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  • Keir Starmer – 2023 Speech at GMB Congress

    Keir Starmer – 2023 Speech at GMB Congress

    The speech made by Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition, at the GMB Congress held on 6 June 2023.

    Thank you Barbara for that introduction, and for your great service to this great union.

    Thank you Congress for that very warm welcome. It’s always a pleasure to be in Brighton in the sunshine, and especially when the sun is beginning to shine on the Labour argument.

    Now, there’s more work to be done – of course there is, I’m under no illusion the hardest yards are ahead of us.

    We need to be prepared, disciplined, relentlessly focused on the future, show we’re ready to provide the leadership that this country so desperately needs. Meet Tory attacks with hope.

    But make no mistake if we keep demonstrating that we’re a changed Labour Party, that in everything we do, we put country first, that we know what true service means. Then together, we have a golden opportunity to shape the future to the interests of working people – firmly and decisively.

    All around us, the world is changing, it’s becoming a more volatile place.

    Revolutions in technology, energy and medicine are reshaping the economy and our public services.

    Climate change is driving global instability, war has returned to our continent.

    Our job is to lead working people through these headwinds, provide the confidence that Britain will be better for their children, bend the future so it delivers the stability, the dignity and the hope they need.

    Congress, a tide has turned.

    The rest of the world is moving on from the outdated ideas our opponents provide, the economic argument which has held back working people is now on the back foot.

    Put simply: people aren’t going to take it anymore. They’ve had enough. You know that.

    When you ask the key questions now: “where does growth come from”, “who is it for”, the Tory answers – they just don’t wash.

    When it’s your interests on the line, your services being cut, your bills and taxes going up, the Tories say – “well, we’re all in this together”.

    But when it comes to protecting their interests it’s – “well, this is just the way of the world”.

    People see through that. 13 years of the Tories, and it boils down to this: one rule for them, another for working people.

    And the prize at the next election, the prize is not just to win, not just to change our country, it’s to put this damaging idea into the ground – for good.

    That’s what my Labour Party – this project – has always been about.

    I’ve always said we have different roles, different ways of fighting for working people – party and movement.

    I was there in 1986, in Wapping, when the police charged the picket, doing my job as a legal observer.

    Everyone who stood in solidarity with the print workers – they were doing their job as well.

    But you know – I remember thinking that night. There’s one institution that isn’t doing its job here – the Labour Party.

    No – because the Labour Party was in opposition, it was on the side-lines. It was impotent and powerless.

    That’s the condition of opposition and I can’t stand it.

    Gary, I know you feel the same frustration.

    Because, just look at the price working people pay for it – the stagnation, the economic pain, the cuts to public services, attacks on working people and this movement.

    In parliament again this week, a bill that takes away your hard-earned, democratic rights.

    Now, I can stand here and say – we will fight it and we will repeal it and mark my words – we will. But this only demonstrates the prize of power.

    The Labour Party is never doing its job when it’s in opposition – that’s our clause one.

    But power must always have a purpose and I accept that the Labour Party did drift away from its fundamental cause of serving working people.

    So I want to be clear – everything I do, all the changes we are making, are in the service of this goal. They are grounded in a new project which understands that the Labour Party can only restore hope in Britain, if we once again become the natural home for working people.

    This is in our DNA. Who we are in it for, who we serve, who we wake up in the morning and fight for, who we have in our mind’s eye when we make decisions, who we back to grow our economy.

    The answer, the only answer, the Labour answer – is working people.

    Friends, my government will work every day to serve their interests – and protect their future.

    This is about respect and dignity and for me, it goes deep.

    My dad was a working man, a toolmaker who worked all his life in a factory.

    He always thought that people looked down on him for that and it weighed him down, chipped away at his esteem.

    There are millions of people in this country today who feel just like my dad did and that’s not good enough.

    I want Britain to be a country where people don’t have to change who they are, just to get on.

    And at the very least – a bare minimum – whoever you are, whatever your circumstances, however you contribute.

    Whether you work for Asda, Amazon or the ambulance service, you deserve respect.

    That’s not just a moral imperative, it’s also a vast spring of potential, ready to be tapped.

    Because when people are respected, when they feel their contribution carries weight, that they are able to bring their whole self to their work, that they are treated fairly and with dignity – then their shoulders lift up, their belief comes back. Hope and pride are restored.

    When I tell you exactly what my Labour Party will do for working people in the prose of policy and rights. I never lose sight of the emotions, the values, the ordinary hopes that sit behind them.

    The dignity and esteem which comes with respect in the workplace – that’s our project.

    It’s a project for carers, the couriers, the ambulance drivers, the supermarket staff, those in the office and those on the factory floor, those working long shifts, night shifts, 9 ‘til 5s, those working part time and those working full time.

    My Labour Party is the party for those who keep us safe, who create the wealth, who make up the backbone of Britain – this is a project for working people, all across our country.

    Congress, those are the people the country clapped for during the pandemic.

    Even the residents of Downing Street found time to stumble into the street to do it.

    But how have they been repaid?

    Just take carers as an example – this is a subject very close to my heart.

    For many of them, every time they had to self-isolate during the crisis, they did so at their own expense, with no sick pay. That’s not on.

    And let me be very clear, those days are coming to an end.

    A country that doesn’t respect care work – is an uncaring country.

    So we will strike a fair pay agreement for every care worker in the country, we will get you round the table, and the deal you make will set a new floor, a higher floor.

    With more progression, more training, more rights, better standards, and yes – fairer pay.

    A fair deal for our carers, that’s what people clapped for, and that’s what Labour will deliver.

    This goes to the heart of the Tories’ failure.

    It’s why we’ve had 13 years of chaos that have left our economy broken.

    They simply don’t get that growth comes from working people.

    And because they don’t understand that fundamental, they can’t provide the secure foundations to build our country’s future.

    To be honest – I’m not even sure they see the problem.

    If the City of London races ahead, while the rest of Britain stagnates. So long as there is a hint of growth on his spreadsheet, Rishi Sunak will claim that’s fine. But it’s not.

    If you leave that many people behind, a nation can’t grow fairly.

    We can’t do it with low wages, you can’t do it with insecure jobs and bad work, with a stand-aside state that doesn’t fight for the future without a proper industrial strategy.

    The average British family is £8,800 poorer than in other advanced economies.

    Economies like France, Germany and the Netherlands. Economies that have better collective bargaining, have stronger workers’ rights, and a fairer share of wealth across their country.

    So we will strengthen the role of trade unions in our society, and, like you, I want to see Amazon and businesses like it recognise unions.

    Nobody does their best work if they’re wracked with fear about the future if their insecure contract gives them no protection to stand up for their rights at work, or a proper safety net doesn’t support them in times of sickness and poor health.

    That’s what Labour’s New Deal for Working People is about.

    That’s why we’ll ban zero hour contracts, extend parental leave, strengthen flexible working, better protections for pregnant women, close the ethnicity pay gaps, fundamental rights from day one, statutory sick pay for all, no more one-sided flexibility, no more fire and rehire.

    For years, working people have been told that good pay, fair work and dignity are the barriers to growth. Well, no more.

    A reformed labour market where we finally make work pay, provide the security denied to working people for decades, that is my mission on growth.

    But, you know, we are not a nation apart.

    The world around us is changing, and changing fast.

    President Biden once said: “when I hear climate change, I think jobs”.

    When Labour sets out our mission for Britain to become a clean energy super power, we are thinking jobs too.

    For too long, Britain has allowed the opportunities of the new energy technologies to pass us by.

    Without a plan, the energy industries that we rely on will wither and decline.

    The Tories think it’s the market doing its job when British industry falls behind.

    It’s not some glitch in their model – it is their model.

    Yet, our allies around the democratic world are waking up to the threat of energy insecurity and the opportunity of economic security.

    Change is coming and yes it can unsettle us.

    But mark my words, on my watch, good jobs – good, union jobs – will be fundamental to that change.

    Decent pay, respect, dignity and fairness, cleaner, safer work, new and better infrastructure for Britain.

    These are the purposes of our party and they are historic prizes that we will win again.

    I won’t pretend that just because a technology is greener that automatically makes working conditions fairer.

    So as new nuclear, battery factories and offshore wind repower Britain, Labour will build strong supply chains that create jobs, skills and decent wages here in Britain.

    We will work with you and with industry to seize the opportunities of hydrogen, carbon capture and storage.

    Our Green Prosperity Plan, like President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, is our plan for growth, and because we are Labour it is a plan for working people, their jobs and their prosperity.

    We will create a new company – GB Energy – and through that vehicle, we will take advantage of the opportunities that we have.

    And because it’s right for jobs, because it’s right for growth, because it’s right for energy independence, then yes, it will be publicly owned.

    GB Energy will be good for Britain and good for business.

    It will have twin goals: leading the way in better jobs and lower bills.

    I am clear-eyed about how tough the challenges that face us are.

    We have all seen what happens when politicians see change as something to stand and stare at in awe.

    When government surrenders working people to the power of the market, when the future comes and people are left behind.

    That is why the next election is so important for the future of working people.

    Holding back the future is no way to growth. But, equally, there is no way to growth that doesn’t involve bending and shaping that future.

    We can create a new business model for Britain.

    One which creates economic security and grows, not just our productivity, but our hope and our optimism.

    Labour in government will work with unions and with industry.

    We will always have a stake, will always have skin in the game, will always see the fight for working people as our driving purpose.

    Because for us, this is personal.

    Together, we will make Britain work better. Together, we will give working people their future back. Together, we will build a better Britain.

    Thank you, Congress.

  • Andrea Jenkyns – 2023 Comments After Commons Report Published that Boris Johnson Knowingly Lied to Parliament

    Andrea Jenkyns – 2023 Comments After Commons Report Published that Boris Johnson Knowingly Lied to Parliament

    The comments made by Andrea Jenkyns, the Conservative MP for Morley and Outwood, on Twitter on 15 June 2023.

    A bad day for democracy. Boris Johnson won a massive democratic mandate and bravely fought for Brexit. Sad to see him go, with findings of a kangaroo court. May the dust settle and he one day return. Wolves be at bay, so he, Carrie & their wonderful family have peace. Thank you Boris.

  • Boris Johnson – 2023 Statement Following House of Commons Report Stating he Deliberately Lied

    Boris Johnson – 2023 Statement Following House of Commons Report Stating he Deliberately Lied

    The statement made by Boris Johnson, the former Prime Minister, on 15 June 2023.

    It is now many months since people started to warn me about the intentions of the Privileges Committee. They told me that it was a kangaroo court. They told me that it was being driven relentlessly by the political agenda of Harriet Harman, and supplied with skewed legal advice – with the sole political objective of finding me guilty and expelling me from parliament.

    They also warned me that most members had already expressed prejudicial views – especially Harriet Harman – in a way that would not be tolerated in a normal legal process.  Some alarmists even pointed out that the majority of the Committee voted remain and they stressed that Bernard Jenkin’s personal antipathy to me was historic and well-known.

    To be frank, when I first heard these warnings, I was incredulous. When it was first proposed that there should be such an inquiry by this committee, I thought it was just some time-wasting procedural stunt by the Labour party.

    I didn’t think for one minute that a committee of MPs could find against me on the facts, and I didn’t see how any reasonable person could fail to understand what had happened.

    I knew exactly what events I had attended in Number 10. I knew what I had seen, with my own eyes, and like the current PM, I believed that these events were lawful. I believed that my participation was lawful, and required by my job; and that is indeed the implication of the exhaustive police inquiry.

    The only exception is the June 19 2020 event, the so-called birthday party, when I and the then Chancellor Rishi Sunak were fined in circumstances that I still find puzzling (I had lunch at my desk with people I worked with every day).

    So when on December 1, 2021 I told the House of Commons that “the guidance was followed completely” (in Number Ten) I meant it. It wasn’t just what I thought: it’s what we all thought – that we were following the rules and following the guidance completely – notwithstanding the difficulties of maintaining social distancing at all times.

    The committee now says that I deliberately misled the House, and at the moment I spoke I was consciously concealing from the House my knowledge of illicit events.

    This is rubbish. It is a lie. In order to reach this deranged conclusion, the Committee is obliged to say a series of things that are patently absurd, or contradicted by the facts.

    First, they say that I must have known that the farewell events I attended were not authorised workplace events because – wait for it – NO SUCH EVENT could lawfully have taken place, anywhere in this country, under the Committee’s interpretation of covid rules.     This is transparently wrong.  I believed, correctly, that these events were reasonably necessary for work purposes. We were managing a pandemic. We had hundreds of staff engaged in what was sometimes a round-the-clock struggle against covid. Their morale mattered for that fight. It was important for me to thank them.

    But don’t just listen to me. Take it from the Metropolitan Police. The police investigated my role at all of those events. In no case did they find that what I had done was unlawful. Above all it did not cross my mind – as I spoke in the House of Commons – that the events were unlawful.

    I believed that we were working, and we were: talking for the main about nothing except work, mainly covid. Why would I have set out, in the Chamber, to conceal my knowledge of something illicit, if that account could be so readily contradicted by others? Why would we have had an official photographer if we believed we were breaking the law?

    We didn’t believe that what we were doing was wrong, and after a year of work the Privileges Committee has found not a shred of evidence that we did.

    Their argument can be boiled down to: ‘Look at this picture – that’s Boris Johnson with a glass in his hand. He must have known that the event was illegal. Therefore he lied.”

    That is a load of complete tripe. That picture was me, in my place of work, trying to encourage and thank my officials in a way that I believed was crucial for the government and for the country as a whole, and in a way which I believed to be wholly within the rules.

    For the Committee now to say that all such events – “thank-yous” and birthdays – were intrinsically illegal is ludicrous, contrary to the intentions of those who made the rules (including me), and contrary to the findings of the Met; and above all I did not for one moment think they were illicit – at the time or when I spoke in the Commons.

    The Committee cannot possibly believe the conclusions of their own report – because it has now emerged that Sir Bernard Jenkin attended at least one “birthday event”, on December 8, 2020 – the birthday of his wife Anne – when it is alleged that alcohol and food were served and the numbers exceeded six indoors.

    Why was it illegal for me to thank staff and legal for Sir Bernard to attend his wife’s birthday party?

    The hypocrisy is rank. Like Harriet Harman, he should have recused himself from the inquiry, since he is plainly conflicted.

    The rest of the Committee’s report is mainly a rehash of their previous non-points. They have nothing new of substance to say. They concede that they have found no evidence that I was warned, before or after an event, that it was illegal. That is surely very telling. If we had genuinely believed these events to be unauthorised – with all the political sensitivities entailed – then there would be some trace in all the thousands of messages sent to me, and to which the committee has had access.

    It is preposterous to say, as the Committee does, that people were just too scared to mention concerns to their superiors. Really? Was Simon Case too scared to draw his concerns to my attention? Was Sue Gray or Rishi Sunak?

    The Committee concedes that the guidance permitted social distancing of less than 1 m where there was no alternative – though they refuse to take account of all the other mitigations – including regular testing – that we put in place.

    They keep wilfully missing the point. The question is not whether perfect social distancing was maintained at all times in Number ten – clearly that wasn’t possible, as I have said very often. The question is whether I believed, given the limitations of the building, we were doing enough, with mitigations, to follow the guidance – and I did, and so did everyone else.

    They grudgingly accept that I was right to tell the Commons that I was repeatedly assured that the rules were followed in respect of the December 18 event in the media room, but they try, absurdly and incoherently, to say that the assurances of Jack Doyle and James Slack were not enough to constitute “repeated” assurances – completely and deliberately ignoring the sworn testimony of two MPs, Andrew Griffith and Sarah Dines, who have also said that they heard me being given such assurances.

    Perhaps the craziest assertion of all is the Committee’s Mystic Meg claim that I saw the December 18 event with my own eyes. They say, without any evidence whatever, that at 21.58pm, on that date, my eyes for one crucial second glanced over to the media room as I went up to the flat – and that I saw what I recognised as an unauthorised event in progress.

    First, the Committee has totally ignored the general testimony about that evening, which is that people were working throughout, even if some had been drinking at their desks. How on earth do these clairvoyants know exactly what was going on at 21.58?

    How do they know what I saw? What retinal impressions have they somehow discovered, that are completely unavailable to me? I saw no goings on at all in the press room, or none that I can remember, certainly nothing illegal.

    As the Committee has heard, officials were heavily engaged in preparing difficult messaging about the prospect of a No-deal Brexit and a Christmas lockdown.

    It is a measure of the Committee’s desperation that they are trying incompetently and absurdly to tie me to an illicit event – with an argument so threadbare that it belongs in one of Bernard Jenkin’s nudist colonies.

    Their argument is that I saw this event, believed it to be illegal, and had it in my head when I spoke to the House. On all three counts they are talking out of the backs of their necks. If I did see an illegal event, and register it as illegal, then why was I on my own in this? Why not the Cabinet Secretary, or Sue Gray, or the then Chancellor, who was patrolling the same corridors at the time?

    The committee is imputing to me and me alone a secret knowledge of illegal events that was somehow not shared by any other official or minister in Number Ten. That is utterly incredible. That is the artifice.

    This report is a charade. I was wrong to believe in the Committee or its good faith. The terrible truth is that it is not I who has twisted the truth to suit my purposes. It is Harriet Harman and her Committee.

    This is a dreadful day for MPs and for democracy. This decision means that no MP is free from vendetta, or expulsion on trumped up charges by a tiny minority who want to see him or her gone from the Commons.

    I do not have the slightest contempt for parliament, or for the important work that should be done by the Privileges Committee.

    But for the Privileges Committee to use its prerogatives in this anti-democratic way, to bring about what is intended to be the final knife-thrust in a protracted political assassination – that is beneath contempt.

  • House of Commons Committee of Privileges – 2023 Report Finding Boris Johnson Knowingly Lied to Parliament

    House of Commons Committee of Privileges – 2023 Report Finding Boris Johnson Knowingly Lied to Parliament

    The report published by the House of Commons Committee of Privileges on 15 June 2023.

    Text of Report (in .pdf format)

  • Rishi Sunak – 2023 Speech at London Tech Week

    Rishi Sunak – 2023 Speech at London Tech Week

    The speech made by Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, at London Tech Week held at QEII Centre in London on 12 June 2023.

    It’s great to be back at London Tech Week at what I think is a moment of huge opportunity.

    We are an island of innovation.

    But at a moment like this, when the tectonic plates of technology are shifting – not just in AI, but in quantum, synthetic biology, semiconductors, and much more – we cannot rest, satisfied with where we stand.

    We must act – and act quickly – if we want not only to retain our position as one of the world’s tech capitals but to go even further and make this the best country in the world to start, grow, and invest in tech businesses.

    That is my goal.

    And I feel a sense of urgency and responsibility to make sure that we seize it, because one of my five priorities is to grow our economy.

    And the more we innovate, the more we grow.

    But this isn’t just about economics.

    Like you, I believe that innovation is one of the most powerful forces for transforming people’s lives.

    And right now, there is an opportunity for human progress that could surpass the industrial revolution in both speed and breadth.

    I believe the UK can achieve this goal because we start from a position of strength.

    We’ve created 134 unicorns in the last decade – third in the world, behind only the US and China.

    We’re one of the most digitally literate societies in the world, with a higher percentage of STEM graduates than the US and 4 of world’s top 10 universities.

    We’ve got extraordinary strengths in Fintech, cyber and creative industries and engineering biology – where from the Crick and the Biobank to DeepMind’s Alphafold we’re pushing at the boundaries of what is possible in health.

    And the UK is the best place in Europe to raise capital with more invested in tech here than in France and Germany combined.

    But today, I want to answer a simple question.

    What’s the single most important reason innovators like you should choose this country?

    The answer is leadership.

    Do you trust the people in charge to really get what you’re trying to do?

    With this government, and with me as your Prime Minister, you can.

    Judge us – not by our words, but our actions.

    It’s this government that’s building the most pro-investment tax regime, that’s increasing public R&D investment to record levels and that’s making our visa system for international talent one of the most competitive in the world.

    We’re overhauling our listing rules to make it easier for companies to raise public funding, and changing our pensions rules to unlock new private capital.

    And we’re changing the way government itself works.

    I created a new department focused on science, innovation, and technology with a mission to do things differently – from bringing in world-leading experts to taking more risks in support of innovation.

    And when the moment came, it was this government that acted to rescue Silicon Valley Bank.

    So today, I’m proud to announce the launch of HSBC Innovation Banking the most significant global tech bank combined with HSBC’s firepower and headquartered here in the UK.

    And of course, it’s the UK where Google chose to bring together its entire AI division under the leadership of a Brit – Demis Hassabis – at Google Deepmind.

    And if our goal is to make this country the best place in the world for tech AI is surely one of the greatest opportunities before us.

    As Chancellor, I doubled the number of AI scholarships because even back then I recognised the potential of AI as a general-purpose technology.

    Now, with most things in life, the more you learn about them, the less magical they appear but the more we learn about frontier technologies like AI, the more they widen our horizons.

    Already we’ve seen AI help the paralysed to walk.

    And discover superbug-killing antibiotics.

    And that’s just the beginning.

    Combined with the computational power of quantum we could be on the precipice of discovering cures for diseases like cancer and dementia or ways to grow crops that could feed the entire world.

    The possibilities are extraordinary.

    But we must – and we will – do it safely.

    I know people are concerned.

    The very pioneers of AI are warning us about the ways these technologies could undermine our values and freedoms through to the most extreme risks of all.

    And that’s why leading on AI also means leading on AI safety.

    So, we’re building a new partnership between our vibrant academia, brilliant AI companies, and a government that gets it.

    And we’ll do that in three ways.

    First – we’re going to do cutting edge safety research here in the UK.

    With £100 million for our expert taskforce, we’re dedicating more funding to AI safety than any other government.

    We’re working with the frontier labs – Google DeepMind, OpenAI and Anthropic.

    And I’m pleased to announce they’ve committed to give early or priority access to models for research and safety purposes to help build better evaluations and help us better understand the opportunities and risks of these systems.

    Second – AI doesn’t respect traditional national borders.

    So we need global cooperation between nations and labs.

    Just as we unite through COP to tackle climate change so the UK will host the first ever Summit on global AI Safety later this year.

    I want to make the UK not just the intellectual home but the geographical home, of global AI safety regulation.

    And third, we’re going to seize the extraordinary potential of AI to improve people’s lives.

    That’s why we’re already investing record sums in our capability including £900 million in compute technology and £2.5 billion in quantum.

    And we’re harnessing AI to transform our public services from saving teachers hundreds of hours of time spent lesson planning to helping NHS patients get quicker diagnoses and more accurate tests.

    AI can help us achieve the holy grail of public service reform: better, more efficient services.

    So this is our strategy for safe AI:

    To lead at home; to lead overseas; and to lead change in our public services.

    All part of how we meet our goal of making this the best country in the world for tech.

    And let me just conclude with this final thought.

    I was recently looking through a collection held by the British Library.

    And I saw a letter from Charles Babbage to the then-Chancellor, dating from the 1830s thanking him for funding his difference engine – the forerunner of the modern computer.

    That was a decisive moment.

    The British government broke with the conventions of the time, and for a decade, backed this breakthrough technology.

    We’re at a similar moment today.

    And I’m determined that when future researchers visit the British Library in 200 years’ time they will discover that this government, and all of us here in this room met this moment with the same courage, vision, and determination.

    Thank you.

  • Claire Coutinho – 2023 Speech to the National Day Nurseries Association Conference

    Claire Coutinho – 2023 Speech to the National Day Nurseries Association Conference

    The speech made by Claire Coutinho, the Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing, on 9 June 2023.

    I have spent a large chunk of my career working out how we can help families and give children the best start in life. I first started working with disadvantaged children when I was about 16, and I’ve continued doing that throughout my career.

    The evidence is very clear. The earliest years are the most critical stage of child development, something that everyone in this room knows. That’s the time when young children are learning most rapidly. It’s the time that’s going to shape the people that they become, and that doesn’t just happen by chance. The early education and care that you provide in nurseries across the country, that I go and see every week, is supporting those children in their critical years and also allowing their parents to continue work and earn money which helps them develop their own lives and careers.

    One of the best parts of my job is going on those visits. I see all of your passion and dedication in practice. I get to spend time with children that I may have found to be my intellectual equals in life, and they are absolutely wonderful. Seeing all the things that you do is such an inspiration.

    But young children can be many things. Even the most adoring parents will admit that they’re not always easy. It takes hard work to steer the next generation and yet that is our generation’s biggest task. I have nothing but admiration and respect for the endless patience, kindness, encouragement and expertise that I see that you provide for children in your care. I’m incredibly grateful for the work that you do.

    I know the past few years have been challenging, which is an understatement. During the pandemic, it was nurseries that opened quickest after the first lockdown. You stayed open, getting on with the job of providing excellent education and care. I don’t think you can ever be thanked enough for this. I saw this myself as a constituent MP, just how important it was. Not only to make sure that people could go to work in the NHS, I’m the only person in my family that doesn’t work for the NHS, but also making sure that children got that vital education that they needed.

    I also know just how hard recruitment and retention is at the moment. It’s one of the things that I hear the most when I go out and speak to all of you. And that finding and developing the staff – those talented, qualified staff – that is crucial for you to deliver the high quality care your children and parents need.

    Supporting the early years sector and those who work in it is a priority for me, it’s a priority for this Government. But obviously don’t take my word for it. In the Spring Budget, we set out a commitment to the early years sector. The Chancellor pledged that by 2028, we would double our spending on childcare – aiming to spend more than £8 billion every year on those vital early years. That will fund the 30 hours of childcare per week for eligible working parents of children from nine months old, right to when they start primary school.

    It is the single biggest ever investment in childcare in this country. And it’s in part thanks to the work of many people in this room, including Purnima and the NDNA, who I would just thank you so much for everything that they’ve done to campaign on this issue, make sure that it’s a hot political issue, make sure that we well understand the challenges that you face. I thank you all for everything that you’ve done on that basis.

    But we heard loud and clear that those plans will come to nothing if we don’t make sure that you’ve got funding and support you need to deliver this offer.

    So we will be spending an extra £4 billion a year by 2028. From September, we’re going to provide £204 million of extra funding to local authorities to increase the hourly rates they pay you now, and we’re going to make sure these rates go up each year. So that means in September, the average hourly rate for two year olds is going from £6 to £8 – a 30% increase. The average three to four year old rate will be going up 7% year on year, this year. And from 24/25, which will be the first time that a rate will kick in for under twos, that will be £11 an hour.

    Before the end of the summer break, and one of the reasons that I’ll be going back for those meetings, we will be confirming the September rates for each local authority for 2023, so you can have some certainty on that. I’ll be asking you for views on how we distribute the funding for the new entitlements from April 2024, including the rules that local authorities will have to follow when distributing the funding to providers.

    One of the things that comes up in my conversations with managers is concerns about top slicing. I know that access to SEND funding can also be a challenge. That’s something else which I’m passionate about – I also have special educational needs in my brief. We’re looking at the situation really closely to make sure we get that balance right in how the money flows to providers and ultimately to the children your care.

    But of course money isn’t everything. I’ve heard from so many people working in and managing nurseries that there are parts of the Early Years Foundation Stage framework that stop you from making the most effective use of your staff. For instance, are you able to give your best people the responsibilities that match their abilities? That’s why the first thing that I wanted to look at is how to give you more flexibility and address some of those barriers while maintaining the high level of quality that you’re working so hard to provide. We’ve been engaging with lots of you to do this. That’s why we launched a consultation on changes to a range of Early Years Foundation Stage requirements.

    We’re suggesting removing the requirement from level three staff to have level two maths to count within ratios. Now I’m an out and out maths nut, and you won’t find a greater champion for the subject than me, apart from possibly the Prime Minister. But this is about pedagogy and feedback that we’ve had in our conversations with you and the sector, and educational experts, suggest that the level two maths requirement doesn’t necessarily reflect the skills needed to support children’s early mathematical development.

    You may have seen last year when we did the £180m Early Years Recovery Fund, we put in place some programmes for continued professional development (CPD) around early years numeracy and I’m very interested in that model, but we think removing the level 2 requirement for ratios could help the staffing situation and ease some of the pressure, make sure that you’re getting the right skill sets the right points.

    Another thing that we’re looking at is the qualification requirements for ratios not applying outside of peak hours to give you flexibility on how you use staff across the working day and relieve pressure for hours outside of core learning, where level two or level three knowledge might not always be needed, to focus your time and education expertise during core hours. We’re also consulting on the rules around percentage of level 2 qualified staff per ratio. Leaders do often tell me that some of their best people often don’t have level two or level 3 qualifications. Of course, it’s important to raise standards across the board, but we also want to give you some flexibility so you can put your best people in roles where they can make the most difference.

    There are many other proposals in the consultation and every single one of them has come from conversations with you held at my level across the Department. But we want to hear more. The deadline for responses is the 26 June – just under 7 weeks from now. I would love if as many of you as possible, go online and tell us what you think.

    We’re also running a consultation engagement event with the NDNA in the next few weeks, so do keep an eye out for that. Again, we really want to hear from you. The approach we’re taking following this consultation as we move forward will reflect on what we hear from you because it’s your expertise that will make it a success.

    Some of these new measures will also help free staff up to pursue their own professional development. We have an Early Years Education Recovery Programme, some of you will be familiar with that, which offers a package of training qualifications, guidance and targeted support for everyone working in the sector. And that includes opportunities from NPQs in early years leadership and professional development programmes, to the Experts & Mentors Scheme and Online Child Development Training. We know we need more graduates – I’m very concerned and looking at ways that we can create different routes in for people. We’re also training up 5,000 Early Years Special Educational Needs Coordinators. I know we’ve had huge appetite for that and it’s one of the things that gets raised with me a lot when I go and speak to nurseries.

    I recently visited a specialist early years setting for children with SEND in Berkshire, and the parents told me there that  the support that they’re providing is a lifeline with them. I could also see how transformative it is for those children if they can get that specialist support at the right time in life. This funding will help us carry on supporting those parents with getting the right diagnoses. I know that it’s a massive challenge and it’s something which is a huge priority for me and for the Government at the moment.

    All those training opportunities are brilliant, but the only way we’re going to get more people trained up is to get more people in. You all know why you work with a sector. I know there’s been some challenges, but everywhere I go when I meet people, they tell me how rewarding and wonderful it is. That’s why we’re going to go full steam ahead next year with the national campaign to promote the sector, support the recruitment and retention of talented staff. I’d love to hear from all of you about the things that you’d like to see us talk about at the national level on that.

    And finally, I just want to acknowledge the hard work done by Purnima and her colleagues at the NDNA. They have been pushing for a government-backed recruitment campaign for some time. We are going to work very closely with you on how to design that. The NDNA’s ‘First Five Years Count’ campaign is an excellent platform for us to build off, but we want to learn all the lessons that you’ve seen to make sure that we can make this a success.

    So we’ll be working closely with you and others and we’re going to consider how else we can support you. This is the time to do it. We now have childcare and early years right at the top of the political debate. So as we roll forward with these plans over the next few years, there’ll be lots of opportunities for us to talk and work together. That’s why I’m going to spend as much time as possible travelling up and down the country, visiting as many of you as possible. That’s why I want my officials to get out and visit settings. If you don’t know where the DfE people are, could you all stick your hands up? Right. So if I’m not here, please go and tell these people everything that you think we need to know. That’s why I’m here today.

    All I want to say is please, please, continue to talk to us. We really care about this area.

    Thank you so much for having me.

  • Rishi Sunak – 2023 Opening Remarks at the White House

    Rishi Sunak – 2023 Opening Remarks at the White House

    The opening remarks made by Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, in the United States on 8 June 2023.

    Thank you, Mr President –

    Before I begin my remarks – a word if I may on what happened in France this morning.

    All our thoughts are with those affected by this unfathomable attack, including a British child and with their families.

    I’ve been in touch with President Macron.

    And we stand ready to offer any assistance that we can.

    Mr President, Joe, it’s an honour to be here at the White House and thank you for your warm welcome.

    Not for decades has the relationship between our two nations been so important.

    The values we share – our belief in freedom, democracy, and the rule of law – have never changed.

    They never will.

    But what has changed, are the challenges we face.

    And standing here together, as our predecessors have done for generations…

    …I feel confident that through the strength of our relationship…

    …we can shape the world once again in our pursuit of liberty, prosperity, and the possibilities of a new age.

    That begins with our highest priority – national security.

    Last time I was here in the US, we signed AUKUS – the most significant defence partnership in generations.

    Because we recognise that the security of the Atlantic and Pacific regions are indivisible.   And just a fortnight ago, in Hiroshima, President Biden and I stood with President Zelenskyy and our G7 allies in a powerful display of unity.

    The UK is proud of our contribution – including providing tanks, long-range weapons, and training Ukrainian soldiers.

    But let no one doubt: US leadership and resources are the decisive contribution allowing the forces of democracy and freedom to prevail.

    As I said in Congress, and I say again now to President Biden – and to the American people – thank you.

    And just as we collaborate to protect our national security – so we must increasingly do the same to protect our economic security, on which our prosperity depends.

    Countries like China and Russia are willing to manipulate and exploit our openness…

    …steal our intellectual property, use technology for authoritarian ends, or withdraw crucial resources, like energy.

    They will not succeed.

    Today we have agreed the Atlantic Declaration – a new economic partnership for a new age, of a kind that has never been agreed before.

    Yes, a partnership that protects our citizens.

    But more than that, …a test case for the kind of reimagined alliances President has spoken so eloquently about.

    That means new investment.

    This week alone, £14bn of new American investment has been committed into the UK, creating thousands of jobs.

    It means stronger supply chains, with a new action plan on clean energy.

    And it means reducing trade barriers in the technologies of the future.

    With a new, secure UK-US Data Bridge – helping tens of thousands of small businesses.

    An agreement to work towards mutual recognition of more professional qualifications in areas like engineering…

    And we’re launching negotiations on a new Critical Minerals Agreement.

    Once concluded, this will give UK companies stronger access to the US market.

    And we’re building on our extraordinary, shared strengths in cutting edge future technologies…

    …with joint research collaborations in areas like quantum, semiconductors, and AI.

    And our job as leaders is to ensure that this technological revolution makes us more secure and not less.

    Last week, the pioneers of Artificial Intelligence warned us about the scale of the challenge, as well as the opportunity.

    The US and the UK are the world’s foremost democratic AI powers.

    So today, President Biden and I have agreed to work together on AI safety, including multilaterally.

    The UK looks forward to hosting the first global summit on AI safety, later this year.

    So that we can seize the extraordinary possibilities of this new technological age – and do so, with confidence.

    And we are well placed to do so.

    I know some people have wondered what kind of partner Britain would be after we left the EU.

    I’d say: judge us by our actions.

    We’re as committed to our values as ever, as reliable an ally as ever, as attractive an investment destination as ever.

    But we’re changing, too.

    We’re strengthening our relationships not just with old friends like America and in Europe…

    …but with new friends in the Indo-Pacific, too.

    And we now have the freedom to regulate the new technologies that will shape our economic future – like AI – more quickly and flexibly.

    That is the future we are creating in Britain – confident, proud, and free.
    Let me close, with a personal reflection.

    As Joe mentioned, he and I have seen quite a lot of each other in recent months. I gather our wives have even started to take spin classes together.

    We were talking earlier about our hometowns.

    Joe is very rightly proud of Scranton.

    And I was telling him a bit about Southampton in England, where I’m from.

    Not everyone knows this, but it was in a church in Southampton where…

    …in the days before he set sail for these shores…

    …that John Winthrop first spoke about his dream of building a city on a hill.

    And that reminds us that the relationship between our two nations is unlike any other.

    Our alliance is so strong because it is not abstract – it is rooted in our people.

    And it’s never been about our history alone, but our ability to grasp the future.

    We share the same beliefs, pursue the same purpose, and act according to the same ideals.

    And that’s why today, as we meet the challenges of our time, we can depend upon each other with absolute conviction.

    When the United States and the United Kingdom stand together, the world is a safer, better, and more prosperous place.

    That’s why ours is the indispensable alliance.

    Thank you.

  • Robert Halfon – 2023 Speech to the Times Education Summit

    Robert Halfon – 2023 Speech to the Times Education Summit

    The speech made by Robert Halfon, the Minister for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education, at the Times Education Summit held at News UK in London on 8 June 2023.

    Good morning, and thank you for that introduction.

    I was honoured to be asked to take part in the Times Education Commission in 2021, to consider questions such as the purpose of education, and how it should interact with social and economic institutions. I returned to government last autumn, to discover there was still quite a lot of work to be done! But it was also gratifying to see reforms from my first term as Skills Minister bearing fruit, some of which support elements of the Commission’s recommendations. As I will describe, we are now getting serious about technical education to 18, with the continuing roll-out of T Levels. And I am determined that pupils will have earlier and earlier opportunities to see industries and occupations up close. They need to understand the world of work as something to build towards, rather than encounter it abruptly at the end of their schooling.

    Anyone who knows me knows I’m a huge admirer of JRR Tolkien.

    The best known Tolkien apprentice is of course Samwise Gamgee, an apprentice gardener in Lord of the Rings. I want to frame my thoughts using another Tolkien story that is less well known, Smith of Wootton Major.

    It features a character called Alf, an apprentice who receives both good and bad training in the village of Wootton Major. Though he receives three years excellent training, when his master departs the villagers do not trust him to take over. ‘He had grown a bit taller, but still looked like a boy’ – and was not one of their own. Instead, an idle and incapable local man is appointed as Master Cook of the village, who spends his tenure taking credit for the apprentice’s work and talking down to him. Alf’s talent is wasted on absurd tasks like stoning raisins. I won’t tell the whole story, but eventually Alf assumes his rightful position and the older man has a comeuppance of sorts. Finally, Alf is revealed to have understood all along something fundamental to the nature of the office of the Master Cook, something that only the true master could have passed down to him.

    What is the relevance of this story to today’s apprentices? Well, quite a lot actually. An appreciation of skills education, and how it’s perceived by those who haven’t acquired it. The skills required to become a Master Cook are underestimated by the villagers, who choose a bad trainer for Alf.

    Examples of good and bad training – how an apprentice can be expertly trained in just three years, but side-lined and given little responsibility because of his obvious youth.

    The tacit acknowledgement of his trainer that the apprentice has something to offer, but also reluctance that he should get the credit for their work.

    It’s a good parable for modern times. For too long, the acquisition of vocational and technical skills has been undermined. It is not respected in the same way that academic education is.

    I have always found this a false hierarchy. We will always want to know the names and types of fishes, how they spawn and miraculously breathe through gills. But in every generation, people must also be taught how to fish.

    That’s why I’ve always argued we need more skills-based post-16 education. And that is what we’re now doing.

    You may have heard about my Ladder of Opportunity. It is not just a slogan but a way of thinking about what we need as a country, to create a skills system that supports people of all backgrounds up the ladder into secure and well-paid employment.

    The Ladder has 2 pillars:

    Opportunities and social justice, and strengthening Higher and Further education.

    These aren’t just two slogans slotted into a framework. They are fundamental and interconnected.

    On the one side, Higher and Further education need to do a lot more collaboration.

    The Lifelong Loan Entitlement, which I’ll come to later, will help to bind these strands together.

    Both Higher and Further education cannot be said to be truly succeeding as a meritocratic endeavour, until the opportunities they bring are distributed widely, to everyone who can make use of them – but particularly to those who need them most.

    When the most disadvantaged groups in our society are finally taking-up their fair share (or more) of university courses, apprenticeships and other technical education places, that is when the system will be at its strongest – nurturing talent wherever it is found, rather than just the talents of those who happen to find it. That is when Further and Higher education can truly be said to be serving social justice.

    And that is the lens through which I see all the work we’re doing to bolster skills education in this country.

    The first rung on the Ladder of Opportunity is careers guidance and information. We cannot hope to change attitudes about skills education unless it is seen as a route to progression. And it needs to be considered much earlier in school than the adolescence afterthought it’s been recently. Evidence shows that pupils start to develop stereotypes that can limit their educational and occupational aspirations at a very young age. That’s why we’re funding a £2.6 million programme to target 2,250 primary schools in the most disadvantaged areas. Running until March 2025, it will inspire pupils to consider the world of work, drawing positive role models from a range of industries and sectors. The aim is to raise aspirations, challenge stereotypes, and help children link their learning to future jobs and careers. Teachers will be supported with professional development and resources to continue delivery beyond the programme.

    At the same time, our ASK programme is raising older pupils’ awareness of the benefits of apprenticeships and T-levels. And through the Skills and Post-16 Education Act 2022, we have strengthened the provider access legislation, known as the Baker Clause. We now stipulate that every school must provide pupils with a minimum of six education and training provider encounters. We are working with The Careers & Enterprise Company to support schools to comply, and will take tough action where there is persistent non-compliance.

    Overall, we invested around £100 million in 2022-23 in careers provision for young people and adults. It’s money that I’m determined we will continue to spend in a focused, meaningful way.

    The second rung on the Ladder of Opportunity is about championing apprenticeships and the skills employers need. Apprenticeships are at the heart of this government’s skills agenda. They are about widening the skills pipeline to drive economic growth, and bringing paid opportunities for progression to those who may not otherwise choose further training.

    Our aim is that every occupation should have a quality apprenticeship attached to it. That is why we moved from apprenticeship frameworks to standards. These are carefully designed in partnership with industry, in order to truly serve their utility for the employer and their value for the apprentice. There are now accredited routes to over 660 occupations, from entry-level to expert.

    To support the creation of more of these opportunities, we are increasing funding to £2.7 billion by 2024-25. In 2021-22, we spent 99.6% of the £2.5 billion apprenticeship budget handed down to us by Treasury. And despite what you may hear, it isn’t being spent on MBAs, which we removed from the Level 7 Senior Leader standard in 2021.

    70% of all apprenticeship starts are at Levels 2 and 3 [2021/22 AY], and young people under the age of 25 make up more than half of all starts. But we still want older people to consider apprenticeships among their options to retrain or return to work. Hence our ‘returnerships’ initiative, announced in the Budget, to encourage adults over 50 to consider these routes back into training and employment.

    Degree apprenticeships are the crown jewel within our offer. Or to Tolkien fans, the Faery star. They combine the best of vocational and academic education at some of our best universities. They hold particular value for students from disadvantaged backgrounds, giving them knowledge, training and industry insight in one complete package. That last point is particularly valuable if you lack personal connections in the area where you want to work – those invisible career foundations that you only notice if you don’t have them. Degree apprentices earn while they learn, but don’t pay tuition fees like other students. It is so important we promote these routes to those who could benefit most: young people whose social and financial position currently deters them from degree-level study.

    There are now almost 160 apprenticeships offered at degree level. And contrary to what sometimes is misreported, they’re not all in management. Degree-level apprenticeships prepare students for careers in the Police, nursing, aerospace engineering – and, yes, even journalism. There have been over 185,000 starts on these prestigious courses since their introduction in 2014. They’ve made up 16% of all starts so far this year [August 2022 -Feb 2023], with numbers up 11% compared to the same period last year – building on year-on-year growth.

    There is much more to do to meet rising demand – and to spread the word to build demand still further. We’re working with higher education institutions to increase both employer vacancies at degree apprenticeship level, and applications from young people. We’re providing an additional £40 million to support providers to expand degree apprenticeships over the next two years, and to help more applicants access these incredible opportunities.

    While raising apprenticeship standards, we saw a gap at Level 3: a qualification to prepare students for skilled work at 18 that also provided a solid foundation for further study or training. The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education worked with employers, providers and industry experts to identify what such a qualification would look like, and the different progression routes that could follow-on from it. In 2020 we introduced T Levels, a new gold standard in technical education. These courses have a rigour gives them parity with A levels, and include a meaningful 9 week placement in industry. This reflects my belief that students should be shown the workplace well before the age of 18, to build understanding of its expectations and their own aspirations. Oldham College has been among the first to offer Supporting Adult Nursing and Supporting Midwifery T Levels, providing an incredible pipeline for the future local healthcare workforce.

    We will have made £1.6 billion of extra funding available for 16-19 education by the 2024-25 Financial Year [compared to 2021-22]. This includes up to £500 million for T Levels each year, once they’re fully rolled out in 2025.

    The fourth rung of the Ladder of Opportunity is lifelong learning.

    So far, my focus has been on young people, and those at the beginning of a career. But the latter can of course include people who want to switch careers later on, a move we want to encourage to help the working population keep pace with the shifting labour market. To support people to study and retrain for better employment, the Lifelong Loan Entitlement will unify Higher and Further education finance under a single system. From 2025, financial support equivalent to 4 years post-18 education (£37,000 in today’s fees) will be available to use over the whole course of a working life. Crucially, this can be drawn down in modular increments to build qualifications over time. This flexibility will enable older learners to fit their study around life events and daily commitments. Like getting on and off a train, they will be able to alight and board their post-school education when it suits them – building qualifications at their own pace, rather than being confined to a single ticket.

    I want the Lifelong Loan Entitlement to signify an inclusive change in how we view skills education, and the pace at which we acquire education in general. The name suggests to me (as I hope it does to you) that education has no finish line. That your fate is not cast in stone by the age of 25. It may also encourage young people to get some experience of work that interests them, rather than go straight to university, in order to inform the use of their finance allowance.

    And while I have great respect for the history, traditions, and academic excellence of Oxford and Cambridge, we need to get away from this obsession with using it as a benchmark for everything else. Instead of talking about the Oxbridge of skills education, people should be pointing to colleges like Loughborough, Oldham and universities like Staffordshire. They are serving students exceptionally well, fitting them for good jobs and great careers. Their degrees give students what they need to propel them up the Ladder of Opportunity. And yet they are not among the bywords for a ‘good’ education – the age-old establishments that served many of the people in this room. Those who value education on outcomes, rather than reputation, should seek to change this.

    I’ll finish by returning to my favourite Oxford professor, who could write with insight about the misconceptions that surround skills education. His apprentice heroes defied low expectations.

    Samwise Gamgee not only helped Frodo deliver the Ring to Mount Doom. He was eventually elected Mayor of the Shire seven times, and became an advisor to the King.

    And Alf, the apprentice of Wootton Major, is finally revealed at the end of the tale be the Elven King of Faery himself.

    Tolkien once said that true education is:

    “A matter of continual beginnings, of habitual fresh starts, of persistent newness.”

    We want more and more people to build the skills needed for good employment in this age of ‘persistent newness’ – skills for new and shifting industries, that business leaders are crying-out for.

    Successfully matching high quality training with the talent found in all walks of life will not only enhance our country’s skills and economic profile. It will allow people to truly thrive at work and in their communities.

  • Stuart Andrew – 2023 Speech at the English Football League Annual Conference

    Stuart Andrew – 2023 Speech at the English Football League Annual Conference

    The speech made by Stuart Andrew, the Sports Minister, on 8 June 2023.

    It is a pleasure to address all 72 EFL clubs today.

    You represent much more than 90 minutes on a pitch – you are the beating hearts of your communities and part of the fabric of our national identity.

    I want to start by thanking you for the incredibly positive impact that you have on the local communities you serve.

    This is underlined by the “EFL clubs and their Club Community” report published earlier this year.

    I was pleased to attend the launch of that report and enjoyed hearing from individuals who have led, supported, and benefited from the incredible work you do in local communities.

    I was also pleased to hear of the EFL’s partnership with the British Red Cross in which you are working together to tackle loneliness in our society.

    It was a fitting and timely intervention ahead of Loneliness Awareness Week taking place next week.

    This Government is proud to support the EFL.

    We have supported your work in the community, providing the English Football League Trust with £1.3 million through the Loneliness Covid-19 Fund, to make onward grants to its Football Club Community Organisations in 32 deprived locations across England, with the aim of connecting older people at risk of loneliness.

    Supporting the pyramid is crucial and this Government has already committed to invest £300 million of funding to support grassroots multi-sport facilities across the UK by 2025. This is a key element of the Government’s upcoming sport strategy which will be published shortly.

    This year is a significant one for English Football.

    I am absolutely delighted to be backing our bid to bring EURO 2028 to the UK and Ireland.

    Our incredibly inspiring and talented Lionesses, the reigning European Champions, will be taking on the world at the FIFA Women’s World Cup this summer.

    The recent success of the Lionesses has accelerated interest in the women’s game, with more people now watching, attending and playing women’s football than ever before.

    The Review of Women’s Football which we launched in September and is being Chaired by Karen Carney, is looking at how to deliver bold and sustainable growth of the women’s game at elite and grassroots levels.

    This was the first recommendation taken forward from the independent Fan Led Review, and I look forward to seeing the findings published this summer.

    And of course, we started this year by publishing our Football Governance White Paper in response to that Fan Led Review.

    This included the groundbreaking commitment to establish a new statutory and independent regulator for English football.

    Despite the phenomenal success of football at home and abroad, we have seen too many examples of the devastating impact the failure of a beloved club can have on a local community.

    Since the Premier League was created in 1992, there have been 64 instances of clubs collapsing into administration.

    Historic clubs have been lost, taking with them chunks of our history and heritage, and leaving huge holes in their communities.

    Bury Football Club was one example. A club that, just a few years ago, would have sat alongside you at today’s conference.

    Over its proud 134-year history, Bury managed to survive world wars and countless economic cycles. But it was driven to the wall by financial mismanagement, which damaged the local economy and left behind a devastated fan base.

    But I am pleased to say that a vote to unify Bury FC and Bury AFC passed last month and Bury Football Club will be playing once again at Gigg Lane next season!

    But it is not just Bury that has been affected.

    The same is true of Macclesfield Town, another century-old club, and Rushden & Diamonds. Countless others, such as Derby County, have been driven to the brink after stretching far beyond their means.

    And we know there are a number of clubs across the EFL that are in real distress today.

    This is where our proposals for an Independent Regulator come in.

    The Regulator will have a clear focus, centred on ensuring that English football is financially sustainable and resilient for the benefit of fans and the local communities football clubs serve.

    The Regulator will operate a licensing system for all clubs in the top five tiers of English football.

    The Regulator will be independent of industry and Government. This will be set out in law.

    The model we have set out is proportionate and flexible, allowing English Football to continue being a global-success story, while tackling harms where they exist.

    Where clubs are already well run and risks are low, the Regulator will not look to intervene unless necessary, nor will the Regulator impose an extra layer of requirements to burden clubs with.

    Under the Regulator’s regime…

    We will legally strengthen the owners’ and directors’ tests, to protect clubs and their fans.

    These new tests will reduce the likelihood of unsuitable custodians.

    We will give fans more of a voice on the running of their clubs.

    This will include stopping owners from changing vital club heritage, such as names, badges and home shirt colours, without approval from the fans.

    Likewise, clubs will have to seek regulator approval for any sale or relocation of the stadium, and fan engagement will be a crucial part of that process.

    And we will give the Regulator the power to block clubs from joining closed-shop breakaway leagues, such as the European Super League.

    We want a thriving football pyramid, and more money must flow through the game to make this happen.

    On financial distribution, it remains our firm belief that the best solution is a football led one. If one is not found the Regulator will have a backstop power to intervene and force a solution.

    I am optimistic that discussions between the Premier League and EFL will find a solution on this urgent issue.

    I am hopeful that the resolution will be found soon. I would urge both sides to reach a deal as soon as possible. It is in the game’s interests to avoid the risk of further financial uncertainty.

    In short, we are protecting the long-term success of our national game, and restoring fans’ position at the heart of how football is run.

    Since the publication of the White Paper in February, we have been consulting with the football industry on our proposals.

    This is a crucial step in ensuring that we develop effective regulations that deliver positive outcomes for football, while minimising the harms identified in the game.

    I would like to thank the EFL and many of its member clubs for your support throughout this process as we look to further develop and refine our policy.

    The Government intends to publish its response to this initial period of consultation in the coming weeks.

    This will represent the latest step in our ongoing commitment to support, promote and protect the national game, as well as ensuring that fans are placed at the heart of it.

    We remain committed to bringing forward legislation when parliamentary time allows.

    I would like to finish by encouraging you to continue progressing with your valuable work in communities across England and Wales, as well as moving forward with much needed reform.

    Fans were able to have a major say in this White Paper. Football does not need to wait for an Independent Regulator to be in place before it can introduce improved governance practices. You can act now!

    I want to finish by thanking the EFL for inviting me to speak at this year’s Annual Conference. I thank Rick and Trevor for their continued engagement on these important issues.

    I appreciate our continued collaboration and look forward to hearing the outcome of discussions from the panel session.

  • James Cleverly – 2023 Speech at the OECD’s Ministerial Council Meeting in Paris

    James Cleverly – 2023 Speech at the OECD’s Ministerial Council Meeting in Paris

    The speech made by James Cleverly, the Foreign Secretary, in Paris on 7 June 2023.

    Good morning Ministers, Ambassadors, Friends, Colleagues.

    Welcome to today’s OECD Ministerial Council Meeting. Our theme “Securing a resilient future: shared values and global partnerships” is both timely and important.

    I’m honoured to represent the UK as chair of this year’s meeting.

    And we have put together an ambitious, forward-looking agenda that addresses our most serious and immediate concerns.

    The global pandemic demonstrated the importance of resilient and diversified supply chains and trading systems. Climate change and the loss of biodiversity are serious problems for all of us.

    Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine threatens to upend the international order and that is why it is so important that it must fail and that our friends in Ukraine must win.

    I have just returned from Ukraine, from Kyiv, and I saw a country under arms, I saw a country defending its sovereignty and territorial integrity. But I also saw a country defending the principles that underpin peace, security and economic development in the post-war era. That is why our support to them must endure and that is why their success must be guaranteed.

    The OECD is well positioned to promote unity between allies and to encourage a coherent response to the acute and long-term issues that we face.

    Today’s Ministerial Council Meeting is special, is unique. We have opened our discussions to non-members and we’re honoured by the participation of a wider range of global voices. And our agenda addresses their shared concerns and priorities. And we will have better discussions as a result of their participation.

    This year opens a new chapter in the OECD’s commitment to the Indo-Pacific. Underpinned by our new Strategic Framework, we all recognise the region’s importance for global growth, critical supply chains, digital transition and resilience, and, of course, climate action.

    But we must not ignore the challenges that we face today.

    Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is always at the forefront of our minds. And we must support Ukraine to win, and we must support its recovery efforts once it does. And we look forward to hosting the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London in a few weeks’ time.

    This war continues to imperil the world’s economy by disrupting global supply chains and unleashing a wave of inflation driven by high fuel and food prices. And vulnerable countries now face severe risk of food insecurity and, in some instances, famine.

    So we must work closely together to strengthen global economic resilience to current and future shocks. And the OECD has the right policy tools and the right analysis to support these efforts. And we’re promoting supply chain resilience, better international tax rules, climate action, and, of course, gender equality.

    We should remember that free markets offer the best and quickest route to prosperity. And gender equality is best advanced through free markets. Free trade inevitably benefits service industries and small business. And not only are they the life blood of local communities as well as national economies, they also disproportionately employ women. And so, therefore, freer trade disproportionately benefits women and when women are empowered socially and economically, everybody wins.

    And my colleague, Kemi Badenoch, the UK Business and Trade Secretary, will explore how smart trade and investment policies can deliver global economic resilience and stimulate growth.

    We often say that a rising tide raises all boats. Probably more accurate to say that a rising tide can lift all boats, and we need to work together to ensure that it does.

    Our world is changing rapidly. New technologies offer people across the globe new freedoms, greater access to knowledge, better opportunities economically.

    Artificial Intelligence-enabled technologies diagnose disease; virtual learning helps students who would otherwise be excluded from education; improved access to renewable energy will power our clean energy transition.

    But technology also has the potential to undermine our safety, undermine our security, and undermine our democratic values. So we must address the risks by working together to ensure technology is designed, developed and deployed, and governed ethically, safely and reliably, so that we can harness the advantages and mitigate the risks.

    The OECD Global Forum on Technology, which the UK is proud to support alongside Spain and the United States of America, had its inaugural meeting yesterday, chaired by my good friend and colleague Chloe Smith. And the Forum will find opportunities and mitigate the challenges of immersive technologies, quantum and synthetic biology.

    Innovation ushers our societies towards new frontiers. It unlocks previously inconceivable improvements.

    It will be central to ensuring we can adapt to environmental change and cut greenhouse gas emissions.

    And our discussions on Future Frontiers and Energy Futures will explore these issues in more depth, and I look forward to hearing the outcome of the panel chaired by my colleague Grant Shapps, Secretary of State for Energy and Net Zero.

    The International Energy Agency and the OECD are highly regarded thought leaders in this field and that’s why it’s great to have Director-General Dr Fatih Birol and Secretary-General Mathias Cormann on the panel, alongside the Minister from Sweden.

    All our fortunes depend on a stable and peaceful international order. By working together we give ourselves the best chance to create an environment where everybody can prosper.

    The OECD is a cornerstone of the multilateral order. We are a community of like-minded members, committed to free markets, to democracy, to the rule of law, to free trade, to human rights, to sustainability, to gender equality, and, of course, to fairness. These are the values that have brought us together today.

    So let this meeting renew our commitment to global partnerships, to extend the reach of the OECD, and, by doing so, to build a prosperous future trade for the whole world.

    It is a genuine pleasure now to take the opportunity to invite the Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal to say a few words on behalf of Ukraine.

    Thank you.