwill – 2023 Speech on the Loyal Address

    Robert Goodwill – 2023 Speech on the Loyal Address

    The speech made by Sir Robert Goodwill, the Conservative MP for Scarborough and Whitby, in the House of Commons on 7 November 2023.

    I beg to move,

    That an humble Address be presented to His Majesty, as follows:

    Most Gracious Sovereign,

    We, Your Majesty’s most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, in Parliament assembled, beg leave to offer our humble thanks to Your Majesty for the Gracious Speech which Your Majesty has addressed to both Houses of Parliament.

    It is a great honour to move the Humble Address. This is the first time that King Charles has opened a Session as monarch, and today’s pomp and ceremony are tinged with sadness as we remember the late Queen with affection and with gratitude for 70 years of service to our kingdom and Commonwealth. We look forward to another significant reign as the baton is passed to the next generation.

    So, Mr Speaker, it has finally come to this. It is official: I was the future once. The seconder of the Humble Address, my hon. Friend the Member for Stroud (Siobhan Baillie), for whom I am the warm-up act today, is always described as up and coming. I am not really sure what that makes me. I recall the last occasion, when my right hon. Friend the Member for Beverley and Holderness (Graham Stuart) was proposing the Humble Address and we all thought he was on the scrapheap, but less than two months later he was back on the Front Bench attending Cabinet, so you never know—although, the Chief Whip has assured me that there is no danger of that happening to me.

    Scarborough and Whitby has to be the best constituency in the country. Of course, Mr Speaker, it has a head start by being in Yorkshire. They say you should never ask someone if they are from Yorkshire, because if they are, they are bound to mention it in the first five minutes; and if they are not, why humiliate them unnecessarily? I am pleased to see our colleagues in the Scottish National party sporting the white rose of Yorkshire today, although I must point out that Yorkshire Day is 1 August, so not for the first time they have got things wrong.

    The arrival of the railways created Scarborough as our first seaside destination, and we are still Britain’s premier coastal resort and second only to London for the number of visitors. In fact, there could be more if some of the £36 billion recouped from HS2 could be redeployed on dualling the A64. Culturally, we are the home of Sir Alan Ayckbourn and also the birthplace of the McCain oven chip, as well as Plaxton’s coaches and the electric buses that we are increasingly seeing on the streets in places such as Blackpool—that is, if the Labour council there does not order Chinese ones. Whitby is famous for Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”, the Goth weekend and, of course, fish and chips from the famous Magpie restaurant—although I hasten to add that that is not the only place you can get good fish and chips in Whitby.

    Before mass tourism, the area was dotted with ironstone, alum and jet mines. Fast-forward a century or two and we are the biggest mining area in the country, with Anglo American investing £1 million every single day and employing around 1,000 people developing the new polyhalite mine just outside Whitby, with its 23-mile connecting tunnel to Teesside, where Mayor Ben Houchen is delivering so much economic development. The North Yorkshire Moors national park was made famous as the location of Aidensfield in ITV’s “Heartbeat” police drama, and it is home to many important ground-nesting birds on the heather moorland, sustained and managed in traditional ways by generations of farmers and keepers.

    I do not know if you have noticed, Mr Speaker, but we seem to be having a lot of by-elections at the moment—[Hon. Members: “More!”] Not so fast. It was a by-election in Ryedale in 1986 that whetted my appetite for frontline politics. The seat was held with a thumping 16,000 Conservative majority, but it fell to the Liberals with a 19% swing, giving Elizabeth Shields a 5,000-vote margin. While the rest of the Liberal party were going back to their constituencies to prepare for government, I was not going to put up with the situation, so rather naively I put my name forward—along with 200 others—to be the candidate at the subsequent general election.

    I was not selected, but did come second to John Greenway, who, for Members who do not remember or who were not even born—I am looking at the hon. Member for Selby and Ainsty (Keir Mather)—won the seat back only 13 months later with a 10,000 majority. The moral is: don’t count your chickens on the basis of by-election results.

    Not put off, my next move was to try to find a safe Labour seat to fly the flag for Margaret Thatcher. Living in the north-east, there was no shortage of rock-solid Labour citadels—places like Sedgefield, Hartlepool, Bishop Auckland, North West Durham and Redcar—and it was in Redcar that I was selected to challenge the wonderful Mo Mowlam. By then, John Major had taken over from Mrs Thatcher. When that happened, I remember my children asking me, “Daddy, is it really possible that a man can be Prime Minister?” We have now had three women Conservative premiers, assuming the most recent one counts, of course, and we now have the first Prime Minister who represents a Yorkshire seat. Is that a big deal? It certainly is. I must say that my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Rishi Sunak) could not be a better neighbour or better friend to me.

    Labour was well ahead in the polls in the run-up to the 1992 election, and Mo had a car at the count, with the engine running, ready to take her down to sit in Neil Kinnock’s Cabinet as Northern Ireland Secretary, but once again the polls were wrong.

    I stood in North West Leicestershire in the 1997 Blair landslide election, which I will quickly pass over. Suffice it to say that both seats in which I stood, Redcar and North West Leicestershire, eventually returned Conservative Members. I like to think that the Goodwill effect was a slow burn.

    After what I will call a five-year sabbatical in the European Parliament, I was selected to stand for Scarborough and Whitby, a seat that had been consistently blue since 1918 but had been red in both 1997 and 2001. Even though the exit poll said I would lose, we managed to prevail on 5 May 2005 and I entered the House at last. I put our victory down to one deciding factor. On the eve of poll, of all the places that Tony Blair could have chosen for his big election rally, he chose Scarborough. Maybe the Leader of the Opposition could indulge me next time round and come to Scarborough on the eve of the poll to see if he can replicate the Blair effect—or better still, he could have a rally in Sheffield and go the full Kinnock.

    At the following election, I was the victim of a fly-poster campaign. All over town, there were A4 photocopies asking, “What is the difference between Robert Goodwill and a supermarket trolley?” The local newspaper picked up on this and concluded that a supermarket trolley has a mind of its own. I must admit that I have never voted against the Tory Whip, so that might explain it. However, having been here a while, I can now reveal the real answer to the question. The difference between an MP and a supermarket trolley is that there is a physical limit to the amount of food and drink that you can get into a supermarket trolley.

    I certainly welcome the Bills that have been announced. In particular, I would like to see convicted criminals attend their sentencing. Life for some of the most severe crimes must mean life. Fairness is part of what it means to be British, and we must ensure that the dynamic between freeholders and leaseholders is intrinsically fair, in the same way as we should show equal respect for landlords and tenants when they are doing the right thing. I was pleased to see that the ban on live animal exports for slaughter will happen, now we are outside the European Union and have the freedom to do that. Those who are successful in the ballot for private Members’ Bills will not be short of other suggestions, both from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and from animal welfare organisations, to carry forward some important measures in that area, which I know is important to the Government. The Bill to tackle unlicensed and uninsured pedicabs, which can rip off unsuspecting tourists, is not before time.

    Today’s focus is on the legislative agenda, but we cannot ignore what is going on outside our borders. The butchery we saw from Hamas on 7 October was evil beyond anything most of us could even imagine—and, yes, BBC, these thugs are terrorists. If those atrocities had been on our soil and against our people, we would have been expected to launch a robust response—Israel has that right, too. Indeed, what else did Hamas expect would happen? The conflict in Ukraine may be off the front pages, but we must not waver in our support for the courageous Ukrainian people.

    Good government is not so much about how many laws we have and how many new laws we announce, but about how we respond to changing and unexpected events such as the pandemic. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but the Prime Minister’s furlough scheme and help for businesses were the right thing to do. The universal credit system was also robust in the face of unprecedented demand.

    With small boat crossings of the channel down by more than a fifth year on year, we are making progress in curbing the organised criminal gangs engaged in this dangerous, exploitative trade. Furthermore, if we can stand up the Rwanda scheme, it will be a game changer. Our help should be for those most in need, not those most able to pay.

    Finally, I come to a true story from the 2019 winter general election; I heard your strictures about being truthful to the House, Mr Speaker, and this absolutely happened. One of the strongest Labour areas in my patch is a former council estate called Eastfield—we usually go there early in the campaign to get it out of the way—but this time it was different: people were crossing the street to shake my hand. They had voted for Brexit and wanted to get it done, and they were sick of being ignored. When my wife, Maureen, knocked on one door, the lady who answered was effusive in her admiration for Prime Minister Johnson. When I arrived, I asked her why she was so enthusiastic. She said, “Boris is one of us.” When I politely pointed out that he had been to Eton and Oxford, she replied, “You don’t understand. He had a row with his wife and the police came round. That’s what happens on this street all the time.” [Laughter.]

    I commend the Gracious Speech to the House.

  • Lindsay Hoyle – 2023 Statement to MPs at Start of Paliamentary Session

    Lindsay Hoyle – 2023 Statement to MPs at Start of Paliamentary Session

    The statement made by Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker of the House of Commons, in the House on 7 November 2023.

    The House has directed the Speaker to make a statement at the beginning of each Session about the duties and responsibilities of hon. Members. I begin by reminding hon. Members of their duty to observe the code of conduct agreed by the House and to behave with civility and fairness in all their dealings. The behaviour code applies to Members as it applies to others who visit or work within Parliament, and it provides very clear guidance. Unacceptable behaviour will be dealt with seriously, independently and with effective sanctions.

    The House asserts its privilege of freedom of speech. That privilege is enjoyed by Members of Parliament only in their work in this House; as private individuals, we are equal under the law with those whom we represent. It is there to ensure that our constituents can be represented by us without fear or favour. It is an obligation upon us all to exercise that privilege with responsibility.

    I now come to the accuracy of Members’ contributions, which is more tricky. The Speaker does not have the power to police the accuracy of Members—[Hon. Members: “Shame.”] It may be a shame, but these are the facts. The Speaker does not have the power to police the accuracy of Members’ contributions, including those of Ministers. It is therefore incumbent on Members to be accurate in what they say in this House, but if a Member is inaccurate by mistake, they should correct that mistake as soon as possible.

    Let us now turn to courtesy and temperate language. Members must also be mindful of the impact of what we say, not only on other Members but on those who follow our proceedings, and Members should be heard courteously whatever their views. I draw the House’s attention to the guidance on rules of behaviour and courtesies in the House of Commons. A new version for this Session is now available, clarifying those areas.

    Turning to criticism of Members, in this place we are honourable Members, and the language we use about each other should reflect that. If a Member falls short of the standards expected of us all, there are ways of dealing with that, but not by accusations made as sideswipes during questions or debates. If we fail to treat each other with respect in debate, that diminishes our work, but it also risks raising the temperature of discussions outside this place, particularly on social media, which already too often descend into online abuse against hon. Members.

    It is so important that hon. Members are able to raise matters with me freely. For that reason, I keep such correspondence confidential, including applications for urgent questions. I remind Members that it is equally important that my responses, particularly on matters of privilege, are treated with the same respect. I hope that certain Members are listening.

    I also wish to give some advice about seeking to speak within the Chamber. The Deputy Speakers and I take into account a number of factors when determining whom we call during business that is not balloted, and one factor we consider carefully is how often a Member speaks. In other words, if you have spoken much more than a colleague then, other things being equal, that colleague is more likely to be called—or certainly more likely to be called earlier—especially in the next debate for which you both apply. [Hon. Members: “Poor Jim!”] Don’t worry; I am coming to him. [Laughter.]

    I know that it can be frustrating not to be called in a debate, or to be called very late. That frustration may continue, but putting it on Twitter is not a good way of trying to be called earlier. My response will be that I cannot call you earlier because you have already told the world, so think carefully before using Twitter to try to intimidate the Speaker. Prioritising debates, question times, urgent questions and statements in which you seek to participate is one way of trying to avoid that happening.

    Now that we have started a new Session, the reset button starts everybody’s scores at zero. That even includes Jim Shannon—[Laughter.] I should make it clear that when counting scores, different principles apply to Front Benchers from the three largest parties who are nominated to speak on behalf of their parties. Staff in my office are happy to offer further advice and help.

    Let us come to something very important: security and safety. I want all Members and everyone in the parliamentary community to be able to go about their work safely, both online and here in Westminster. The security of this building and those who work here depends on us all. We have a duty to be vigilant and to assist those whose job it is to maintain this place as a safe place of work. Yes, we are Members of Parliament and we were elected to be here, but remember that those who carry out security duties here are doing so to ensure that we are all safe. Please, try not to abuse them—you should not abuse them—and do not take advantage of your position.

    Before moving to the first business of the new Session, I would like to express my very best wishes to all hon. Members and all those who work in this House. I thank the staff of the House, whether they work in security or elsewhere. They are looking after us, so please realise that they have a job to do. I thank all the catering staff, because without them we could not function properly.

  • King Charles III – 2023 King’s Speech to Parliament

    King Charles III – 2023 King’s Speech to Parliament

    The speech made by King Charles III in the House of Lords on 7 November 2023.

    My Lords and members of the House of Commons

    It is mindful of the legacy of service and devotion to this country set by My beloved Mother, The late Queen, that I deliver this, the first King’s Speech in over 70 years.

    The impact of Covid and the war in Ukraine have created significant long-term challenges for the United Kingdom. That is why my Government’s priority is to make the difficult but necessary long-term decisions to change this country for the better.

    My Ministers’ focus is on increasing economic growth and safeguarding the health and security of the British people for generations to come.

    My Government will continue to take action to bring down inflation, to ease the cost of living for families and help businesses fund new jobs and investment.

    My Ministers will support the Bank of England to return inflation to target by taking responsible decisions on spending and borrowing. These decisions will help household finances, reduce public sector debt, and safeguard the financial security of the country.

    Legislation will be introduced to strengthen the United Kingdom’s energy security and reduce reliance on volatile international energy markets and hostile foreign regimes. This Bill will support the future licensing of new oil and gas fields, helping the country to transition to net zero by 2050 without adding undue burdens on households.

    Alongside this, my Ministers will seek to attract record levels of investment in renewable energy sources and reform grid connections, building on the United Kingdom’s track-record of decarbonising faster than other G7 economies.

    My Government will invest in Network North to deliver faster and more reliable journeys between, and within, the cities and towns of the North and Midlands, prioritising improving the journeys that people make most often.

    My Ministers will strengthen education for the long term. Steps will be taken to ensure young people have the knowledge and skills to succeed, through the introduction of the Advanced British Standard that will bring technical and academic routes into a single qualification. Proposals will be implemented to reduce the number of young people studying poor quality university degrees and increase the number undertaking high quality apprenticeships.

    My Ministers will take steps to make the economy more competitive, taking advantage of freedoms afforded by the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union. A bill will be brought forward to promote trade and investment with economies in the fastest growing region in the world. My Ministers will continue to negotiate trade agreements with dynamic economies, delivering jobs and growth in the United Kingdom.

    My Ministers will introduce new legal frameworks to support the safe commercial development of emerging industries, such as self-driving vehicles, introduce new competition rules for digital markets, and encourage innovation in technologies such as machine learning. Legislation will be brought forward to support the creative industries and protect public interest journalism. Proposals will be published to reform welfare and support more people into work.

    My Government will promote the integrity of the Union and strengthen the social fabric of the United Kingdom.

    Working with NHS England, my Government will deliver its plans to cut waiting lists and transform the long-term workforce of the National Health Service. This will include delivering on the NHS workforce plan, the first long-term plan to train the doctors and nurses the country needs, and minimum service levels to prevent strikes from undermining patient safety.  Record levels of investment are expanding and transforming mental health services to ensure more people can access the support they need.  My Government will introduce legislation to create a smokefree generation by restricting the sale of tobacco so that children currently aged fourteen or younger can never be sold cigarettes, and restricting the sale and marketing of e-cigarettes to children.

    My Ministers will bring forward a bill to reform the housing market by making it cheaper and easier for leaseholders to purchase their freehold and tackling the exploitation of millions of homeowners through punitive service charges. Renters will benefit from stronger security of tenure and better value, while landlords will benefit from reforms to provide certainty that they can regain their properties when needed.

    My Government will deliver a long-term plan to regenerate towns and put local people in control of their future. Legislation will be brought forward to safeguard the future of football clubs for the benefit of communities and fans. A bill will be introduced to deal with the scourge of unlicensed pedicabs in London.

    My Government is committed to tackling antisemitism and ensuring that the Holocaust is never forgotten. A bill will progress the construction of a national Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre in Victoria Tower Gardens.

    My Government will act to keep communities safe from crime, anti-social behaviour, terrorism and illegal migration.

    A bill will be brought forward to ensure tougher sentences for the most serious offenders and increase the confidence of victims. My Ministers will introduce legislation to empower police forces and the criminal justice system to prevent new or complex crimes, such as digital-enabled crime and child sexual abuse, including grooming.

    At a time when threats to national security are changing rapidly due to new technology, my Ministers will give the security and intelligence services the powers they need and will strengthen independent judicial oversight. Legislation will be introduced to protect public premises from terrorism in light of the Manchester Arena attack.

    My Government will deliver on the Illegal Migration Act passed earlier this year and on international agreements, to stop dangerous and illegal Channel crossings and ensure it is the government, not criminal gangs, who decides who comes to this country.

    My Government will continue to champion security around the world, to invest in our gallant Armed Forces and to support veterans to whom so much is owed. My Ministers will work closely with international partners to support Ukraine, strengthen NATO and address the most pressing security challenges. This includes the consequences of the barbaric acts of terrorism against the people of Israel, facilitating humanitarian support into Gaza and supporting the cause of peace and stability in the Middle East.

    My Government will continue to lead action on tackling climate change and biodiversity loss, support developing countries with their energy transition, and hold other countries to their environmental commitments.

    The United Kingdom will continue to lead international discussions to ensure that Artificial Intelligence is developed safely.

    My Government will host the Global Investment Summit, the European Political Community, and the Energy Conference, leading global conversations on the United Kingdom’s most pressing challenges.

    I look forward to welcoming His Excellency the President of the Republic of Korea and Mrs. Kim Keon Hee for a State Visit later this month.

    My Government will, in all respects, seek to make long-term decisions in the interests of future generations. My Ministers will address inflation and the drivers of low growth over demands for greater spending or borrowing. My Ministers will put the security of communities and the nation ahead of the rights of those who endanger it. By taking these long-term decisions, my Government will change this country and build a better future.

    Members of the House of Commons.

    Estimates for the public services will be laid before you.

    My Lords and Member of the House of Commons.

    Other measures will be laid before you.

    I pray that the blessing of Almighty God may rest upon your counsels.

  • Keir Starmer – 2023 Speech to the North East Chamber of Commerce

    Keir Starmer – 2023 Speech to the North East Chamber of Commerce

    The speech made by Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition, on 3 November 2023.

    Thank you, Andrew.

    It’s such a pleasure to be here in such magnificent surroundings.

    And a privilege to have the opportunity to share our plans for growth with you.

    This is not the first Chamber of Commerce speech I’ve made this year.

    But it is the first time I’ve addressed the reigning UK Chamber of the year.

    So before I go any further – I’d like to congratulate you all on that.

    Because it’s no exaggeration to say that Labour’s ambitions for government, our most important mission.

    To get Britain building again.

    Grow our way out of the suffocating cost-of-living crisis.

    Will depend on your future success.

    Now, before you pulled up that fantastic palatial drive, some of you may have travelled here today along the A1, a road that is absolutely critical to doing business in this region – indeed for the whole the east side of England.

    But, as many of you will know, a little further up from here, between Morpeth and Ellington.

    There’s a stretch of the A1 that the Prime Minister has recently promised to upgrade. But there’s a catch.  Because he announced he would upgrade it in 2020, when he was Chancellor.

    Just like Theresa May’s Government did in 2017.  Just like David Cameron did in 2014. Just like the Conservative manifesto promised in 2010.

    It’s a metaphor for how our country’s been run for the past thirteen years. The cameras get called, the press releases written.

    All smiles for the photos, and then it’s back to Westminster.  Job done. Rinse and repeat.

    It’s a story you see right across Britain.

    Infrastructure projects – some with billions already committed. Businesses planning around them. Strategies – developed in rooms like this.

    But the projects and investment get stuck. Blocked, by objections, consultations, legal challenges, ballooning costs. Delays, delays, delays.

    Until in the end, it’s easier just to pack up and move on.

    We all know about HS2, a project the Conservatives couldn’t get built, even at the cost of £400 million per mile.

    That’s the most expensive railway in the world – ever.

    And I’m afraid to say that all the hallmarks of that project: the waste, the stagnation, the short-term sticking plaster politics. An inability to roll our sleeves up, and get things done that will actually grow our economy. Can be seen right across the country.

    I mean – right now, the number of businesses going under has soared to its highest level in years.

    And as you will all appreciate, every one is a personal tragedy.

    An ambition, a dream, an investment in a better future. Gone.

    Now I’m not here today to hit you over the head about this.

    You can see the country just as clearly as me.

    But next week is the King’s Speech. And we can already see that it will only bring more of the same.

    A manifesto for the 14th year of Tory failure.  And the starting gun fired on the next general election.

    A choice, between a Conservative Party with no plan for the future. Hurtling down the only high-speed project it’s ever managed to build: the highway to British decline.

    Or the Labour alternative. A party that understands the potential that lies in regions like this. That has a plan to grow every corner of this country.

    Will work with you to get the North East building again.

    Get our future back, with a decade of national renewal.

    Because mark my words, Britain needs this King’s Speech to kickstart a big build.

    We need to focus on the real problems that face the businesses and communities of this region.

    That’s why a Labour King’s speech would rip up the red tape in our planning system that stops us building the infrastructure you need.

    Would establish a new generation of technical colleges – a plan for the higher skills you need.

    And would bring forward a modern industrial strategy. Work hand in glove with the private sector. Invest in the potential of regions like this. And win the race for the jobs of the future.

    That is the job of government as I see it.

    We have to provide the businesses, communities and people of this nation, with the conditions to succeed.

    A fundamental deal.

    That we serve the country, while you drive it forward.

    The Tories can’t do this.  Rishi Sunak is too weak to stand up to the blockers on his backbenches. Too haunted by the ghosts of Conservative imagination to see the country’s problems as you see them.

    So, if you’ll indulge me, I want to set out exactly how our plan would benefit your business.

    And grow the economy of this proud region in three steps.

    Step one, we will get the North East building again.

    We will take on the blockers that hold a veto over British aspiration.

    We will build one and a half million homes right across our Britain. With opportunities for first time buyers here in the North East.

    New infrastructure to support businesses, families and communities to grow. Roads, warehouses, grid connections, labs – all built quicker and cheaper.

    And with all that – a prize for your business.  A path to a stronger skills base, a happier workforce, more dynamism, more demand, more growth.

    I mean – let me just give you a couple of examples.

    The Thames Tunnel in East London. A project with a planning application thirty times longer than the complete works of Shakespeare. Sixty thousand pages.

    £800 million worth of taxpayers money spent without even breaking ground.

    Or take Sizewell C. A next generation nuclear power station in Suffolk. A £20bn project of national importance. Vital for British energy, security and independence.

    This one had forty-thousand pages of its planning application devoted to data on the environment.

    And yet it’s been held up in the courts on account of a ‘failure to assess the environmental impact’.

    I could go on and on and on. The examples are countless.  But as a country we can’t afford to go on. Not like this.

    Because the challenges this inertia creates for businesses and communities like yours, they’re enormous.

    It’s why our roads are so congested compared to other countries.

    Why millions are denied the security of home ownership.

    Why you can’t take up the opportunity of clean British energy.

    The cheaper bills that would reduce your cost base and protect us from the whims of tyrants like Putin.

    And yet, back in the 50s and 60s, we built the backbone of our entire motorway system, in less time than it’s taken to talk about the turning of that stretch of the A1 into a dual carriageway.

    The national grid was completed in about eight years.  Less time than it takes some entrepreneurs to get a grid connection, today.

    But you don’t even have to go back that far.

    The last Labour Government delivered High Speed One on time and under budget.

    So I have no time for Tory excuses – politics is about choices.

    Do you face up to tough decisions, or do you duck them?  That’s always been the test.

    So if you take only one thing away from here today.

    Let it be this. Wherever we find barriers to British success – we will bulldoze through them.

    New development corporations, new planning regimes for national infrastructure.

    Consequences for councils that drag their feet.

    Reforms to judicial review.

    Whatever it takes – we will find a way.

    No stone unturned. No detail overlooked. No fight ducked.

    Step two – a new direction for skills.

    Because a future must be trained as well as built.

    And the generation of young people that sacrificed so much during the pandemic – their potential must be backed.

    Seriously – the cost of inaction on this cannot be overstated.

    £120bn worth of economic output could be lost by 2030 if the needs of businesses are not met.

    So we will transform our further education system. With Technical Excellence Colleges. Colleges that will have a stronger link to their local economies.

    More connections to Local Skills Improvement plans.

    Universities, businesses, rooms like this, all around the table and setting the direction.

    And in doing so, grounding our education system more firmly, not just in young peoples’ aspirations, but also in the pride, the pull on the badge of the shirt.

    The ambition you feel, when building a lasting legacy for your community.

    So here in the North East, for example it could mean Technical Excellence Colleges that specialise in construction, health and social care, the clean energy revolution we want to see up and down the East Coast.

    Welders in the Tees Valley – I know there’s a skills shortage for precision welders here.

    And I’ve seen that in the Local Skills Improvement plan this Chamber wrote.

    I know you don’t want that plan gathering dust.

    You want it to drive the courses delivered at your local FE colleges.

    And that is exactly what we will guarantee.

    Because we want to end the years of businesses feeling hopeless about missing skills. Give you the tools to do something about it.

    You should have more say over how you invest in your workforce.

    And at the moment – as you well know – the Apprenticeship Levy simply isn’t flexible enough.

    Your hands are tied.

    Unable to deliver the full breadth of skills that you need.

    So we’d transform it into a new Growth and Skills Levy.

    Giving you more power over the training your money can buy.

    But it’s not just on you.

    Government has to step up as well.

    Too many young people are leaving education without basic skills…

    Maths, digital skills, communication and teamwork.

    Skills we know every business needs.

    So Labour would deliver higher standards in our schools.

    Every child taught by expert teachers…

    A broader curriculum.

    Real world maths from an early stage.

    Preparing the next generation.

    To make sure that they are ready for work and ready for life.

    That’s what ending the tax breaks on Private Schools will deliver.

    Opportunity for all.

    Skills for business.

    Growth for the nation.

    Finally – step three.

    A modern industrial strategy. On a statutory footing.

    Free from the whims and wreckage of Westminster.

    An emblem of our determination to move away from the stand-aside state that fails to set direction.

    If you go to the government website to find out about their industrial strategy.

    Scratched across the top is one word.

    I kid you not, ‘archived’.

    ‘Archived’.

    Doesn’t that just tell you everything?

    They think Britain’s days of high growth are over. But they’re not.

    Labour will get Britain growing again.

    Bring back industrial strategy.

    Provide the institution, the incentives and above all, the stability you need to invest in our future.

    Because in a world as riven with insecurity as ours, with challenges like climate change.

    Technologies like artificial intelligence. Scientific advances like gene editing. Constantly overturning the economic apple-cart.

    You need a government that gets involved. That rolls up it sleeves.

    That offers the hand of partnership in pursuit of the national interest.

    With clear fiscal rules – sound and followed rigorously.

    A British jobs bonus that will attract new investment to our industrial heartlands.

    Relight the fire of renewal in communities like this.

    And a new national wealth fund – that will stand with business.

    Work together to invest in the crucial infrastructure the North East desperately needs.

    The battery gigafactories that will protect electric car-manufacturing in Sunderland.

    The hydrogen and carbon capture technology that can provide an industrial future for Teesside.

    And the ports that can finally handle large industrial parts. So the East Coast can lead the world in offshore wind.

    This is what the King’s speech should be about.

    A national mission to get Britain building again. And grow our country from the grassroots.

    Because Britain needs a new business model.

    And, you will know, changing a business model is hard.  But this is our plan.

    A plan to expand the country’s productive capabilities. But at the same time, to change who benefits.

    A Britain where growth comes from regions like this.

    A Britian where growth serves regions like this.

    With infrastructure – built more quickly.

    Young people’s potential – backed.

    The jobs of the future in your town.

    The backbone of this country, once again, powering us forward towards national renewal.

    A Britain with its future back.

    Thank you.

  • Baroness Neville-Rolfe – 2023 Speech at the Government Security Conference

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe – 2023 Speech at the Government Security Conference

    The speech made by Baroness Neville-Rolfe, a Minister of State at the Cabinet Office, on 1 November 2023.

    Thank you, Vincent, for that kind welcome – and good evening, everyone.

    Thank you all for coming and to the Government Security Group in particular for your offer of hospitality in the days of work ahead.

    And I will start with a question.

    Could there be a more important time for a conference on security?

    We meet at a very difficult time. The world is getting darker and we face enormous threats to world security.

    The complexities of security are more evident in the last few months than ever before…

    …War in Ukraine, conflict in Israel and Palestine and the constant drip drip drip of cybercrime and fraud – could – if we let it – become a deluge.

    But it’s not just criminals we need to concern ourselves with…

    …whole countries are turning to their computers to commit crime. It is no longer the loner in their bedroom planning cyberattacks…

    …it’s buildings of people, sanctioned by their state, challenging the basic conditions for an open, stable and peaceful international order which everyone in this room will support.

    We explained the difficulties in our Integrated Review Refresh in March and called out ways in which the world was getting darker.

    Moreover, as the world turns, our security needs will become more complex…

    …and this complexity is being demonstrated in Bletchley Park right now, as the Prime Minister hosts the first ever Global AI Safety Summit…

    …countries from across the world – and tech leaders and innovators – all working together with one goal…

    …which is to ensure that the next tech frontier is as safe and secure as possible.

    Today’s session at our conference is about how collaboration will strengthen the security of our governments…

    …governments that are threatened by increasingly skilled adversaries…

    …adversaries who are determined to exploit our large quantities of data, and hold to ransom our online public services.

    Today, I want to outline how the UK Government is staying secure…

    …and how we are collaborating across the world to improve international security. I have already mentioned cybercrime…

    …soon enough, this type of crime will become so commonplace that it will simply be known as ‘crime’.

    I am clear that the digital world is one of the battlegrounds of the future…

    …where frontlines are not defined by physical borders. This is a big change.

    Hybrid methods of warfare have long been used to destabilise adversaries, but cybersecurity threats are evolving at an alarming pace. Malicious actors exploit vulnerabilities in our interconnected systems.

    A few years ago, WannaCry wreaked havoc in the UK National Health system. Today 8 out of 10 ransomware attacks come from Russian speaking sources.

    However, I believe that the UK is prepared to tackle these challenges.

    Our National Cyber Security Strategy outlines how we will bolster Government digital infrastructure to withstand attacks…

    …we are training businesses and public services about how to remain resilient against digital crime…

    …and as the third largest exporter of cybersecurity services globally, we are sharing our expertise with the world.

    But as criminals adapt their methods, we too must adapt.

    Take the fight against public sector fraud, which transcends national borders and threatens our national security.

    Our leadership in the UK of the International Public Sector Fraud Forum is crucial here.

    Through this dialogue both the UK and our partners are alive to the developing issues…

    …and coming up with ways to fight the fraudsters, wherever they are. I was fortunate to attend their forum earlier this year…

    …and I was struck, very struck, by the strength of our relationship with our Five-Eyes partners…

    …and how that partnership is enhancing fraud prevention, improving investigative techniques, and leading to a better understanding of different types of attacks, including ransomware.

    In fact, ransomware featured strongly in my discussions at Singapore International Cyber Week a fortnight ago.

    It was clear to me that Singapore is a good place for these discussions. It sits at the very heart of the Indo Pacific…

    …which has become a greater focus for British foreign and security policy for a number of reasons.

    It was a successful visit for us all…

    …one which builds on our recent achievements in the region, including the AUKUS agreement, obtaining Dialogue Status with ASEAN, several trade deals and a recent UK Singapore Strategic Partnership agreed by our Prime Minister…

    … a partnership built on how like-minded we are when it comes to cybersecurity, and our joint leadership in advanced artificial intelligence, on which we are spending a lot of time on this week.

    I am pleased to say that we are building on this national and international work.

    This year, we announced a new Integrated Security Fund – replacing the Conflict Stability and Security Fund, which was much loved…

    …which will help keep the UK safe and address global sources of volatility and insecurity.

    With a budget of almost £1 billion, it will, for example, help develop regional cyber strategies and training…

    …both essential components which will help our allies deter cyberattacks on their national infrastructure.

    I mentioned ASEAN, and this fund is delivering technical and policy capacity building in ASEAN

    …but the Fund also supports projects that assist Ukraine and counter Russian disinformation.

    But it’s not enough to bolster projects that already exist…

    …we have to also invest in the skills, skills for the future, so the projects of the future – ones we can’t even comprehend yet – can be created and maintained.

    It is clear that the UK can be a leader in digital skills…

    We are the European leaders in Fintech, with one-thousand-six-hundred firms based here…

    …our telecoms, our computer and information services exports are valued at over thirty-eight-billion pounds…

    …and with 1% of the world’s population – so we’re not that huge – we have built the 3rd largest AI sector in the world.

    Despite this, and I’m sure this is agreed, we must do more globally to foster data and digital skills, and in particular our cyber talent pipeline…

    …and the professionalism of cyber internationally to match our professional success in law and accountancy.

    But, as the threats we face are increasingly global in nature, we have to work with global partners to confront them…

    …and that is why I was so pleased to announce – as part of my visit to Singapore – a new Women in Cyber Network across South East Asia…

    …which will run women-led projects that address regionally specific cybersecurity challenges, with the support of UK best practice, and I was delighted to discover that so many colleagues from the US delegation came from the female side.

    This focus on skills is no more needed than in the area of supply chains.

    Strong and resilient supply chains are of fundamental importance to our economic and national security…

    …and it is prudent to set common standards for suppliers, to support a secure and prosperous international order.

    It has been wonderful to see the Five Eyes’ global leadership flourish in areas such as software security and supplier assurance…

    …but it behoves us to do more and faster.

    Because if we don’t, our adversaries will exploit our open economies to use ownership models and state-backed companies against us…

    …with Huawei and HikVision being prime examples.

    Our new UK Procurement Act – which received Royal assent last week – will help tackle this specific threat.

    It will enable us to reject bids from any Government supplier that poses a threat to national security…

    …and we are setting up a new National Security Unit for Procurement in the Cabinet Office, which will advise the Government on future priorities.

    We are going even further to prevent interference in our political infrastructure through our Defending Democracy Taskforce – of which I am a member – under the leadership of Tom Tugendhat, the security minister at the Home Office.

    It is working across government to protect the integrity of our democracy from threats of foreign interference.

    This is now teeing up work to protect our representatives and voting systems from hostile attacks at our next election.

    Here, too, the importance of collaboration across governments to reduce these and other security risks cannot be overstated. After all, next year is an election year in the EU and US.

    Ladies and gentlemen, it is clear that – in our interconnected world – our security is a shared responsibility.

    What we can achieve together is an all-round ecosystem of security built on our world-class foundations of education, expertise, technology and capability.

    Yes, our security needs are more complex than they used to be, but in the face of that complexity we must remain committed to collaboration.

    Collaboration on our shared security will help us overcome fraudsters, criminals, bandit states – and indeed anyone who wants to undermine the strength of our partnerships for their own gains.

    If we hold our resolve, it is clear to me they will not win…

    …and through our partnerships, we will help build a stronger, more resilient and more secure world.

    Thank you for listening.

  • Martin Docherty-Hughes – 2023 Speech on Ukraine (October 2023)

    Martin Docherty-Hughes – 2023 Speech on Ukraine (October 2023)

    The speech made by Martin Docherty-Hughes, the SNP spokesperson on defence, in the House of Commons on 24 October 2023.

    We cannot forget this autumn that we are seeing a broader escalation of the conflict in Ukraine into the frontiers of our Euro-Atlantic homeland. I speak in particular about the recent announcements by the Governments of Sweden, Finland and Estonia that undersea assets linking those countries have been intentionally damaged by third parties. I should declare an interest as chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Estonia.

    My primary concern, which I am sure the Minister shares, is closer to home. Events in the eastern Mediterranean and the Baltics demonstrate the diffuse nature of the threats we need to face, but they also demonstrate the importance of keeping a singular focus on the areas that the Government can best hope to influence. While supporting the heroic and excellent bilateral support for the people of Ukraine as they continue their fight, on the day that the Defence Committee publishes a report into the Government’s Indo-Pacific tilt, can I ask the Minister to reiterate his Government’s commitment to Euro-Atlantic security as a central strategic concern of these islands of the north Atlantic that we inhabit together, and critically, to update the House on the security of our North sea oil and gas infrastructure?

    James Heappey

    It is fantastic to hear the SNP’s epiphany on the strategic importance of North sea oil and gas. We take seriously the requirement to protect our subsea infrastructure, whether oil and gas, fibre-optic cables or energy interconnectors. The Royal Navy has ships permanently at high readiness to ensure that our national economic zone is secure.

    The hon. Gentleman made an important point. Is a time of growing instability in the Euro-Atlantic and the near east one also to be committing more military resource to the far east and the Indo-Pacific? Every defence review—the original integrated review and its refresh—has been clear that the absolute foundation of all our military effort is around security in the Euro-Atlantic, but if our principal ally in the United States is ever-more concerned, as it is, about its competition with China and the challenge in the Indo-Pacific, it is surely necessary to show our willingness to contribute to Indo-Pacific security alongside the United States, so that the United States remains engaged in Euro-Atlantic security, too.

  • John Healey – 2023 Speech on Ukraine (October 2023)

    John Healey – 2023 Speech on Ukraine (October 2023)

    The speech made by John Healey, the Shadow Defence Minister, in the House of Commons on 24 October 2023.

    Members from across the House, and people across the world, are rightly focused on the middle east after Hamas’s horrific attacks. That terrorism must be condemned, civilians must be protected, humanitarian corridors must be opened, international law must be followed, and escalation risks must be managed. I welcome the Defence Secretary’s Gulf visit later this week, and I hope that he will report back to us in the House. I also welcome President Biden’s oval office address, in which he said:

    “Hamas and Putin represent different threats, but they share this in common: they both want to completely annihilate a neighbouring democracy”.

    Today lets President Putin know that the UK remains focused on, and united in, solidarity with Ukraine.

    Last week, as the Minister said, we passed the grim 600-day milestone since Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. War still rages, cities are still bombed, and civilians are still raped and killed. Ukraine has made important gains in recent days on the Dnipro river. Will the Minister update the House on that? I am proud of the UK leadership on Ukraine, but we must work to maintain that leadership and accelerate support. I fear that UK momentum is flagging. There has been no statement on Ukraine to Parliament from the new Defence Secretary since his appointment in August, and no statement from any Defence Secretary in this House since May.

    Labour backs the recent announcements on UK military aid, the new British Army training to protect critical infrastructure, and the £100 million, raised with allies, that will come from the International Fund for Ukraine, but Ukrainians are asking for winter support, air defence, and more ammunition—and where is the UK’s planned response? No new money for military aid for Ukraine has been committed by this Prime Minister. The £2.3 billion for this year was pledged by his predecessor, and the £2.3 billion for last year was pledged by her predecessor. This year’s money runs out in March. Seven months after announcing £2 billion for UK stockpiles in the spring Budget, not a penny has been spent and not a single contract signed. Why? Putin must be defeated, just as Hamas must be defeated. We must not step back. We must stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes to win.

    James Heappey

    I echo the right hon. Gentleman’s words about the despicable attack from Hamas and the absolute right of Israel to defend itself. As I said, I believe strongly that it is important that Putin does not see this as a moment of opportunity to sow more chaos, and does not think that the western donor community is distracted or has a preference for supporting Israel over Ukraine. He must know that our resolve is to support both.

    The right hon. Gentleman rightly noted that the Secretary of State will be in the Gulf later this week. I am sure that he will want to talk about what he hears there, but I suspect that he will also want to keep some of that counsel private, as we seek to calibrate how we posture ourselves in the region in order to reassure our allies and deter those who might seek to make a bad situation even worse. The Secretary of State was in Washington last week, and has had a number of calls with other partners around the region. So too have the Chief of the Defence Staff and I, as part of a Ministry of Defence-wide effort to ensure that we constantly calibrate our response alongside that of those who we traditionally work with in the region, and we make sure that nothing we do is misinterpreted.

    The right hon. Gentleman and I are, I think, friends, so there is some dismay that he dismisses all my efforts at the Dispatch Box to keep the House updated on the war in Ukraine. I stood here as recently as 11 September to lead an excellent debate on the subject, and have given a number of statements on behalf of the Secretary of State. I am sorry if the right hon. Gentleman is so rank-conscious as to deem my efforts unworthy, but I have done my best.

    The right hon. Gentleman is right to point to the fact that the excellent financial contribution made over the two previous financial years is, as yet, unconfirmed for the next financial year. It will not surprise him to know that that has already been the subject of conversation across Government. It is not for me to make that announcement in an urgent question today, but a major fiscal event is forthcoming, and I know that he will not have to wait too long. That does not mean that our plans are uncertain. In fact, I push back strongly on the suggestion that they are. For a long time over the past two years, there has been a sort of misunderstanding that the UK’s capacity to gift is entirely either from our own stockpiles or from our indigenous industrial capacity. The vast majority of what the UK gifts is what we are able to buy internationally, often from countries that Putin would prefer were not providing us with that stuff. However, we have been able to get our hands on it and get it to the Ukrainians with some haste. That is exactly the sort of thing that the right hon. Gentleman asked about.

    It is about the small but necessary things, such as winterisation equipment, small arms ammunition, artillery ammunition and air defence ammunition, and our ability to buy that while in parallel stimulating UK industry. I reject what the right hon. Gentleman said about contracts having not been placed; substantial contracts have been placed directly to replenish UK stockpiles of NLAWs, Starstreak, lightweight multi-role missiles, Javelin, Brimstone, 155 mm shells and 5.56 mm rifle rounds. As far as I can see, there is a steady state contribution to the Ukrainians that amounts to tens of thousands of rounds per month, plus air defence missiles, plus all the small stuff, alongside the replenishment of our own stockpiles, which can only happen at the pace at which industry can generate it, but none the less it is happening.

  • James Heappey – 2023 Statement on Ukraine (October 2023)

    James Heappey – 2023 Statement on Ukraine (October 2023)

    The statement made by James Heappey, the Minister for Armed Forces, in the House of Commons on 24 October 2023.

    Since I last updated the House in my opening remarks in the debate on Ukraine on 11 September, the situation on the ground has remained largely unchanged. Slow and steady progress is being made by the Ukrainian armed forces, which continue to grind their way through the main Russian defensive position. Defence Intelligence estimates that the number of Russian permanent casualties —in other words, those who are dead or so seriously wounded that they cannot return to action—now stands at between 150,000 and 190,000 troops. Total casualties are estimated to number up to 290,000.

    A limited Russian offensive is under way at Avdiivka on the outskirts of Donetsk city. Fighting has been fierce, and we assess that the average casualty rate for the Russian army was around 800 per day in the first week of the offensive. As ever, Putin and his generals show no more regard for the lives of their own troops than they do for the people of Ukraine.

    However, even this ex-soldier can admit that wars are not only about the fight on the land. Since the last debate on Ukraine, the Ukrainians have opened up a new front in the Black sea, destroying a Kilo-class submarine and two amphibious ships, as well as making a successful strike on the Russian Black sea fleet headquarters. The consequence, as President Zelensky has rightly said, is that the Russian Black sea fleet is no longer capable of resistance in the western Black sea. As we move beyond day 600—it is day 608, to be precise—of Putin’s “three-day” illegal war, he has still not achieved any of his initial strategic aims, and he has now ceded sea control in the western Black sea to a nation without a navy.

    The UK continues to donate significant amounts of ammunition and matériel, paid for from the £2.3 billion commitment for this financial year. That follows the same amount being given the year before, and that is an important point. Our gifting is about more than headline-making capabilities such as Challenger 2 or Storm Shadow. It is the delivery, month after month, of tens of thousands of artillery rounds, air defence missiles and other small but necessary items of equipment that positions the UK as one of the biggest and most influential of Ukraine’s donors. The UK is also the only country to have trained soldiers, sailors, aviators and Marines in support of the Ukrainian effort; we have now trained over 50,000 soldiers, sailors, aviators and Marines since 2014.

    Events in the middle east have dominated the headlines, but in the Ministry of Defence and across the UK Government—and, clearly, in His Majesty’s Opposition, as they brought forward this urgent question—Ukraine remains a focus. I think that seeing this very timely question will matter enormously to our friends and colleagues in Kyiv. I remain every bit as confident today as I have been on all my previous visits to the Dispatch Box over the last two years that Ukraine can and will prevail.