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  • Theresa May – 2018 Opening Statement at CHOGM

    Below is the text of the opening statement made by Theresa May, the Prime Minister, on 19 April 2018.

    Good morning everybody, can I welcome you again to London, and welcome you to the first session of the 2018 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

    This is the 25th time the leaders of Commonwealth nations have gathered to address the great issues of the day – although for many of us, myself included, this is the first time we’ve attended as heads of government. So let me extend an especially warm welcome to all the first-time attendees, and in particular to President Adama Barrow, bringing The Gambia back into the Commonwealth fold. Welcome.

    I’d also like to formally thank Prime Minister Joseph Muscat of Malta for his work as Chair-in-Office. Your steady leadership delivered a very successful tenure, and it’s a pleasure to receive the baton from you at today’s meeting. Thank you.

    It’s a meeting that takes place at a time of significant global challenges. The rules-based international system, which has consistently delivered both prosperity and peace, faces threats in many forms and on many fronts. Climate change and extreme weather continue to take lives and damage livelihoods across the Commonwealth. And the new opportunities afforded by the digital world have brought with them new risks, with our cyber security under attack from individuals and state actors.

    All these issues and more will be addressed in a series of meetings over the next two days, both here at Lancaster House and in the retreat at Windsor.

    The great strength of the Commonwealth is that all our members have equal status, an equal voice, and an equal right to make that voice heard. So as we tackle these challenges, I want to hear from everyone, and everyone will have chance to speak.

    We face many challenges in the world today. But the Commonwealth is a unique organisation and, at this summit, we have an opportunity to deliver lasting change that benefits all of our 2.4 billion people. I’m looking forward to working with you all as we move the Commonwealth towards our common future.

  • Theresa May – 2018 Comments at Opening of CHOGM

    Below is the text of the speech made by Theresa May, the Prime Minister, at the opening of CHOGM in London on 19 April 2018.

    Your M​ajesty, Your R​oyal Hi​ghnesses, Secretary-General, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen. ​​ I am extremely proud to be welcoming you all to London – the first full Heads of Government meeting here in almost forty years.

    I want to begin by expressing my gratitude to ​Prime Minister Muscat and his team: ​thank you for your incredible hard work. You represent a Commonwealth truth, that the size of a country does not limit its ambition and impact.

    I hope that over the coming days and ​months we can ​build on the work you have begun as we forge a future for our common good.

    Over many decades this organisation has brought together nations young and old, large and small, to celebrate our common bonds and to work to our mutual benefit.

    There have been difficulties, successes, controversies. But I believe wholeheartedly in the good that the Commonwealth can do.

    And this week as young people from our many nations gather and contribute their views, our responsibility as leaders is to ensure their voices are heard, and to build a Commonwealth that we can be proud to hand on to the next generation.

    For in the Commonwealth we have an incredible opportunity.

    An opportunity to show just what can be achieved through co-ordinated action and co-operation, to seize the possibilities open to us as member countries, and together, to take on some of the 21st century’s biggest questions.

    How we support our most vulnerable member states as we tackle climate change and improve the health of our oceans, creating a more sustainable Commonwealth?

    How we develop through trade, pushing back against protectionism, for a more prosperous Commonwealth?

    How we respond to threats to the rules based international order and from cyber-attacks, creating a more secure Commonwealth?

    And how, in all this, we advance those common values which our organisation has always stood for – democracy, human rights, tolerance, and the rule of law – so that we establish a fairer Commonwealth?

    These are problems nations cannot solve alone. But by working together, we can make a real difference.

    Over the past three​ days, we have seen the power of the Commonwealth in action at the Forums for ​business leaders, young people, women​, and civil society.

    These discussions have demonstrated the vibrancy and creativity of our organisation – focusing on issues such as improving trade, youth unemployment, education and health – all of which have the potential to transform people’s lives.

    And I am looking forward to taking these issues further with the heads of government over the next two days.

    Finally, on behalf of all of you assembled here in Buckingham Palace, I want to offer ​my heartfelt thanks to​ Your Majesty,​ Head of the Commonwealth.

    T​his week you have opened your homes to us – here in London and in Windsor. Over many years you have been the Commonwealth’s most steadfast and fervent champion.

    You have been true to the deepest values of the Commonwealth – that the voice of the smallest member country is worth precisely as much as that of the largest; that the wealthiest and the most vulnerable stand shoulder to shoulder​.

    You have seen us through some of our most serious challenges.

    And we commit to sustaining this Commonwealth, which you have so carefully nurtured.

    For your service, for your dedication, for your constancy – we thank you.

  • Amber Rudd – 2018 Speech on Tackling Child Sex Exploitation

    Below is the text of the speech made by Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary, on 18 April 2018.

    It’s a great honour to be with you all in London for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting.

    Our 53 countries are home to 2.4 billion people. And over seven decades, our association has helped nations to deepen and strengthen their democracies, by working together in partnership on issues that affect all of us.

    Today across the Commonwealth, we face an unprecedented security threat, threats that do not respect borders and require us to work even closer together to tackle them.

    We no longer just need to be concerned about the threat of terrorism.

    We face security including serious and organised crime, cybercrime, violent extremism, human trafficking and Hostile State Activity.

    So I am pleased to be with you today for the first ever Commonwealth security event. The theme for this year’s summit is ‘Towards a Common Future’ and I want to talk a bit today about what the threat picture looks like in the UK, and how we can have a more secure future, and achieve that together.

    The threat faced by Commonwealth countries from terrorism is clear to us all.

    Last year in the UK, five terrorist attacks took place in London and Manchester. And 36 people were killed, and many more injured.

    As Home Secretary, there are various stages of horror and shock you go through when you learn that there has been a terrorist attack.

    The first of course is when you hear for the first time what has happened. That moment when you get the initial news about what’s gone on. When you learn where the attack has taken place, the casualties the scale of the tragedy.

    The 2nd stage of horror is when you learn more about the personal stories of the victims and their loved ones.

    And there’s one encounter which really sticks in my mind.

    It was in the aftermath of the terrorist attack here in London in June 2017, after a van left the road and struck a number of pedestrians on London Bridge. After the van crashed, the three men ran out to the nearby Borough market area and began attacking people enjoying themselves in and around the restaurants and bars

    Eight people were killed and 48 injured.

    One of the victims was Sara Zelenak, a 21-year-old Australian who had been working in London as a nanny.

    She was stabbed while out celebrating getting a new job with a friend.

    It was meeting her parents, which I did a few days later, that really brought home to me the agony of losing a loved one in such appalling circumstances.

    They told me she had come to London for a once in a lifetime experience.

    I really felt their grief.

    It’s moments like this that really reinforce how important strong national security is.

    And in the UK, we continue to disrupt terrorist plots. Since 2017, 10 Islamist terrorist plots and four extreme right wing plots were successfully disrupted.

    And under the UK’s counter-terrorism strategy, we work to reduce the risk to the UK and its interests overseas from terrorism, so that people can go about their daily lives freely and with confidence.

    But the terrorist threat is changing, evolving and moving more quickly than ever. And as the threat we face from terrorism becomes more complex, our strategies need to evolve, and they will continue to do so. For instance, like many of you, we are looking at the issue of online radicalisation more closely than ever before.

    But recent events here in the UK are a reminder that terrorism is not the only threat to our national security and prosperity.

    Last month’s nerve agent attack in Salisbury shows us that we need to be increasingly wary of other states who wish to subvert our democracy, attack our rule of law and are prepared to endanger us with the unchecked use of chemical weapons.

    Though the attack in Salisbury has been shocking in its indiscriminate and reckless nature, it is just one part of a progressively worrying picture that we’ve seen in recent times.

    Last year, we saw a number of major cyberattacks including the ‘Wannacry’ and ‘Not Petya’ incidents which had significant economic repercussions.

    We saw numerous attempts to influence democratic elections through illegal and subversive means.

    And we saw significant evidence uncovered of abundant disinformation campaigns being committed in our democracies in an attempt to divide our societies and challenge our values-based approach to domestic and international issues.

    But we are determined not to let that become the new normal.

    The UK has led the response to this hostile state activity, and we will continue to do so, engaging our friends and partners across the world to provide a coordinated international response to the threat.

    We have shown this in our recent response to the Salisbury attack, where we have led the international response to what the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons deemed the first use of a chemical weapons on Western European soil since the Second World War.

    And we thank allies who have taken measures in support of the UK’s position. The expulsion of more than 150 Russian diplomats from 28 different countries sent a clear message to Russia that its hostility will no longer be tolerated. However, this is not the end of the story, and we stand ready to go even further should Russia wish to continue its blatant aggression towards us or others.

    But there’s another group who pose a significant risk to our security and our prosperity.

    That’s the serious and organised criminals.

    In the UK there are around 6,000 organised crime groups, comprising approximately 40,000 individuals.

    These groups target vulnerable people and ruin the lives of victims and their families, local communities and legitimate businesses. They use online tools and services designed for legitimate purposes – such as end-to-end encryption, cryptocurrencies and the dark web – to facilitate their offending.

    Overall, serious and organised crime costs the UK over £24 billion each year.

    As the threat evolves rapidly, so must our response.

    And I think that there is significant potential for strengthening law enforcement cooperation between Commonwealth countries to tackle serious and organised crime.

    Only this morning, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office announced that it is spending nearly half a million pounds to establish a new partnership between the UK’s Counter Proliferation and Arms Control Centre and the Commonwealth Secretariat to help combat illicit flows of firearms.

    Significant potential also exists for strengthening co-operation between Commonwealth countries, including through our enhanced use of INTERPOL. I’m delighted that INTERPOL’s Secretary General, Jürgen Stock, is here to join us today and we will be hearing from him shortly.

    But let’s not forget that security is also about safeguarding – safeguarding citizens to make sure they can live freely and without fear.

    But it’s a sad fact that around the world today, millions of men, women and children are cruelly enslaved and trafficked.

    And to combat this too, we need a truly global response.

    In September 2017, we announced we would give £150 million to tackle these crimes internationally.

    This includes a £33.5m Modern Slavery Fund to tackle trafficking and exploitation in partnership with countries the UK receive a high number of victims from.

    And today I’m pleased to announce that we will give a further £5.5m for projects aimed at strengthening the Commonwealth’s response to these crimes.

    These projects, delivered in countries across the Commonwealth, will work to support the development of human trafficking legislation in parliaments, and will strengthen law enforcement capabilities to disrupt the criminal networks behind human trafficking and identify those most at risk of becoming victims and protect them.

    Because we can only hope to succeed in our ambition of combating this detestable crime at home if we work in partnership with our neighbours around the world.

    That is also why last year, the UK Prime Minister endorsed a Call to Action to end Forced Labour, Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking at the UN General Assembly, alongside over 20 world leaders.

    I think there is an opportunity for the Commonwealth to show real leadership on this agenda.

    Over 50 countries have now endorsed this Call to Action, including more than a third of the Commonwealth, and more are expected to do so during the Summit.

    I encourage all of you to make very clear that these crimes are not acceptable in the 21st century, by endorsing the Call to Action if you have not done so already.

    Now, there’s another crime which I haven’t yet talked about which is a real threat to the security of all of our children and that’s the threat of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

    We’ve done a lot of work to tackle this both in the UK and internationally, but today I am pleased to announce that we will be going even further.

    We will be taking further measures to combat child sexual exploitation across the Commonwealth.

    This will include £2 million of Commonwealth funding for international projects to tackle child sexual exploitation online.

    A number of Commonwealth countries will receive a share of the £2 million for projects to teach children and young people how to protect themselves online and to put in the infrastructure to prevent child sexual exploitation.

    We will also give an additional £600,000 funding for projects to support UK victims. This will help fund a national helpline for victims and bespoke therapy to help children with learning difficulties to share and recover from their experiences of abuse.

    And we have begun the process of ratifying the Lanzarote Convention against Child Sexual Abuse. Ratifying this shows our continued determination to play a global role in tackling this crime across the globe.

    I hope that these comments have given some insight into the threats we face here in the UK and the threats we are aiming to tackle abroad as well. I’ve talked a lot about the importance of working internationally. And that’s because I am clear that when we stand together as one Commonwealth, we are better prepared to face the threats which challenge us.

    Thank you.

  • Therese Coffey – 2018 Statement on Salisbury Incident

    Below is the text of the statement made by Therese Coffey, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, in the House of Commons on 17 April 2018.

    Following the indiscriminate and reckless use of a nerve agent in Salisbury on 4 March 2018, decontamination work is starting this week to bring a small number of potentially contaminated sites back into safe use for the people of Salisbury and its visitors. A lot of preparatory work has been completed already and these plans will now be discussed with the local community and businesses.

    In total nine sites, three of which are in the city centre, have been identified as requiring some level of specialist decontamination. The focus will be on returning public spaces to full use as soon as possible, but only where it is safe to do so. The Government will work closely with both the affected businesses and the victims of this appalling act as detailed plans are put into effect.

    In the case of London Road cemetery, after extensive investigations and testing, it has been established that it was not contaminated and is therefore being fully reopened to the public today.

    The other sites will remain secured and the current scientific assessment is that the remainder of Salisbury is safe for residents and visitors. Public Health England have reaffirmed that the risk to the general public is low.

    The community will begin to see more activity from this week and overall it will take some months before all sites are decontaminated and returned to normal use. During this time some cordons will be expanded to ensure safety and allow workers access to the sites with specialist equipment. This will be kept to a minimum wherever possible and the community will be kept informed as work progresses on each site.

    The decontamination work is being planned and overseen by my Department with additional specialist advice from the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, Public Health England, the Department for Health and Social Care, the Home Office and the Ministry of Defence. The work will be delivered in partnership with Wiltshire Council with support from the Ministry of Defence, who are providing specialist teams to carry out the work on the sites. In some cases they will be supported by other Government specialists or specialist contractors.

    The Government are basing their approach on the best scientific evidence and advice to ensure all decontamination is carried out in a thorough and careful way. Thanks to detailed information gathered during the investigation and the clear scientific understanding of how the agent works and is spread, the likely level of contamination at each site is known.

    Specialists have developed tailored decontamination plans for each site. To refine these plans, specialist personnel will be collecting additional samples from some sites, building on testing carried out during the ​investigation. This information will be used to ensure the plans are correct and that decontamination will be effective.

    The decontamination work will involve a process of testing, removal of items which could be contaminated and that might harbour residual amounts of the agent, chemical cleaning and retesting. All waste will be safely removed and incinerated and each site will not be released until decontamination is complete.

    This work to bring the closed sites back into public use will go hand-in-hand with the £2.5 million already announced on 27 March to support businesses, boost tourism and meet unexpected costs in the response and recovery effort in the city.

  • Lord Callanan – 2018 Speech on the European Union

    Below is the text of the speech made by Lord Callanan, the Minister of State for Leaving the European Union, in the House of Lords on 18 April 2018.

    My Lords, it is a great pleasure for me to resume our debate after the Easter Recess. I hope that all noble Lords enjoyed a good break. I spent most of it studying amendments to this Bill. I hope that some doubts about how seriously the Government take these debates have now been dispelled, as noble Lords will have seen that the Government have already tabled many amendments on key aspects of the Bill. Further amendments will follow, relating to the provisions on delegated powers and on devolution. It is our firm and consistent desire to find consensus in this House on the contents of the Bill wherever possible, and I hope that our debates can proceed on a reasonably collaborative basis.

    Unfortunately, as in Committee, we start our proceedings with some amendments to the Bill that the Government cannot envisage accepting—or indeed any variant on them. That is not, of course, to impugn the motivation of those supporting the amendments or to deny the importance of the subject matter. Put simply—this will probably surprise nobody in the House—the Government simply do not agree with the proposed approach.

    I am, of course, grateful to all those who have taken part in this debate on the vital issue of our future economic relationship with the EU. As the Prime Minister stated in her Mansion House speech, we are seeking the broadest and deepest possible partnership, covering more sectors and co-operating more fully than under any free trade agreement anywhere in the world today. The Government have been clear that the UK, in its entirety, is leaving the customs union. For the sake of clarity, a customs union—as has been pointed out by many noble Lords—has a single external border and sets identical tariffs for trade with the rest of the world. International trade policy is consequently an exclusive competence of the EU, to avoid the creation of different customs rates in different parts of the EU customs union.

    The nub of the issue is this. If the UK were to remain in the customs union and be bound by the EU’s common external tariff, it would mean providing preferential access to the UK market for countries that the EU agrees trade deals with, without necessarily gaining preferential access for UK exports to such countries. Alternatively, we would need the EU to negotiate with third countries on the UK’s behalf. This would leave us with less influence over our international trade policy than we have now, and would not, in our humble assertion, be in the best interests of UK businesses.

    By leaving the customs union and establishing a new and ambitious customs arrangement with the EU, we will be able to forge new trade relationships with our partners around the world and maintain as frictionless trade as possible in goods between the UK and EU, providing a powerful and positive voice for free trade across the globe. There are real opportunities for the UK from increasing our trade with fast-growing economies around the world. The EU itself predicts that 90% of future world GDP growth is expected to be generated outside Europe—a trend expected to continue over the next five to 10 years.

    In assessing the options for the UK’s future customs relationship with the EU, the Government will be guided by what delivers the greatest economic advantage to the UK, and by three key strategic objectives. First, we want to ensure that UK-EU trade is as frictionless as possible. Secondly, we want to avoid a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland—a commitment that was solidified by December’s joint report. Thirdly, we want to establish an independent international trade policy.

    Last year, in its future partnership paper, the Government set out two potential options for our customs arrangements with the EU. These were reiterated by the Prime Minister in her speech at the Mansion House earlier this year. I will give a few more details of those options.

    Option 1 is a new customs partnership between the UK and the EU. At the border, the UK would mirror the EU’s requirements for imports from the rest of the world whose final destination is the EU—including by applying the same tariffs and the same rules of origin as the EU for those goods. By following this approach, we would know that all goods entering the EU via the UK would pay the correct EU duties, removing the need for customs processes at the UK-EU border. But, importantly, we would also put in place a mechanism so that the UK would be able to apply its own tariff and trade policy for goods intended only for the UK market.

    The second option would be a highly streamlined customs arrangement under which, while introducing customs processes between the UK and the EU, we would jointly agree to implement a range of measures to minimise frictions to trade, together of course with specific provisions for Northern Ireland. This option would include measures to simplify the requirements for moving goods across borders; it would reduce the risk of delays at ports and airports; and it would see the continuation of existing levels of UK-EU customs co-operation, with mutual assistance and data sharing.

    Of course, the precise form of any new customs arrangements will be the subject of negotiation, and this will form a key part of our future economic partnership with the European Union. The Government have not just formed this policy arbitrarily but because we do not believe that a customs union is in the best interests of the UK and of UK businesses.

    I understand that many noble Lords disagree with our analysis, or believe that our goals are unreachable. However, we cannot support Amendments 1 and 4, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Kerr, and Amendments 2 and 5, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Wigley, which would have the effect of requiring the Government to make a Statement to Parliament on the steps taken towards the delivery of an objective the Government have clearly ruled out.

    We in the Government are trying to seek the best possible future arrangements for the UK. I am confident we will succeed, and the progress we have made already in areas that many thought impossible demonstrates how all sides have been willing to break new ground in order to move forwards. We have set out our two potential options for a future customs relationship with the EU, but these amendments would send a signal that the Government will not seek to negotiate them, and instead pursue an outcome that the Government have ruled out.

    I hope that noble Lords will accept our sincerity in our negotiating goals. I will also add, before noble Lords make a final decision, that I do not seek to give false hope that the Government will reflect further between now and Third Reading. I therefore hope that the noble Lords, Lord Kerr and Lord Wigley, will not press their amendments.

  • Chris Patten – 2018 Speech on the European Union

    Below is the text of the speech made by Lord Patten of Barnes in the House of Lords on 18 April 2018.

    I am delighted to second the amendment moved by the noble Lord, Lord Kerr, and I will seek to do so as briefly as he did, partly because he was so comprehensive in the arguments for a customs union and partly because we chewed over many of these issues in Committee and we plainly should not deal with them again. So I will not go into the issue of Northern Ireland’s border with the Republic of Ireland, because I spoke twice on that in Committee.

    I assume straightaway, because I have a regard for his intelligence, that the Minister responding to this debate is not going to suggest that the referendum result or the Conservative manifesto disqualifies us from proceeding in the direction suggested by the noble Lord. If I am wrong about that, I would be delighted to come back to it later. But there is one point made in the manifesto that I will dwell on for a moment—and, as clergymen occasionally say at the end of sermons, share with you all—because it allows me to bridge to the main argument we have today, which is about trade and trade opportunities for this country.

    I confess to the House straightaway that I used to make my living helping to write manifestos, and so I have a certain regard for these things. The manifesto said at the beginning:

    “People are rightly sceptical of politicians who claim to have easy answers to deeply complex problems”.

    So I ask the House to turn its attention to what we have been promised on trade.

    We are told by the Secretary of State for International Trade that a free trade agreement with the EU will be one of the “easiest in human history”. He also told us that, by the end of March 2019, the Government will have put in place or drafted or agreed up to 40 trade agreements with other countries. That is the backdrop. It seems to me that those propositions invite a little scepticism, and in a moment or two I will suggest to the House why that is the case.

    I have a degree of expertise in this area for which I do not seek to make extravagant claims—I do not know as much about trade as the noble Lord, Lord Mandelson, does, and I know that expertise is a dangerous thing in the present climate. But I did, either on my own or with others, negotiate free trade agreements between the European Union and Mexico, Chile and most of the countries of the Mashreq and Maghreb region. We were part of the negotiation team for China’s accession to the WTO. We failed with Russia—for all sorts of reasons which the House will not be surprised about—and we made only limited progress with Mercosur, the San José dialogue and the Andean pact countries. So I know how difficult these things are, and some of the problems that will be faced in addressing the agenda mentioned by the noble Lord, Lord Kerr.

    The first thing we have to do is secure our market in the European Union—50% of our trade. We then have to think about the 12% of trade with countries with which the European Union has concluded agreements already and the 8% with which it is negotiating trade agreements already. That adds up to about 70%. Of the remaining 30%, about half is with the United States, a quarter with China and Hong Kong, and the rest with everyone else.

    How are we going to manage with the countries with which the European Union has negotiated deals already? I spent a particularly dreary afternoon on Maundy Thursday looking through the European Union-South Korea trade deal. It was dreary not because it is not a good deal—indeed, it is such a good deal that the Foreign Secretary not long ago boasted about the great increase in British trade with South Korea—but because it is even longer than a long day’s journey into night. It runs to 1,400 pages, 900 of which just list tariffs. The idea that you can simply Snopake the words “European Union” and insert “United Kingdom” and grandfather that trade agreement in nanoseconds—even nanoyears—is absurd.

    First of all, the South Koreans know that we are the demandeur. They will know that we have a trade surplus with South Korea at the moment, which might make them a little resistant to being as helpful as they were with the European Union, which is, anyway, a much bigger market than the United Kingdom—500 million to about 65 million. There are technical issues as well that will be particularly demanding. I will not try to explain to the House—because I have only a vague notion of what it means—the problem with trigger volumes preventing surges of agricultural imports to a country. But that issue is one that will involve not just negotiations with South Korea but tripartite negotiations between us and the European Union as well as the South Koreans.

    Even more important are rules of origin—something that used to be well understood by the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union. Not long before the Foreign Secretary made a speech saying that there was no reason why we should not, after leaving the European Union, stay in the single market, the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union pointed out that, on balance, he was in favour of staying in the customs union because, even though you would not then be able to do independent trade deals on your own, the issue of rules of origin was so important that we had to stay within the union so that that did not present problems for us.

    Rules of origin is a problem that comes up straightaway when you look at the South Korea deal. Under rules of origin, each party is able to do without tariffs provided that up to 55% of what it is exporting is made in its own back yard. That is fine within the European Union, but the car industry in this country makes only 41% of the cars that we export in Britain. So straightaway, cars—and you can go down the list of tariffs—would not be able to go tariff free into the South Korean market.

    The South Korean trade deal provides 99% tariff-free access after five years. It is a terrific piece of trade diplomacy. Incidentally, it provides that access after five years, but the trade deal that the South Koreans did with Australia does not come into full working order, even on a more limited range of goods, for 20 years—so it was a very good piece of negotiation by the European Union. The idea that we can just do that and all the other trade deals overnight, over a month or over a year, without any problems is for the birds. It belongs to the category denounced in the manifesto.

    After we have dealt with the issue of the 12%, or maybe 20% by then, of the market that is covered by existing or future trade deals—“future” before we leave the European Union—between the European Union and other countries, we then deal with the three other categories of country. The first is China. China, admittedly, has done a trade deal with Switzerland and also with Iceland. Switzerland has done 38 trade deals with other countries, as opposed to more than 50 between the European Union and other countries. The deal between Switzerland and China is a very good example of how difficult it is to get into bed with an elephant. The Swiss have agreed hardly anything with the Chinese about services and nothing about cars, but they have accepted that China will have, for a number of goods, tariff-free access to Switzerland straightaway. In return, Switzerland gets tariff-free access to China after 15 years. So sleeping with elephants is a bit of a problem. I imagine that we would be looking to open up prospects for services—which, as the noble Lord said, is not an issue particularly involved here—but, apart from that, I am not quite sure what we would be hoping to get out of any future deal with China.

    What about Australia and the Commonwealth? As the noble Lord said, one of the basic axioms in trade policy is that you double the distance and halve the trade. The notion that the Australians will open up their market further for us without making demands in return is, again, nonsense. They will ask for us to make concessions in the field of agriculture, which may take some explaining to small and medium-sized farmers in this country.

    What about India? I noticed the other day that the European Union suggested that it might be easier to do a deal with India when we were no longer members of the European Union. In fact, we were always the back-markers when it came to negotiations with India. Why? Because we were concerned about opening up access to our services in India. Why? Because the Indians wanted in return for anything we were prepared to ask for greater scope for visas for Indians coming to this country, and we were not prepared to allow that.

    Finally, the United States represents 15% of our market, but we expect Richard Cobden’s legatee, President Trump, to open up the American market to the United Kingdom’s exports. Are we serious? We would be pressing for opening up procurement with the United States, and the United States would be pressing for opening up procurement with us in the National Health Service. I am not going through chickens again because we had chickens up to our eyebrows in Committee, but I remember a wonderful speech given by my noble friend Lord Deben about chickens. I wish I could remember every word of it, but it was a pretty compelling argument on the difficulties of doing a food deal with the United States. President Trump will not be there for ever—but, in my experience, the Americans were not pushovers when it came to doing trade deals.

    I have two last points. Is our ability to do trade deals or to export overseas held up by the fact that we are members of the European Union? When I last looked, Germany was a member of the European Union. Germany exports two and a half times as much to China as we do and exports more to India than we do. So the reason we do not do better in export markets must lie somewhere else. I do not agree with the point made by the Secretary of State for International Trade. I do not think that it is because British businessmen and exporters are—what was his expression?—fat and lazy. That is not why we do not do better. The truth is that between only 10% and 15% of companies in the country actually do serious exporting. They are mostly medium-sized or large companies—and guess what they want? They want the best access possible to the closest market. And where is that?

    So I do not think that blethering on about global Britain, or pretending that we have not been global Britain for years, or repeating “The Road to Mandalay” whenever one is travelling, is going to make a spectacular difference to our trading opportunities. I think very strongly that we will not do any better than we are doing within the customs union, given that we start from a position in which we export to the European Union three and a half times as much as we do to the United States, five times as much as we do to the Commonwealth and six times as much as we do to all the BRICs combined.

    So I support the amendment with some enthusiasm and I repeat what my noble friend Lord Hailsham said in Committee: namely, that there are times in one’s political career when what is alleged to be party loyalty comes way behind trying to stand up for the national interest. I intend to do that on this amendment and elsewhere on Report, and in doing that I think I will be repeating what I would have been able to say with the full support of my party for most of the time I have been a member of it.

  • Philip Hammond – 2018 Speech at Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting

    Below is the text of the speech made by Philip Hammond, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, at the Heads of Government Meeting in London on 17 April 2018.

    Lord Mayor, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen.

    It gives me great pleasure to welcome our visitors to London, for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2018.

    The biggest meeting of Heads of Government, of any kind, that the UK has ever hosted.

    From the Pacific Islands, to the British Isles, from the Caribbean to Central Africa, the Commonwealth is a community which spans the reach of global geography.

    And the entire breadth of the economic spectrum.

    A community united in its vast diversity, by a common heritage, and shared values of democracy and human rights.

    Tomorrow, I will chair a roundtable of heads of government and senior business leaders to reflect on key themes of this year’s summit.

    From boosting intra-Commonwealth trade, spreading inclusive growth, and how we can build upon our ‘Commonwealth Advantage’.

    That is, using our common language, institutions, trade ties, legal systems and values, for the common good of all our citizens.

    Because the fact is that together we have the capacity to do enormous good, and spread significant prosperity.

    We, the Commonwealth, represent a third of the global population.

    Half of the world’s top 20 emerging cities.

    And 60% of our population is under the age of 30.

    And the common-wealth is just that.

    Our commonalities mean as members we trade 20% more.

    Generate 10% more foreign direct investment.

    And enjoy costs of trade around 19% lower by comparison with non-Commonwealth relationships.

    And over seven decades we have used these deep ties to help newly independent countries develop their national institutions, make economic progress, and share common experiences with one another.

    But we cannot simply sit back and admire our achievements and past successes.

    We must look forward, and the Commonwealth must reform and change in an ever-changing world.

    We must continue to make the case for free trade as the best way to promote higher living standards amongst all of our citizens.

    And particularly we must look for opportunities to liberalise trade in services.

    We must ensure that our growth is inclusive.

    And at this Summit we have committed to increase opportunities for women to trade internationally.

    And to look at ways that we can tackle youth unemployment.

    And that it is sustainable.

    And we must prepare to embrace the changes of the technological revolution which is gathering pace around us.

    And ensure our economies, and our citizens, are ready to seize the opportunities that that revolution will bring.

    For example from FinTech – which has the potential to change the way in which our people and our businesses access financial services.

    Whether its cashless transactions between friends.

    Or sending remittances to family in other countries.

    I recently signed a FinTech Bridge between the UK and Australia.

    And we are exploring similar opportunities between the UK and India.

    And I hope we can encourage more of these agreements between Commonwealth countries in the years ahead.

    Because by working together in the Commonwealth we can be a force for good and for progress around the world.

    We can work together on the challenges that we face.

    Across the Commonwealth.

    Recognising our common values and needs.

    To grow our trade links.

    Unleash the talents of our populations.

    And strive to improve the lives of our 2.4 billion citizens, wherever in the world they live.

    We live in a time of extraordinary global change.

    The future offers incredible new opportunities, as well as immense new challenges to overcome.

    Our countries have dealt with the challenges of the past together.

    Now, as a Commonwealth of Nations, we shall win the future together.

    Thank you all for being here – and I wish you a productive and inspiring week.

    Thank you.

  • Theresa May – 2018 Statement on Syria

    Below is the text of the speech made by Theresa May, the Prime Minister, in the House of Commons on 16 April 2018.

    Mr Speaker, before I come to the substance of my statement I am sure the whole House will wish to join me in offering our heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Sergeant Matt Tonroe from the 3rd Battalion the Parachute Regiment who was killed by an improvised explosive device on 29 March.

    Sergeant Tonroe was embedded with US forces on a counter-Daesh operation. He served his country with great distinction and it is clear he was a gifted and intelligent instructor who was respected by everyone he served with. Sergeant Tonroe fought to protect British values, our freedoms, and to keep this country safe.

    With permission Mr Speaker, I would like to make a Statement on the actions that we have taken, together with our American and French allies, to degrade the Syrian Regime’s chemical weapons capabilities – and to deter their future use.

    On Saturday 7th April, up to 75 people, including young children, were killed in an horrific attack in Douma, with as many as 500 further casualties.

    All indications are that this was a chemical weapons attack.

    UK medical and scientific experts have analysed open-source reports, images and video footage from the incident and concluded that the victims were exposed to a toxic chemical.

    This is corroborated by first-hand accounts from NGOs and aid workers.

    While the World Health Organisation received reports that hundreds of patients arrived at Syrian heath facilities on Saturday night with “signs and symptoms consistent with exposure to toxic chemicals.”

    And, based on our assessment, we do not think that these reports could be falsified on this scale.

    Furthermore, Mr Speaker, the Syrian Regime has reportedly been attempting to conceal the evidence by searching evacuees from Douma to ensure samples are not being smuggled from this area.

    And a wider operation to conceal the facts of the attack is under way, supported by the Russians.

    Mr Speaker, the images of this suffering are utterly haunting.

    Innocent families – seeking shelter in underground bunkers – found dead with foam in their mouths, burns to their eyes and their bodies surrounded by a chlorine-like odour.

    Children gasping for life as chemicals choked their lungs.

    The fact that such an atrocity can take place in our world today is a stain on our humanity.

    And we are clear about who is responsible.

    A significant body of information – including intelligence – indicates the Syrian Regime is responsible for this latest attack.

    Open source accounts state that barrel bombs were used to deliver the chemicals.

    Barrel bombs are usually delivered by helicopters. Multiple open source reports and intelligence indicates that Regime helicopters operated over Douma on the evening of 7th April, shortly before reports emerged in social media of a chemical attack. And the Syrian military officials coordinated what appears to be the use of chlorine weapons.

    Mr Speaker, no other group could have carried out this attack.

    The Opposition does not operate helicopters or use barrel bombs.

    Daesh does not even have a presence in Douma.

    And the reports of this attack are consistent with previous Regime attacks.

    These include the attack on 21st August 2013 where over 800 people were killed and thousands more injured in a chemical attack also in Ghouta.

    14 further smaller scale chemical attacks reported prior to that Summer.

    3 further chlorine attacks in 2014 and 2015 which the independent UNSC-mandated investigation attributed to the Regime.

    And the attack at Khan Shaykhun on 4th April last year, where the Syrian Regime used sarin against its people killing around 100 with a further 500 casualties.

    Based on the Regime’s persistent pattern of behaviour and the cumulative analysis of specific incidents we judged it highly likely that the Syrian regime had continued to use chemical weapons on at least four occasions since the attack in Khan Shaykhun. And we judged that they would have continued to do so.

    So we needed to intervene rapidly to alleviate further indiscriminate humanitarian suffering.

    Mr Speaker, we have explored every possible diplomatic channel to do so, but our efforts have been repeatedly thwarted.

    Following the sarin attack in Eastern Damascus back in August 2013, the Syrian Regime committed to dismantle its chemical weapon programme – and Russia promised to ensure that Syria did this, overseen by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

    At the weekend, the Leader of the Opposition cited this diplomatic agreement as a “precedent that this process can work.”

    But this process did not work.

    It did not eradicate the chemical weapons capability of the Syrian Regime, with only last month the OPCW finding that Syria’s declaration of its former Chemical Weapons programme is incomplete.

    And, as I have already set out, it did not stop the Syrian Regime from carrying out the most abhorrent atrocities using these weapons.

    Furthermore, on each occasion when we have seen every sign of chemical weapons being used, Russia has blocked any attempt to hold the perpetrators to account at the UN Security Council, with six such vetoes since the start of 2017.

    And just last week, Russia blocked a UN Resolution that would have established an independent investigation able to determine responsibility for this latest attack.

    So regrettably, we had no choice but to conclude that diplomatic action on its own is not going to work.

    The Leader of the Opposition has said that he can “only countenance involvement in Syria if there is UN authority behind it”.

    The House should be clear that would mean a Russian veto on our foreign policy.

    When the Cabinet met on Thursday we considered the advice of the Attorney General.

    Based on this advice we agreed that it was not just morally right but also legally right to take military action, together with our closest allies, to alleviate further humanitarian suffering.

    This was not about intervening in a civil war. And it was not about regime change.

    It was about a limited, targeted and effective strike that sought to alleviate the humanitarian suffering of the Syrian people by degrading the Syrian Regime’s chemical weapons capability and deterring their use.

    And we have published the legal basis for this action.

    It required three conditions to be met.

    First, there must be convincing evidence, generally accepted by the international community as a whole, of extreme humanitarian distress on a large scale, requiring immediate and urgent relief.

    Second, it must be objectively clear that there is no practicable alternative to the use of force if lives are to be saved.

    And third, the proposed use of force must be necessary and proportionate to the aim of relief of humanitarian suffering and must be strictly limited in time and in scope to this aim.

    These are the same three criteria used as the legal justification for the UK’s role in the NATO intervention in Kosovo.

    Our intervention in 1991 with the US and France – and in 1992 with the US – to create safe havens and enforce the no fly zones in Iraq following the Gulf War were also justified on the basis of humanitarian intervention.

    So governments of all colours have long considered that military action, on an exceptional basis, where necessary and proportionate, and as a last resort, to avert an overwhelming humanitarian catastrophe is permissible under international law.

    Mr Speaker, I have set out why we are convinced by the evidence and why there was no practicable alternative.

    Let me set out how this military response was also proportionate.

    This was a limited, targeted and effective strike that would significantly degrade Syrian Chemical Weapons capabilities and deter their future use – and with clear boundaries that expressly sought to avoid escalation and did everything possible to prevent civilian casualties.

    As a result the co-ordinated actions of the US, UK and France were successfully and specifically targeted at three sites.

    Contrary to what the Leader of the Opposition said at the weekend, these were not “empty buildings.”

    The first was the Barzeh branch of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre in Northern Damascus.

    This was a centre for the research and development of Syria’s chemical and biological programme. It was hit by 57 American T-LAMs and 19 American JASSMs.

    The second site was the Him Shinsar chemical weapons bunkers, 15 miles west of the city of Homs, which contained both a chemical weapons equipment and storage facility and an important command post.

    These were successfully hit by 7 French SCALP cruise missiles.

    And the third site was the Him Shinsar chemical weapons storage site and former missile base which is now a military facility.

    This was assessed to be a location of Syrian Sarin and precursor production equipment whose destruction would degrade Syria’s ability to deliver Sarin in the future.

    This was hit by 9 US TLAMs, 5 naval and 2 SCALP cruise missiles from France – and 8 storm shadow missiles launched by our four RAF Tornado GR4s.

    Very careful scientific analysis was used to determine where best to target these missiles to maximise the destruction of stockpiled chemicals and to minimise any risks to the surrounding area.

    And the facility that we targeted is located some distance from any known population centres, reducing yet further any such risk of civilian casualties.

    Mr Speaker, while targeted and limited, these strikes by the US, UK and France were significantly larger than the US action a year ago after the attack at Khan Shaykhun – and specifically designed to have a greater impact on the regime’s capability and willingness to use chemical weapons.

    We also minimised the chances of wider escalation through our carefully targeted approach and the House will note that Russia has not reported any losses of personnel or equipment as a result of the strikes.

    And I am sure the whole House will want to join me in paying tribute to all the British service men and women – and their American and French allies – who successfully carried out this mission with such courage and professionalism.

    Mr Speaker, let me deal specifically with three important questions.

    First, why did we not wait for the investigation from the OPCW?

    UNSC-Mandated inspectors have investigated previous attacks and on four occasions decided that the Regime was indeed responsible.

    We are confident in our own assessment that the Syrian Regime was highly likely responsible for this attack and that its persistent pattern of behaviour meant that it was highly likely to continue using chemical weapons.

    Furthermore, there were clearly attempts to block any proper investigation, as we saw with the Russian veto at the UN earlier in the week.

    And let me set this out in detail. We support strongly the work of the OPCW fact-finding mission that is currently in Damascus.

    But that mission is only able to make an assessment of whether chemical weapons were used.

    Even if the OPCW team is able to visit Douma to gather information to make that assessment – and they are currently being prevented from doing so by the Regime and the Russians – it cannot attribute responsibility.

    This is because Russia vetoed in November 2017 an extension of the Joint Investigatory Mechanism set up to do this. And last week, in the wake of the Douma attack, it again vetoed a new UNSC resolution to re-establish such a mechanism.

    And even if we had OPCW’s findings, and a mechanism to attribute, for as long as Russia continues to veto, the UN Security Council still would not be able to act.

    So Mr Speaker, we cannot wait to alleviate further humanitarian suffering caused by chemical weapons attacks.

    Second, were we not just following orders from America?

    Let me be absolutely clear: we have acted because it is in our national interest to do so.

    It is in our national interest to prevent the further use of chemical weapons in Syria – and to uphold and defend the global consensus that these weapons should not be used.

    For we cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalised – either within Syria, on the streets of the UK or elsewhere.

    So we have not done this because President Trump asked us to do so.

    We have done it because we believed it was the right thing to do. And we are not alone.

    There is broad based international support for the action we have taken.

    NATO has issued a statement setting out its support, as have the Gulf Co-operation Council and a number of countries in the region.

    And over the weekend I have spoken to a range of world leaders – including Chancellor Merkel, Prime Minister Gentiloni, Prime Minister Trudeau, Prime Minister Turnbull and European Council President Donald Tusk.

    All have expressed their support for the actions that Britain, France and America have taken.

    Third, why did we not recall Parliament?

    Mr Speaker, the speed with which we acted was essential in co-operating with our partners to alleviate further humanitarian suffering and to maintain the vital security of our operations.

    This was a limited, targeted strike on a legal basis that has been used before.

    And it was a decision which required the evaluation of intelligence and information much of which was of a nature that could not be shared with Parliament.

    We have always been clear that the government has the right to act quickly in the national interest.

    I am absolutely clear, Mr Speaker, that it is Parliament’s responsibility to hold me to account for such decisions – and Parliament will do so.

    But it is my responsibility as Prime Minster to make these decisions.

    And I will make them.

    Mr Speaker, as I have been clear this military action was not about intervening in the civil war in Syria – or about regime change.

    But we are determined to do our utmost to help resolve the conflict in Syria.

    That means concluding the fight against Daesh, which still holds pockets of territory in Syria.

    It means working to enable humanitarian access and continuing our efforts at the forefront of global response, where the UK has already committed almost £2.5 billion, our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis.

    And next week, we will attend the second Brussels Conference on supporting the Future of Syria and the Region which will focus on humanitarian support, bolstering the UN-led political process in Geneva, and ensuring continued international support to refugees and host countries – driving forward the legacy of our own London Conference held in 2016.

    And it means supporting international efforts to reinvigorate the process to deliver a political solution: for this is the best long-term hope for the Syrian people.

    The UK will do all of these things.

    But as I have also been clear, that is not what these military strikes were about.

    Mr Speaker, as I have set out, the military action that we have taken this weekend was specifically focused on degrading the Syrian Regime’s chemical weapons capability and deterring their future use.

    In order to achieve this there must also be a wider diplomatic effort – including the full range of political and economic levers – to strengthen the global norms prohibiting the use of chemical weapons, which have stood for nearly a century.

    So we will continue to work with our international partners on tough economic action against those involved with the production or dissemination of chemical weapons.

    And I welcome the conclusions of today’s European Foreign Affairs Council, attended by my Rt Hon Friend the Foreign Secretary, that confirmed the Council is willing to consider further restrictive measures on those involved in the development and use of chemical weapons in Syria.

    We will continue to push for the re-establishment of an international investigative mechanism which can attribute responsibility for chemical weapon use in Syria.

    We will advance with our French allies the new International Partnership against Impunity for the Use of Chemical Weapons, which will meet in the coming weeks.

    And we will continue to strengthen the international coalition we have built since the attack on Salisbury.

    Mr Speaker, last Thursday’s report from the OPCW has confirmed our findings that it was indeed a Novichok in Salisbury – and I have placed a copy of that report’s Executive Summary in the Library of the House.

    While of a much lower order of magnitude, the use of a nerve agent on the streets of Salisbury is part of a pattern of disregard for the global norms that prohibit the use of chemical weapons.

    So while the action was taken to alleviate humanitarian suffering in Syria by degrading the Regime’s chemical weapons capability and deterring its use of these weapons – it will also send a clear message to anyone who believes they can use chemical weapons with impunity.

    We cannot go back to a world where the use of chemical weapons becomes normalised.

    Mr Speaker, I am deeply conscious of the gravity of these decisions.

    They affect all members of this House – and me personally.

    And I understand the questions that – rightly – will be asked about British military action particularly in such a complex region.

    But I am clear that the way we protect our national interest is to stand up for the global rules and standards that keep us safe.

    That is what we have done – and what we will continue to do.

    And I commend this statement to the House.

  • Theresa May – 2018 Speech at Commonwealth Business Forum

    Below is the text of the speech made by Theresa May, the Prime Minister, on 16 April 2018.

    Good morning everyone.

    I would like to start by thanking the Lord Mayor for hosting us here today at the beautiful Guildhall, the home of the City of London’s administrators for almost 600 years.

    As we have just heard, the building has witnessed its fair share of history over the centuries. And today it is a privilege to add to the rollcall of great events with the 11th Commonwealth Business Forum.

    We are here today to discuss how best to make this a more prosperous Commonwealth for all, with contributions from leading figures in some of the world’s top businesses.

    And this is just one of four such fora running this week ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, giving a voice to hundreds of people who, in so many different ways, do so much to make our Commonwealth the amazing institution it is.

    There is the People’s Forum, providing a platform for the Commonwealth’s incredible Civil Society groups. The Women’s Forum will look at ways of overcoming the challenges still faced by a great many women and girls. And, perhaps most important of all, there is the Commonwealth Youth Forum.

    It is so important because, while the Commonwealth itself is a venerable institution, its citizens are much younger: almost two thirds are under the age of 30.

    The young people of today are the Commonwealth of tomorrow, its business leaders, its innovators, its heads of government.

    They have incredible potential, and we as a Commonwealth have a duty to help them reach it. That is why I have put youth at the heart of this week’s agenda, and why I began this morning by meeting with some of the Youth Forum’s delegates.

    As we talked about their ideas and aspirations, about their vision for the future of the Commonwealth, I was struck by the vital role that businesses like yours have in tackling their concerns and giving substance to their ambitions.

    They called for cleaner oceans and greater sustainability.

    You can help deliver that by changing business practices and creating innovative new products and solutions. They called for action on youth unemployment.

    You, as entrepreneurs and business leaders, create the jobs and opportunities our young people need and, by driving our economies, you fund the schools and colleges that equip them with the skills they need.

    And the members of the Youth Forum called for an inclusive Commonwealth where greater prosperity is enjoyed by everyone.

    That is something that simply cannot be achieved without strong, successful businesses. Because the best way to raise living standards for all is through economic growth based on free enterprise operating in inclusive, fair and open rules-based markets.

    A key part of that, one that has become more important in the years since the Commonwealth was founded, is international trade – and it is an area in which the Commonwealth is flourishing.

    The 2018 Commonwealth Trade Review predicted that trade between member states will be worth $700 billion by 2020. Here in the UK, for example, the value of our exports to fellow members is roughly double what it was 20 years ago.

    Yet risks remain. Global growth is fragile. The challenges posed by protectionism are all too clear. And the world economy is changing, as new technology creates new jobs in some industries while supplanting them in others.

    If Commonwealth businesses are to flourish in such times, if we are to deliver and secure the prosperous future our young people want and deserve, then the Commonwealth and national governments must not be afraid to act.

    Because although the system of international commerce has done much good for the world, it can always be improved. Playing fields can be levelled, barriers removed, the benefits opened up to all.

    So while we should be unapologetic in our support for free and inclusive trade, we should also work hand in hand with businesses to make it more efficient and effective, for example by supporting the use of international standards.

    Shared standards have huge potential to stimulate trade.

    They create a common language for trading partners across the globe, enhance trust in supply chains and stimulate innovation.

    Greater use of these international standards across the Commonwealth will reduce the costs of trade between members, as well as with partners beyond the Commonwealth, for greater global benefit.

    That is why the UK will be funding an all-new Commonwealth Standards Network, which will support developing countries in particular to better meet existing international standards.

    The network will provide a significant opportunity for national standards experts to collaborate and share best practice.

    And it will empower developing countries to have a stronger voice in the international standards community – something that has benefits on a global scale.

    We will also be funding a Trade Facilitation Programme, supporting and providing technical assistance to selected Commonwealth countries in implementing the World Trade Organisation’s Trade Facilitation Agreement. Full implementation of the WTO agreement is estimated to reduce trade costs by up to 16 per cent for the less-developed countries.

    It will cut the average time needed to import goods by 47 per cent, and the time taken to export by as much as 91 per cent, a huge boost for businesses across the Commonwealth.

    But no amount of action on these fronts will truly be successful if half the Commonwealth’s citizens continue to face significant barriers to participation in the economy.

    If our family of nations is to realise its full potential, then we must take action to boost women’s access to economic opportunity, and empower them to create and build their own businesses.

    Many members have already signed up to the Buenos Aires Declaration on Trade and Women’s Economic Empowerment, which seeks to remove barriers to, and support, the participation of women in trade.

    It is an impressive start, but I believe we can go further.

    So, over the next two years, the UK will work with the International Trade Centre to deliver a new programme: SheTrades Commonwealth.

    SheTrades will offer Commonwealth-wide support to help countries break down gender barriers in international trade.

    It will provide a forum for member states to work collectively and share best practice.

    And will compile the data needed to identify what works and track progress over time.

    The programme will also deliver targeted interventions in a number of countries, providing training for women entrepreneurs, connecting them to market and investment opportunities, and helping firms overcome barriers to engaging with women-owned businesses.

    Boosting women’s participation is the right thing to do, but business equality is not just about doing what is right – there are real economic benefits.

    It has been estimated that if women played the same role as men in labour markets, as much as $28 trillion could be added to global GDP by 2025.

    If Commonwealth members are not giving women an equal opportunity to succeed in business and in trade, they are trying to take on some of the biggest economies in the world with one hand tied behind their backs.

    That will not change overnight. But SheTrades represents an important step in the right direction – one that, like the other initiatives I have talked about today, will deliver benefits across the Commonwealth and beyond.

    When we all work to the same standards, when we break down barriers to trade and when we empower women to take their rightful place in the economy, the benefits are felt not just by countries and individuals involved.

    Freer, easier trade means stronger economies, more jobs, more choice and lower prices – and that is true here in the UK, across the Commonwealth and around the world.

    With its unique scope and global voice, such a Commonwealth can set a powerful example to the world, one that demonstrates and underlines the importance of protecting free trade and the rules-based international order.

    Today’s initiatives are an example of what can be done to make that happen, of how governments can lay the groundwork for growth. But you in business also have a vital role to play.

    The discussions here will feed into the full summit, so I hope you take the chance to share ideas and insights, to identify new challenges and new opportunities, to highlight where Commonwealth governments can step up and do more and even where, perhaps, we should step back and do a little less.

    The Commonwealth has never just been about heads of state and government.

    It has always been an organisation in which people and businesses from around the world can come together and work together to improve all our lives.

    This is your forum, and this is your Commonwealth.

    So let us make it an organisation that works for all of us, and shape a future of which we can all be proud.

  • Theresa May – 2018 Press Conference Statement on Syria

    Below is the text of the press conference statement made by Theresa May, the Prime Minister, on 14 April 2018.

    Last night British, French and American armed forces conducted co-ordinated and targeted strikes to degrade the Syrian Regime’s chemical weapons capability and deter their use.

    For the UK’s part four RAF Tornado GR 4’s launched storm shadow missiles at a military facility some 15 miles west of Homs, where the regime is assessed to keep chemical weapons in breach of Syria’s obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention.

    While the full assessment of the strike is ongoing, we are confident of its success.

    Let me set out why we have taken this action.

    Last Saturday up to 75 people, including young children, were killed in a despicable and barbaric attack in Douma, with as many as 500 further casualties.

    We have worked with our allies to establish what happened. And all the indications are that this was a chemical weapons attack.

    We have seen the harrowing images of men, women and children lying dead with foam in their mouths.

    These were innocent families who, at the time this chemical weapon was unleashed, were seeking shelter underground, in basements.

    First-hand accounts from NGOs and aid workers have detailed the most horrific suffering, including burns to the eyes, suffocation and skin discolouration, with a chlorine-like odour surrounding the victims.

    And the World Health Organisation has received reports that hundreds of patients arrived at Syrian health facilities on Saturday night with “signs and symptoms consistent with exposure to toxic chemicals.”

    We are also clear about who was responsible for this atrocity.

    A significant body of information including intelligence indicates the Syrian Regime is responsible for this latest attack.

    I cannot tell you everything. But let me give an example of some of the evidence that leads us to this conclusion.

    Open source accounts allege that a barrel bomb was used to deliver the chemicals.

    Multiple open source reports claim that a Regime helicopter was observed above the city of Douma on the evening of 7th April.

    The Opposition does not operate helicopters or use barrel bombs.

    And reliable intelligence indicates that Syrian military officials co-ordinated what appears to be the use of chlorine in Douma on 7th April.

    No other group could have carried out this attack. Indeed, Daesh for example does not even have a presence in Douma.

    And the fact of this attack should surprise no-one.

    We know that the Syrian regime has an utterly abhorrent record of using chemical weapons against its own people.

    On 21st August 2013 over 800 people were killed and thousands more injured in a chemical attack also in Ghouta.

    There were 14 further smaller scale chemical attacks prior to that summer.

    At Khan Shaykhun on 4th April last year, the Syrian Regime used sarin against its people killing around 100 with a further 500 casualties.

    And based on the Regime’s persistent pattern of behaviour and the cumulative analysis of specific incidents we judge it highly likely both that the Syrian regime has continued to use chemical weapons since then, and will continue to do so.

    This must be stopped.

    We have sought to do so using every possible diplomatic channel.

    But our efforts have been repeatedly thwarted both on the ground and in the United Nations.

    Following the sarin attack in Eastern Damascus back in August 2013, the Syrian Regime committed to dismantle its chemical weapon programme – and Russia promised to ensure that Syria did this, overseen by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

    But these commitments have not been met.

    A recent report from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has said that Syria’s declaration of its former Chemical Weapons programme is incomplete.

    This indicates that it continues to retain undeclared stocks of nerve agent or precursor chemicals – and is likely to be continuing with some chemical weapons production.

    The OPCW inspectors have investigated previous attacks and on four occasions decided that the Regime was indeed responsible.

    And on each occasion when we have seen every sign of chemical weapons being used, any attempt to hold the perpetrators to account has been blocked by Russia at the UN Security Council, with six such vetoes since the start of 2017.

    Just this week, the Russians vetoed a draft Resolution that would have established an independent investigation into this latest attack – even making the grotesque and absurd claim that it was “staged” by Britain.

    So we have no choice but to conclude that diplomatic action on its own will not be any more effective in the future than it has been in the past.

    Over the last week the UK government has been working intensively with our international partners to build the evidence picture, and to consider what action we need to take to prevent and deter future humanitarian catastrophes caused by chemical weapons attacks.

    When the Cabinet met on Thursday we considered the advice of the Attorney General, the National Security Adviser and the Chief of the Defence Staff – and we were updated on the latest assessment and intelligence picture.

    And based on this advice we agreed that it was both right and legal to take military action, together with our closest allies, to alleviate further humanitarian suffering by degrading the Syrian Regime’s Chemical Weapons capability and deterring their use.

    This was not about interfering in a civil war.

    And it was not about regime change.

    As I discussed with President Trump and President Macron, it was a limited, targeted and effective strike with clear boundaries that expressly sought to avoid escalation and did everything possible to prevent civilian casualties.

    Together we have hit a specific and limited set of targets. They were a chemical weapons storage and production facility, a key chemical weapons research centre and a military bunker involved in chemical weapons attacks.

    Hitting these targets with the force that we have deployed will significantly degrade the Syrian Regime’s ability to research, develop and deploy chemical weapons.

    A year ago, after the atrocity at Khan Shaykhun, the US conducted a strike on the airfield from which the attack took place. But Assad and his regime hasn’t stopped their use of chemical weapons.

    So last night’s strikes by the US, UK and France were significantly larger than the US action a year ago and specifically designed to have a greater impact on the regime’s capability and willingness to use chemical weapons.

    And this collective action sends a clear message that the international community will not stand by and tolerate the use of chemical weapons.

    I also want to be clear that this military action to deter the use of chemical weapons does not stand alone.

    We must remain committed to resolving the conflict at large.

    The best hope for the Syrian people remains a political solution.

    We need all partners – especially the Regime and its backers – to enable humanitarian access to those in desperate need.

    And the UK will continue to strive for both.

    But these strikes are about deterring the barbaric use of chemical weapons in Syria and beyond.

    And so to achieve this there must also be a wider diplomatic effort – including the full range of political and economic levers – to strengthen the global norms prohibiting the use of chemical weapons which have stood for nearly a century.

    Although of a much lower order of magnitude, the use of a nerve agent on the streets of the UK in recent weeks is part of a pattern of disregard for these norms.

    So while this action is specifically about deterring the Syrian regime, it will also send a clear signal to anyone else who believes they can use chemical weapons with impunity.

    There is no graver decision for a Prime Minister than to commit our forces to combat – and this is the first time that I have had to do so.

    As always, they have served our country with the greatest professionalism and bravery – and we owe them a huge debt of gratitude.

    We would have preferred an alternative path.

    But on this occasion there is none.

    We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalised – either within Syria, on the streets of the UK or elsewhere.

    We must reinstate the global consensus that chemical weapons cannot be used.

    This action is absolutely in Britain’s national interest.

    The lesson of history is that when the global rules and standards that keep us safe come under threat – we must take a stand and defend them.

    That is what our country has always done.

    And that is what we will continue to do.