Tag: 2023

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 15 March 2023.

Statement by Ambassador Barbara Woodward at the UN Security Council briefing on Yemen.

Thank you, President.

I’d like to start by joining others in offering condolences to Mozambique and to Malawi for the damages that Cyclone Freddy has caused in your countries.

Hans, Joyce, thank you for your briefings.

As Ramadan approaches, so too does the one-year anniversary of the UN-brokered truce. The UK welcomes continued efforts toward a negotiated political settlement, and reiterates the need for dialogue to bring together all Yemeni parties.

We urge the Houthis to engage directly with the internationally recognised Government of Yemen, and the UN. An inclusive political settlement is the only way to bring stability to Yemen.

While we work towards long-term stability, we must also act, as others have said, to mitigate the suffering of Yemenis right now. Nearly 22 million Yemenis are in urgent need of assistance. The UK welcomes the vital role of UNVIM in facilitating commercial cargo flows into Yemen to alleviate this suffering.

Mahram requirements in the north are excluding women from delivering and accessing assistance. As well as being an egregious injustice, this drives up the cost of living. We strongly urge the Houthi authorities to reconsider this policy.

Efforts to address economic instability are also fundamental to reducing humanitarian need and the UK welcomes the generous financial contributions of Saudi Arabia and the UAE to address the serious economic situation of the Yemeni people.

Houthi terrorist attacks and threats have blocked Government of Yemen oil exports, again increasing the cost of living for Yemenis. We call on the Houthis to refrain from all escalatory action.

Arms smuggling is destabilising Yemen and the region. The British Navy, and our US and French partners, continue to interdict Iranian arms shipments. We call upon all involved to stop driving regional instability.

Finally, we welcome the major progress made on the FSO Safer salvage operation. The UN’s procurement of a replacement vessel is a vital step toward mitigating the threat of a spill.

But, the mission does not stop here.

We ask the UN to share its detailed budget and for the international community to step up and fill the $34m funding gap. Without these, the operation cannot start.

Thank you.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 15 March 2023.

During the 52nd session of the UN Human Rights Council, the UK delivered a statement on the situation of Human Rights Defenders.

Thank you, Madam Vice President,

The 25th anniversary of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders offers an important moment to highlight the successes of human rights defenders in the face of increasing threats.

The UK welcomes the Special Rapporteur’s report and agrees that human rights defenders make a crucial contribution to peace, sustainable development, human rights and the rule of law. We pay tribute to those defenders who have worked tirelessly to provide access to healthcare, prevent corruption, advance women’s rights, promote accountability, and protect the environment, as set out in your report.

We are concerned by the increasing attacks against Human Rights Defenders who have been at the sharp end of shrinking civic space, including women and LGBT defenders.

The UK continues to support human rights defenders and their important work through our diplomatic network who monitor cases, observe trials and raise issues with governments, as well as through multilateral organisations.

Special Rapporteur,

How can we safely improve monitoring mechanisms for violations against human rights defenders, and strengthen support to defenders who risk facing reprisals for reporting issues to the UN?

Thank you.

 

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 15 March 2023.

A revolution in childcare, a £27 billion tax cut for business and a trio of freezes to help families with the cost-of-living headlined the Chancellor’s Spring Budget today, Wednesday 15 March.

• Childcare revolution to expand 30 hours free childcare for children over the age of nine months, alongside boosts to subsidised childcare for parents on Universal Credit including upfront support.
• A £27 billion tax cut for business through radical ‘full expensing’ policy and capital allowances reform which will drive investment and growth.
• Measures to ease cost-of-living burden will help more than halve inflation, with extension of Energy Price Guarantee and duties on fuel and a pub pint both frozen.
• Major set of reforms to support people into work, removing barriers that stop those on benefits, older workers, and those with health conditions who want to work from working.
• Inflation falling, debt down and growth up in Chancellor’s Spring Budget for Growth that delivers upon the Prime Minister’s economic priorities.

Aimed at achieving long-term, sustainable economic growth that delivers prosperity for the people of the United Kingdom, the Spring Budget breaks down barriers to work, unshackles business investment and tackles labour shortages head on.

Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt said:

“Our plan is working – inflation falling, debt down and a growing economy.

“Britain is on a lasting path to growth with a revolution in childcare support, the biggest ever employment package and the best investment incentives in Europe.”

The Chancellor announced 30 hours of free childcare for every child over the age of 9 months, with support being phased in until every single eligible working parent of under 5s gets this support by September 2025.

The government will also pay the childcare costs of parents on Universal Credit moving into work or increasing their hours upfront, rather than in arrears – removing a major barrier to work for those who are on benefits. The maximum they can claim will also be boosted to £951 for one child and £1,630 for two children – an increase of around 50%.

The Chancellor went on to set out plans to continue to support households with cost-of-living pressures including keeping the Energy Price Guarantee at £2,500 for the next three months and ending the premium that over 4 million households pay on their prepayment meter, bringing their charges into line with comparable customers who pay by direct debit. Taken together with all the government’s efforts to help households with higher costs, these measures bring the total support to an average of £3,300 per UK household over 2022-23 and 2023-24.

To help household budgets further, the planned 11 pence rise in fuel duty will be cancelled, maintaining last year’s 5p cut for another twelve months, saving a typical driver another £100 on top of the £100 saved so far since last year’s cut.

The generosity of Draught Relief has also been significantly extended from 5% to 9.2%, so that the duty on an average draught pint of beer served in a pub both does not increase from August and will be up to 11 pence lower than the duty in supermarkets. The commitment to duty on a pub pint being lower than the supermarket has been termed the “Brexit Pubs Guarantee” by the Chancellor, and this change will also be enjoyed by every pub in Northern Ireland thanks to the Windsor Framework.

The Chancellor also set out a comprehensive plan to remove the barriers to work facing those on benefits, those with health conditions and older workers. An increase in the pensions Annual Allowance from £40,000 to £60,000 and the abolition of the Lifetime Allowance will remove the disincentives to working for longer. A new ‘Returnerships’ skills offer for older workers and more stringent Universal Credit job search requirements also feature in the plan that will boost the UK’s workforce, fill vacancies and support economic growth.

In line with the government’s vision for the UK to be the best place in Europe for companies to locate, invest and grow, a new policy of ‘full expensing’ will be introduced for the next three years to boost business investment in an effective cut to corporation tax of £9 billion per year. This makes the UK the joint most competitive capital allowances regime in the OECD and the only major European economy to have such a policy. The independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecast that this will increase business investment by 3% for every year it is in place. Mr Hunt signalled an intention to make this scheme – which covers equipment for factories, computers and other machinery – permanent when responsible to do so.

Accompanying forecasts by the OBR confirm that with the package of measures Mr Hunt set out today, the economy is on track to grow with inflation halved this year and debt falling – meeting all of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s economic priorities. This comes alongside the confirmation that there are no new tax rises within the Spring Budget.

Childcare

Significant reforms to childcare will remove barriers to work for nearly half a million parents with a child under 3 in England not working due to caring responsibilities, reducing discrimination against women and benefitting the wider economy in the process.

• 30 hours of free childcare for every child over the age of 9 months with working parents by September 2025, where eligibility will match the existing 3-4 year-old 30 hours offer.
• This will be introduced in phases, with 15 hours of free childcare for working parents of 2-year-olds coming into effect in April 2024 and 15 hours of free childcare for working parents of 9 months – 3 years old in September 2024.
• The funding paid to nurseries for the existing free hours offers will also be increased by £204 million from this September rising to £288 million next year.
• Schools and local authorities will be funded to increase the supply of wraparound care, so that parents of school age children can drop their children off between 8am and 6pm – tackling the barriers to working caused by limited availability of wraparound care.
• Childcare costs of parents moving into work or increasing their hours on Universal Credit paid upfront rather than in arrears, with maximum claim boosted to £951 for one child and £1,630 for two children – an increase of around 50%.
• In recognition of both the importance and short supply of childminders, incentive payments of £600 will be piloted from Autumn of this year for those who sign up to the profession (rising to £1,200 for those who join through an agency) to increase the number available and increase choice and affordability for parents.

Employment

The Chancellor set out a comprehensive plan to help people move into work, increase their hours, and extend their working lives, including for those on benefits.

• The Lifetime Allowance charge will be removed before being abolished altogether, removing barriers to remaining in work and simplifying the tax system by taking thousands out of the complexity of pension tax.
• The Annual Allowance will be increased from £40,000 to £60,000, incentivising highly-skilled workers to remain in the labour market. As a result of the pensions tax measures announced today, an estimated 80% of NHS doctors will not receive a tax charge with respect to accruals under the 2015 NHS career average scheme.
• A new ‘Returnerships’ apprenticeship targeted at the over 50s will refine existing skills programmes to make them more accessible to older workers, giving them the skills and support they need to find a recognisable path back into work.
• The midlife MOT offer will be expanded and improved to ensure people get the best possible financial, health and career guidance well ahead of retirement. There will be an enhanced digital midlife MOT tool and an expansion of DWP’s in person midlife MOTs for 50+ Universal Credit claimants, aiming to reach 40,000 per year.
• A DWP White Paper on disability benefits reform will herald the biggest change to the welfare system in the past ten years, to make sure it better meets the needs of disabled people in Great Britain. This includes removing the Work Capability Assessment, meaning the majority of claimants will now have to do one health assessment rather than two. Reforms will also support claimants to try work without fear of losing their financial support.
• A new voluntary employment scheme for disabled people and those with health conditions called Universal Support will be funded in England and Wales. The government will spend up to £4,000 per person to find them a suitable role and cater to their needs, supporting 50,000 places per year once fully rolled out.
• A £406 million plan to tackle the leading health causes keeping people out of work, with investment targeted at services for mental health, musculoskeletal conditions, and cardiovascular disease.
• Strengthening work search and work preparation requirements for around 700,000 lead carers of children aged 1-12 claiming Universal Credit in Great Britain.
• Increasing the Administrative Earnings Threshold (AET) – which determines how much support and Work Coach time a claimant will receive based on their earnings – for an individual claimant, from the equivalent of 15 to 18 hours at National Living Wage and removing the couples AET in Great Britain. Over 100,000 non-working or low-earning individuals will be asked to meet more regularly with their Work Coach for support to move into work or increase their earnings.
• The application and enforcement of the Universal Credit sanctions regime will be strengthened, by providing additional training for Work Coaches to apply sanctions effectively, including for claimants who do not look for or take up employment, and automating administrative elements of the sanctions process to reduce error rates and free up Work Coach time.
• Elsewhere, international talent will be attracted through a new migration package that includes adding five construction occupations to the Shortage Occupation List and expanding the range of short-term business activities that are covered under the UK’s six-month business visit visa offer.

Enterprise

The Chancellor put forward a plan to boost innovation, drive business investment and hold down energy costs.

• A ‘full expensing’ policy introduced from 1 April 2023 until 31 March 2026 and an extension to the 50% first-year allowance in the same period – a transformation in capital allowances worth £27 billion to businesses over three years.
• A £500 million per year package of support for 20,000 research and development (R&D) intensive businesses through changes to R&D tax credits.
• Generous reforms to tax reliefs for the creative sectors will ensure theatres, orchestras, museums and galleries are protected against ongoing economic pressures and even more world-class productions are made in the UK.
• The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) will receive £10 million extra funding over two years to maximise its use of Brexit freedoms and accelerate patient access to treatments. This will allow, from 2024, the MHRA to introduce new, swift approvals systems, speeding up access to treatments already approved by trusted international partners and ground-breaking technologies such as cancer vaccines and AI therapeutics for mental health.
• All of the recommendations from Sir Patrick Vallance’s review into pro-innovation regulation of digital technologies, published alongside Spring Budget today, are to be accepted.
• £900 million of funding for an AI Research Resource and an exascale computer – making the UK one of only a handful of countries to have one – and a commitment to £2.5 billion ten-year quantum research and innovation programme through the government’s new Quantum Strategy.

Levelling Up

To level up growth across the UK and spread opportunity everywhere, local communities will be empowered to command their economic destiny.

• Greater responsibility for local leaders to grow their local economy.
• Over £200 million for high quality local regeneration projects in areas of need, from the transformation of Ashington Town Centre to a skills and education campus in Blackburn.
• Over £400 million for new Levelling Up Partnerships for twenty areas in England most in need of levelling up, such as Rochdale and Mansfield.
• Business rates retention expanded to more areas in the next Parliament.
• Delivering trailblazer devolution deals for the West Midlands and Greater Manchester Combined Authorities that include single multi-year settlements for the next Spending Review, alongside a commitment to negotiate further devolution deals in England.
• 12 Investment Zones across the UK including 4 across Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
• £8.8 billion over the next five-year funding period for a second round of the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements.

Many of today’s decisions on tax and spending apply in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. As a result of decisions that do not apply UK-wide, the Scottish Government will receive around an additional £320 million over 2023-24 and 2024-25, the Welsh Government will receive £180 million, and the Northern Ireland Executive will receive £130 million.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 16 March 2023.

During the 52nd session of the UN Human Rights Council, the UK delivered a statement on privacy.

Thank you, Mr President,

The UK thanks the Special Rapporteur for her report on the implementation of the principles of purpose limitation, deletion of data and demonstrated or proactive accountability in the processing of personal data collected by public entities in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The UK believes that it is essential that information relating to people’s health and care is processed appropriately, lawfully and in line with their reasonable expectations. The UK is committed to maintaining public trust in the health and care system’s use of data.

The principles identified by the Special Rapporteur in her report are implemented in the UK through the UK GDPR and the Data Protection. The UK recognises the need to operationalise these principles in practice and thanks the Special Rapporteur for her recommendations. The UK also welcomes the Special Rapporteur’s findings with respect to the UK’s current practice.

The UK would like to ask the Special Rapporteur if she has any further examples of good practice with respect to ensuring proactive accountability in the processing of personal data.

Thank you.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 15 March 2023.

UK military advisor, Ian Stubbs, says Russian military leaders have sacrificed military units and squandered strategic resources for small tactical gains.

Thank you, Mr Chair. Over the past week, we have seen intensive combat as Russia continues its grinding offensive in the Donbas. Russia is suffering extremely heavy casualty rates. Since May last year, between 20 – 30,000 Wagner and regular Russian forces have been killed and wounded in the area around Bakhmut alone – a huge loss of human life for a total territorial advance of approximately just 25km. That is over 800 Russian personnel killed or wounded for each kilometre gained, the vast majority of them Wagner fighters.

In the face of these losses, Wagner Group owner Yevgeny Prigozhin is finding it increasingly difficult to resupply what he has termed the “meat grinder” in eastern Ukraine. Earlier this month, Wagner set up outreach teams based in sports centres in at least 40 locations across Russia. In recent days, masked Wagner recruiters have even given career talks in Moscow high schools, distributing questionnaires entitled “application of a young warrior” to collect the contact details of interested pupils. One wonders if these schoolchildren know that about half of the prisoners Wagner has already deployed in Ukraine have likely become casualties. These new initiatives are unlikely to make up for the losses they are experiencing, nor respond to the challenges of maintaining the scale or intensity of Wagner operations in Ukraine.

Mr Chair, on 09 March, Russia conducted another barbaric wave of long-range strikes against Ukrainian critical infrastructure. The attack involved at least 80 projectiles, including cruise missiles, air defence missiles in a surface-surface mode, Iranian one-way attack UAVs, and an unusually large number of Kinzhal hypersonic missiles. This was the first major wave of long-range strikes since 16 February and was one of the largest since December last year. The longer interval between these waves of strikes is probably because Russia now needs to stockpile a critical mass of newly produced missiles directly from industry before it can resource a strike big enough to credibly overwhelm Ukrainian air defences. It appears that Russia’s stockpiles and supplies for these cruel acts of vengeance against Ukraine’s people are running low.

Mr Chair, the Russian military supply issues are just as acute at the front line. Russia has suffered huge heavy armoured vehicle losses forcing it to deploy 60-year-old T-62 main battle tanks onto the frontline. Since summer 2022, approximately 800 antiquated T-62s have been taken out from storage. More recently, Russian BTR-50 armoured personnel carriers have also been deployed in Ukraine, vintage vehicles which were first fielded into the Russian military in 1954.

This all poses the obvious question, why is Russia’s much vaunted new generation of military hardware absent from the battlefield? The truth is, Russia’s over hyped new generation T14 Armata Main Battle Tank is proving a white elephant, barely capable of taking part in a parade let alone performing on the battlefields of Ukraine. And, the Russian air force has so little confidence in the Su57 5th generation multi-role aircraft that they dare not operate it over Ukraine.

Mr Chair, what we have detailed today demonstrates a spectacular lack of Russian military competence that has had a devastating impact on Russia’s own people, Russia’s military prestige and Russia’s reputation – one which will last for generations. Russia’s military leaders have: sacrificed military units, equipment and soldiers; squandered strategic resources for small tactical gains; and doubled-down on flawed strategy and tactics in desperate attempts to save face. Everyone can see the truth. Russia’s military and its defence industry are failing in Ukraine.

Mr Chair, Ukraine has turned the tide in this war, regaining territory and liberating thousands of Ukrainian people. Ukraine has done this thanks to the awe-inspiring bravery of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the resilience of the Ukrainian people and overwhelming international support. The UK has been unwavering in its support for the people of Ukraine as they resist Russia’s brutal and unprovoked invasion. Last year the UK provided £2.3bn in military aid to Ukraine. Together, with our Allies and partners, we are ensuring that Ukraine will win. Ukraine can rely on continued steadfast support from the UK and other partners. We will keep the promises we have made to the Ukrainian people and will give them all the help they need, for as long as it takes, until Ukraine prevails. Giving Ukraine the support it needs to defend itself and push Russia out of Ukraine’s sovereign territory is the swiftest and only path to a just and lasting peace. Thank you.