The comments made by Ellie Reeves, the Attorney General, on 29 July 2026.
James McClements abused the trust placed in him as a police officer, pursuing an intimate relationship with a domestic abuse victim. Furthermore, he pressured the victim into secrecy, when what she needed and deserved was professional support and protection.
I welcome the Court of Appeal’s decision to increase his sentence, and I hope this sends a clear message that serious misconduct will be severely punished.
The comments made by Emma Hardy, the Water Minister, on 29 July 2026.
Our climate is changing, droughts are becoming increasingly common, and we need to be prepared for this new normal.
We’re delivering long-term change in the water industry and driving record investments in infrastructure, including nine new reservoirs.
We expect water companies to follow their drought plans, to go further and faster to reduce leaks, and to ensure supplies are not disrupted even in the driest of weather.
The comments made by Yvette Cooper, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on 29 July 2026.
Too many older and disabled people are being let down by a broken system, while millions of unpaid carers shoulder an enormous burden every day. When social care fails, it affects people’s independence, families’ lives and communities across the country.
More than 50 years ago, Barbara Castle recognised that health and social care must work hand in hand. Today, with demand for care rising and more people relying on support to live independently, that vision has never been more important.
For decades, governments have struggled to solve this challenge. This government is determined to change that, working across political divides to deliver the lasting reform social care needs and build a system that gives people the dignity, support and security they deserve.
The comments made by Andy Burnham, the Prime Minister on 28 July 2026.
Last week I said we needed a different kind of politics: problem-solving, not point-scoring. Nowhere is that more urgent than social care.
For decades, governments have kicked this issue down the road because they’ve seen it as too risky, too difficult, and too complicated.
Politicians might have different views but I’m serious about fixing this issue and to do that, we have to find common ground and listen to others to find a way forward.
It’s time to draw a line under people playing politics when the human cost of that means carers struggling, families paying the price and our NHS buckling under the strain.
This comes down to a choice. We can carry on passing the problem to the next generation, or we can face it head on and work together to build a care system that gives people dignity, security and the support they deserve.
This is about bringing back hope that we can finally fix the difficult issues that have been ignored for too long, and making Britain believe again.
That’s why I’m making this choice and I’m prepared to put everything I’ve got behind it.
The speech made by Andy Burnham, the Prime Minister, on 27 July 2026.
For too long in this country, students have been told that you must take the academic path to do well and to be respected. The whole school system has been built around it and that has let down young people seeking technical qualifications.
I want an education system based on parity between academic and technical which gives all young people a clear path in life. From today, Britain will value the hard hat every bit as much as the graduation cap.
In a fundamental change to the education system, we will introduce new technical education pathways from 14 – prestigious routes that will give students the chance to combine the core academic subjects with the skills, technical knowledge and experience they need to get quality, well-paid jobs where they live. My message to young people is this – whether you choose construction, coding or classics, or maths, manufacturing or mechanics, you’ll get the skills you need and be given the respect you deserve.
Fixing the youth unemployment crisis in Britain will require a major shake-up in how we do things – and that’s what this government will do. I want to ensure that our education system leaves no dead ends for our young people. The changes we’re announcing today will just be the start of our work to restore opportunity and hope across the country.
The comments made by Andy Burnham, the Prime Minister, on 28 July 2026.
Let me say this very directly.
Football does not belong to investors. It belongs to the people who fill the stands and who stand on the touchline week in, week out, rain or shine.
The World Cup is not a product. It is the greatest competition in world sport, and it was never anyone’s to sell. Dress the deal up however you like. Once you have sold a piece of it, you have sold out.
Football belongs to the fans. It always has, and it always will.
The comments made by Andy Burnham, the Prime Minister, in Manchester on 24 July 2026.
Thank you, everybody. I cannot tell you what a proud moment this is. I think this might be the best day of my life.
I’m not joking. I know you think I am, but I’m not. Things are just completely coming full circle here, for me to be here with you all in the heart of Manchester this Friday morning at the end of a fairly big week is just everything to me.
Because it’s almost exactly 35 years since I left this city as a recently graduated young man, couldn’t find a job in the city. It was in a pretty bad place at that time, it’s fair to say. The ’80s turned into the ’90s. There wasn’t much.
And that really is an experience that I’ve never forgotten. My generation of people growing up here, and it’s true of places all over the country, to get on in life you had to leave where you were because things weren’t here.
And the country’s always been a little like that, hasn’t it? Opportunity has not been evenly spread around the country and not all places have felt that they’re part of the national story and that is what this government is going to work every single day to change, and that is what No 10 North is all about: putting power in every postcode so that people can turn things around for themselves and make changes just as this great city has done and the other English cities are doing through devolution. Turning things round because of that ability to be able to do more for themselves.
And it’s also about getting the whole country facing the same way and then pulling in the same direction. That I think is what No 10 North can achieve. It’s felt a little at times that local government’s just been a bit forgotten and places aren’t able to do what they want to do. But then at the sort of city level, or the regional level, sometimes it’s felt like an argument with people in the centre of government and people having a to and fro all of the time.
Imagine, just imagine if we were all working together as one team, pulling the same way and making the change happen for people and places. I think we can do that. In fact, I feel we’ve got to do that. If we want to take Britain from where it is right now, and I think we all have a feeling that it’s not fully where it should be right now.
If we want to get it back to where it should be, it’s got to be about that one team feeling. All of the places around the UK and all of our regions and all of our nations, because No 10 North is as much for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as it is for the regions of England.
If we get that feeling then I think so much is possible that doesn’t feel possible right now and we can really get the energy flowing right around the country. I’m really pleased, and he’s hiding but maybe he should come and join me if he doesn’t mind. I’m really pleased that our new Chancellor of the Exchequer is here today.
I know it sounds like woe is me, we’ve had such a hard week, but we were in a pub together yesterday, weren’t we? Rating pub snacks. It did look like hard work. But it’s brilliant that you’re here, John. Next to John is our first Secretary of State, Louise Haigh. And that, I hope, is sending a message to everybody here who has come into No 10 North in its early days that you’ve got the full support of the government from the very top: Prime Minister, Chancellor, First Secretary of State. That’s a very powerful message that we’re sending today, that the political commitment is there.
This isn’t about government working in its old way, it’s about the Treasury, No 10, close together, the heart of government, then driving the same mission from here right out into all parts of the country. And I’m delighted the Cabinet Secretary is here too today. Antonia, thank you for everything you have done to make today possible, because I also want to get the culture right, the relationship right between politicians and our brilliant civil servants and then everyone feeling that they’re all in the same game together and we’re all working together and we’re all working hard to support each other. That’s what this is all about.
I need to thank Caroline, former chief executive now of the Great Manchester Combined Authority, who’s done so much to make today possible. But what I already see as I look around and see sort of the faces from my old world, it does feel like the boundaries are breaking down a little and we’re sort of coming in together, and starting to kind of knit in together and then really get going and getting the growth going, the good growth going in every part of the country.
And I mean it when I say every postcode, everybody, that’s what we’ve got to do. Nowhere forgotten, everywhere feeling heard, everyone with a sense that their place can be more than it is today. High streets lifted around the country. Britain re-industrialised, getting those good jobs back into all of our regions. We’ve got such an opportunity, everybody, ahead of us.
I said I wanted to get Britain believing again. Today is a day where we hopefully can really build that sense, get Britain hoping again. I think we can do that together if we carry on working in this way. So it is such an amazing moment for me. It’s everything I believe in, everything I’ve spent my whole life working towards, a country that really does feel together, feel that all parts are involved and making their contribution. No 10 is North is going to take that up to the next level.
Make no mistake, I just want to finish on this point. There’ll be many voices out there. I can hear them all already, often London-based, but not exclusively. You know, they like to say, oh, this will just be another, the new Levelling Up or another sort of short-lived gimmick.
They’ll also say, what’s it going to cost? But I’m just going to say something now that I’m going to say in the meetings later. You know, what does it cost for everybody to troop down to London every time there’s a meeting when you need to make an argument about something? What does that cost?
So actually, isn’t it better that we have a North Pole that balances the South Pole of our country, where power will always be concentrated, but at least it creates that sense of a more balanced country. And the big things can be done from here.
But this is the place where Whitehall meets the rest of the country. I’ve called it the nerve centre for a rewired Britain. Or if you think about it in terms of the day-to-day kind of challenge around growth, it will be the situation room for growth where we all get around the table, mayors with all of the team of the Whitehall departments, so we get those decisions made more quickly, we break through the logjams, and we get things done.
So it is much more profound, I think, than people have worked out so far. It’s not just a new office. Through this place, power is going to flow, energy is going to flow, new ideas are going to come through, the region’s going to play back their ambitions here and the team is then going to say, right, we’re behind you, we’re going to make things work. That is a different way of running Britain. That is what I’m committed to do as Prime Minister and I’m so grateful to everybody for making this day happen at the end of my first week and now let’s get to work everybody. Thanks so much.
The speech made by Wes Streeting, the Secretary of State for Defence, at Farnborough on 22 July 2026.
Thank you for that introduction, and I’m sure you will all understand why perhaps the Prime Minister couldn’t be here this particular week.
I’ve no doubt we’ll be seeing him here in future years, though I hope you’ve just got a glimpse there from that video message what an opportunity we have with this Prime Minister and this Chancellor. They both understand defence. They understand the immediate pressures and priorities that defence is facing.
But they also understand the enormous contribution that Defence can make to the Prime Minister’s vision for this country in terms of jobs, growth in every postcode, and re-industrialisation.
I’m going to touch on much of that in my speech to you today. Of course, in most jobs on day two, you’ve been given your password logins, you found the bathrooms, you know your way around the building. You’re not normally delivering keynote speeches, or indeed taking questions from the media, as I’ll be doing shortly after.
But this is a job like no other, and it is an enormous privilege for me to serve as Secretary of State for Defence.
It’s been almost a decade since I first came to Farnborough. Things were quite different back then. Theresa May was Prime Minister. Nobody really knew what AI was, and I didn’t have a single grey hair.
Some things have not changed since then. That palpable sense of being at the cutting edge of innovation is just as strong today as it was then. To look back on the history of Farnborough is to trace some of the most profound advances in engineering. It reminds us that making aircraft is something Britain has done for a very long time, and still does exceptionally well today.
For more than a century, our nation has fused the ingenuity of industry with the courage of those who serve. It has powered our economy, redefined technology, and in our darkest hours, kept our nation secure and free. That partnership has been the foundation of British air power. In the conflicts of the past, no enemy we faced could even hope to challenge us in the sky.
That is a privilege we no longer enjoy. State-on-state competition has returned on a scale not seen for a generation. Technology has advanced at a rate unlike anything seen by any generation. In Ukraine, we see the consequences of neither side achieving air supremacy, north of 1 million casualties, on a front line that has barely shifted in years. In the Middle East, we see that even where air supremacy is achieved, it is still relatively easy and cheap for the other side to wreak havoc across an entire region with consequences felt across the globe.
The skies today are increasingly contested, complex and lethal. Air dominance is not a given, it is not a right. But our Defence Investment Plan will ensure that we earn it once again.
I know that the months leading up to the DIP weren’t easy for many of you in this room and beyond. I thank you on behalf of the Government for persevering. With a plan now published, I’m relying on all of you to make it a success.
The first duty of any government is to keep our country safe. That is a duty the Prime Minister and I treat with the utmost seriousness.
My job, as Secretary of State, is to maximise our deterrence, and ensure that should deterrence fail, we have the capability to fight and to win. That means investment.
President Trump has called on Europe to carry a greater share of the burden for our own defence, and he is right to do so. The UK has always been a leading light on defence spending, but the world is changing, and in these dangerous, uncertain times, it is clear that we have needed to go further.
That’s why we’ve committed £298 billion over the next four years, including an additional £15 billion on top of last year’s Spending Review settlement. At the recent NATO summit, all members reaffirmed our commitment to 3.5% by 35.
I’m acutely conscious of the impact these numbers have on your investment decisions, and I’m committed to providing you with clarity and confidence. For now, I’m pleased to say that in the 10 days after the publication of the DIP, we agreed more than £11.8 billion worth of contracts. Defence is up and flying again.
But investment is only one side of the coin. Because while we will always back our brave men and women who serve, ensuring they have the resources and the kit that they need, we also owe it to them and to the whole country to ensure that every penny is spent wisely. Modernisation without investment is impractical, but investment without modernisation is irresponsible.
When I was Health Secretary, we secured billions of pounds more in investment for our NHS. But we also embarked on a bold programme of reform and modernisation to ensure that we were maximising value for money and cutting waste. The results we achieved in a relatively short space of time – the biggest reduction in waiting times in 17 years, 5 million additional appointments in the first year alone – only happened because we’ve brought these two things together.
This is the mantra I will now follow as Defence Secretary. This is how we make ourselves fit to face the future, how we will continue to be a strong, dependable ally to our friends abroad, and how we will be an engine of growth and jobs here at home.
And today I want to speak about what that looks like. Typhoon remains an indispensable instrument of our national security. The more than £1 billion we’re investing to upgrade the fleet will ensure that remains the case into the 2040s. But long gone are the days of crewed platforms holding their own in the sky. That process of transformation is now well underway.
Last week, we announced our new Collaborative Combat Air programme, StormFighter. With the advent of CCA, and their integration with crewed platforms like the Typhoon, we will make the RAF Europe’s first sixth-generation air force. These uncrewed autonomous fighter jets will provide us with eyes and ears, carry missiles and confuse the enemy. Five at a time and 500 miles ahead of the Typhoon pilots controlling them, crucially, at a fifth of the price of that aircraft.
And I can announce today that our ambition is to get a demonstrator CCA flying in the air next year and have StormFighter operational by the end of the decade. This project will support 2,000 jobs when the full production line is up and running.
Globally, the CCA sector is projected to be valued at more than £125 billion to 2050. This is a sector in which I expect the UK to excel.
Just this morning, we saw a British company, BAE, launch their sovereign CCA programme. This signals the enormous opportunity on offer in advantage, jobs and exports. If we’re to meet that potential, then we need to do things differently. We’ve just upgraded our Typhoons with a new precision weapon system that can defeat drones at a fraction of the price of the missiles currently used. From start to finish, the process took just 42 days. This is a mark of where we need to be.
That means changing the way we do business and working with the Defence Industrial Joint Council I will direct my department to take a new approach to risk. Not every decision will come off, but that’s the price of moving at the pace of modern warfare, where delay and inaction pose the greater threat.
All this matters because what we’re building now, an integrated system of crewed and autonomous platforms, provides us with the bridge to our sixth-generation fighter system. The £8.6 billion pledged to GCAP in the Defence Investment Plan is a sure expression of our commitment, as you heard from the Prime Minister just a moment ago.
And in a display of our intent to increase international collaboration, yesterday, alongside our partners from Italy and Japan, I was pleased to welcome Canada as an observer to the programme.
GCAP means air dominance. Our nation needs it. This government is backing it. The wider Future Combat Air System will likewise enjoy our fullest support. Today we have over 4,500 people working across the UK building a fully integrated combat air system, GCAT, uncrewed platforms, advanced weapons, sensors and secure data networks. The FCAS programme is a fantastic source of good jobs and apprenticeships.
We also have some of our finest minds working on the frontier of the most advanced technologies. The potential, not just for our security, but as history shows, for our society and our economy too, is enormous. And today, I’m pleased to confirm we put pen to paper with BAE on a £708 million contract extension to advance their work on critical sovereign technologies.
So what does all of this mean? In one word, jobs. The air sector alone employs 70,000 people in the UK. The Prime Minister has spoken passionately about his ambition to re-industrialise Britain. Defence is, and will be, at the forefront of that mission. We will be unapologetic about backing Britain, British ingenuity, British workers, communities in every corner of this great country. Defence will not just be a recipient of the proceeds of economic growth. It will be a central contributor to building that growth, a driver of prosperity in parts of the country that are crying out for the backing they need to make their contribution to the challenge of our time.
It is not yet clear whether the 21st century will be defined by tyranny or freedom. But we need not let others define the answer to that question. Freedom is hard won and even harder preserved. We in Britain will not be bystanders in this contest. We know which side we are on. And we will give every part of our country the chance to play their part in ensuring that our values – freedom, democracy and peace – not only win out, but endure.
Let me end with what matters most: our people. Over recent months, we’ve seen the very best of our RAF. Our pilots protecting the skies above NATO’s Eastern Front and the Middle East. The A400 crew who flew 4,000 miles to save a single life on the most remote inhabited British Overseas Territory on Earth. And I have to say, as the Health Secretary at the time, that made me truly proud to be British and truly proud of what this country is capable of doing.
The RAF Regiment gunners who stood watch engaging hundreds of drones with relentless dedication in the Middle East. The heli crews who helped seize a Russian shadow fleet vessel, and the P-8 crews who tracked Russian spy subs with precision and determination. Every time, without exception, When members of our RAF are called to act, they have not merely met the moment, they have risen far beyond it.
We are now in the midst of one of the most profound changes in the history of air power. Never before have we been asked to travel so far in so little time. But we can. In times of our greatest peril, this country has shown itself capable of doing big things. We still can. We have stood tall on the world stage, steadfast in support of our allies. We still can. We have matched the courage of those who serve with the ingenuity of those who build. We still can. And together, we will do so again. Thank you very much. And together, we will do so.
The comments made by Ed Miliband on 21 July 2026 following his appointment as Foreign Secretary.
It is a great honour and privilege to have been appointed by the Prime Minister to serve as Foreign Secretary.
My parents came to Britain as Jewish refugees from the Nazis. To them, Britain was both a sanctuary and a beacon of hope in the global fight against fascism. I will carry my parents’ faith in that spirit of Britain to my role representing our country.
I will be a Foreign Secretary who fights for Britain’s interests and our values of democracy, freedom and the rule of law on the world stage.
Today, as we face a time of greater instability and threat to international law and democracy than at any time since the Second World War, these values are more important than ever.
From Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine to conflict in the Middle East, time and again we have seen the consequences of a more dangerous world in the cost of living crisis that families and businesses face.
For Britain, that means we must work with others to defend the principles that we cherish, because it is in our national interest to do so, building on the excellent work of my predecessors and friends, Yvette Cooper and David Lammy.
I will seek to deepen and strengthen our strategic alliance with the European Union which is so important for our prosperity and security and at the same time nurture our strong, enduring and essential alliance with the United States. I will uphold our commitment to multilateral institutions from NATO to the UN as well as working with global partners, particularly in the Global South.
Pursuing our interests and values means continuing to stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Ukraine against Russia’s illegal invasion, as Britain has done for the last four years. It means playing our part to seek to end the conflict in Iran and fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz. It must also mean working tirelessly to seek a sustainable peace in Palestine and Israel, including an end to the terrible suffering of the people of Gaza and security for the people of Israel.
The FCDO I lead will also be at the forefront of issues which pose profound and substantial threats to justice and equality in Britain and across the world. We will work with others on tackling the climate crisis, strengthening our partnerships for international development, and reforming our international institutions so they deliver for all countries, including the world’s poorest people.
FCDO is a great British institution filled with talented, expert, and committed staff who do crucial consular work for our country and have reach across the world. I look forward to working with Britain’s world-class network of embassies, diplomats, civil servants, businesses, and cultural organisations to represent and promote the interests and values of our great country.
The comments made by Andy Burnham, the Prime Minister, on 21 July 2026.
As I said on the steps of Downing Street, we are going to honour our commitments on defence – and use that investment to transform people’s lives.
And we are going to work even more closely with our allies.
So today, we are not just recommitting to our state-of-the-art GCAP fighter programme – but I am delighted to announce that Canada will join the programme as the first Observer Nation.
GCAP is already one of the world’s most ambitious defence and industrial partnerships – supporting 4,500 jobs across the UK. Today’s announcement makes it even stronger.