The statement made by the Labour Party on 1 June 2023.
These are incredibly serious allegations of completely unacceptable behaviour.
We strongly encourage anyone with a complaint to come forward to the Labour party’s investigation.
Any complainant will have access to an independent support service who provide confidential and independent guidance and advice from external experts throughout the process.
The speech made by Lucy Frazer, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, in London on 18 May 2023.
Good morning,
Today I want to set out my reflections on three key parts of my portfolio as Culture Secretary.
They are Potential. Opportunity. And Freedom.
That is:
Unlocking the potential that exists in the industries my department represents, including the creative industries
Ensuring DCMS and Government as a whole support and create opportunities for young people.
And highlighting the challenges to press freedom and identifying the principles by which we need to resolve those challenges
Before I turn to these thoughts I want to talk about delivery
As you will know we have a Prime Minister who is laser-focussed on delivery.
And he appointed me 100 days ago to deliver
On a number of projects that affect our communities
And I have taken that challenge to deliver very seriously.
And in that time I have brought to fruition a number of previous commitments
These include:
A draft media bill with reforms to level the playing field for our public service broadcasters
A Football White Paper to protect our beautiful game
A Gambling White Paper that delivers for the smartphone age
Millions of pounds to support Youth facilities across the country
100m to support our charities and 60m to upgrade our swimming pools
An international summit setting out our opposition to Russian and Belarusian participation in international sporting events
As well as working with my department, the Royal Family and the BBC to deliver the coronation and the events surrounding it as well as Eurovision, where we worked closely with Liverpool
And now that I’ve delivered on these commitments , I want to lay out a clear agenda for the months ahead.
One centred around potential, opportunity and freedom.
And I wanted to start by telling you a story about a brilliant woman called Yetta who understood the importance of freedom, opportunity and potential.
Her parents were Russian, and came to our free country as refugees fleeing persecution.
And despite a number of potential drawbacks of that age – being Jewish, the child of immigrants and a woman.
She succeeded.
Yetta ignored obstacles.
And focussed instead on the opportunity she had been given to be brought up here in the UK and in her very own extensive potential.
My grandmother, Yetta Frazer, became the first female barrister in Leicester and practised at the bar until she was 80.
And on every visit I made to see her, she reminded me of a line in a poem by Robert Browning.
‘A man’s reach should exceed his grasp, Or what’s a heaven for.’
It’s a line about believing in your ability to succeed and taking advantage of the opportunity to realise your potential.
It totally summed up her life
and it is my guiding principle in this role.
I think my Department – gets to represent some of the very best of Britain.
Musicians and songwriters like Adele and Ed Sheeran. World-class footballers.
Budding young writers and producers, video game creators and fashion designers.
To my mind, DCMS is the Department for talent and opportunity.
And our industries are truly world-class.
I represent so many companies that have understood their potential and done everything possible to maximise it.
Taking just 2 examples from companies here in this room.
Sky who launched in 1989 in a prefab structure in an industrial park on the fringes of west London.
Today Sky is among our leading entertainment companies, with 23 million subscribers.
Or Netflix who were founded as a mail order rental firm in the 90s and have evolved into a business that has spent £4.8bn in the UK since 2020 making TV shows and films here and kickstarting long-term studio leases at Shepperton, Longcross, and a new London HQ opening last year.
Indeed our creative industries are world class. They generated £108 billion in 2021 and employ over two million people across the country.
And to put things in perspective they are worth more than our life sciences, automotive manufacturing, aerospace and the oil and gas sectors combined.
We are in the global age of the silver screen.
We rival any country in the world at sound and visual effects, and are on track to double UK film stage space by 2025.
And the world over, there is demand for high-end British productions not just because of our fantastic actors and our great locations, but because of our tech know-how and production skills.
The imagination of our designers, our producers, our content creators, our writers and artists is spearheading growth right across our economy.
But it’s also owed, in-part, to how the Government and industry have worked together to back talent in this country and make Britain one of the best places in the world to be creative.
And I am here to continue to maximise that growing potential.
This Conservative Government has shown what can be achieved when we work with and listen to all of you working in industry.
It is that same model of public-private partnership that gave us:
A world-class vaccine development programme and rollout across the country.
A £1.5bn covid relief package during Covid that helped protect our cultural and creative industries.
A highly successful Film and TV Production Restart Scheme that ensured the industry was able to keep making great new content despite the lack of commercial insurance to cover Covid risk
And tax reliefs that have been a huge catalyst for growth for our creative industries.
I have no doubt that we in Government can do more to support our creatives.
But we cannot simply rely on the formula for that past success.
We face increasing global competition and we cannot afford to be complacent.
By turbocharging growth and investment in sectors like video games, visual effects, music, fashion, film and television and more, we can retain our status as a creative industries superpower for decades to come.
In order to do that we need to maximise potential. So I am committing to:
Growing the creative industries by an extra £50bn by 2030.
Creating a million extra jobs – all over the country – by 2030.
And delivering a Creative careers promise that builds a pipeline of talent into our creative industries. And I want to work with you to deliver it.
And I know we can. Because we are fortunate to have a PM and Chancellor who have identified this sector as one of 5 priority sectors for Government.
And who have shown their commitment by taking action to support the industry.
At the Budget the Chancellor backed our theatres, museums, galleries, orchestras, film, High-end TV and video games sectors by extending and reforming tax reliefs that create jobs, drive growth and support talent.
Over the next few months we will be identifying how we can go further.
First – growing these sectors by promoting skills from primary school children to those returning to the workforce.
Whether that is in music at school or extracurricular activities, and working with the creative sector on maximising the opportunities of bootcamps and apprenticeships.
Secondly we want to harness talent in clusters across the UK and support cannot be at the expense of London or detract from those places that are already thriving.
It needs to build on what we have already seen across the country. Whether that’s video games in Dundee and Leamington Spa, or TV in Birmingham and Leeds.
And thirdly, targeting specific support at different sub sectors, to unlock growth across the UK.
And now I would like to turn to opportunity. Particularly for young people.
Because we need inspired, empowered and creative young people to drive these industries forward in the future
And I want to ensure that young people, wherever they are, and whatever their backgrounds are, have the opportunity to realise their potential, to fulfil their dreams, and reach, like Yetta did for something better than the probable destiny of their background.
Before taking up this role in DCMS I was responsible for youth justice and met many young people who had, unfortunately, gone down the wrong path.
None of them intending or really wanting to.
I remember meeting John, who had struggled at school, then dropped out of school, and then been sent to a young offenders institution.
He said to me ‘I don’t understand why no-one realised I was struggling and needed help, why no-one noticed me’.
Through a mentoring support scheme, after he came out of prison he got back on track.
And he himself became a mentor for other young children.
We already have the National Youth Guarantee but I plan to expand that offer and make youth central to how we do things, as a Department.
We need to offer all young children inspiration, aspiration, fulfilling education, hope and support.
And finally freedom.
As the descendant of someone who had to flee persecution for freedom, I appreciate what it means to live in a free society, and how dangerous it is when those freedoms are threatened.
Organisations in this room today play a vital role in protecting both our democracy and our freedoms.
We often talk about freedom of the press, but the reality is that it’s you, the media, who are helping protect the freedom of others.
You who live up to the words of George Orwell, inscribed by his statue outside BBC Broadcasting House that ‘If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.’
I recognise this basic right is under threat across the world.
The New York Times chairman told Unesco earlier this month that ‘All over the world, independent journalists and press freedoms are under attack.’
And he was right.
You only need to look at the Russian arrest of a Wall Street Journal journalist to see that.
I know that the challenges to free, fair and truthful reporting are coming from so many quarters: from the potential misuse of AI to mis and disinformation.
And that is without even mentioning the speed of the changing media landscape.
Staying competitive in a rapidly changing environment is a challenge for everyone. Challenger companies like BuzzFeed and Vice that were once the new kids on the block, are facing uncertain futures.
As a government we are taking steps to increase press freedoms and make sure journalists can do their jobs effectively.
With measures like the protection of public service broadcasters and prominence in the draft media bill and our commitment to the repeal of section 40 or the protection of journalists in the online safety bill, we are actively guarding your ability to uphold the rights of others.
If we want a thriving media sector in the future – our focus has to be on a free press and a press that is free to grow.
I know that is a major focus of your discussions today – looking at what the future looks like for companies big and small.
And through our draft Media Bill we are updating a decades old regulatory framework to level the playing field and help guarantee the long term future of those first class Public Service Broadcasters.
While also giving a broadcaster like Channel 4 even greater freedoms to produce, own and sell outstanding British content across the globe.
No Government has all the answers to all the challenges the media faces, but what I can promise you is that my approach will be guided by the following principles.
Protect our public service broadcasters.
Stand up for independent voices.
And nurture a thriving media landscape which upholds and champions fearless truth telling.
To finish, I want to end with a thought.
Last Saturday I enjoyed seeing the amazing cultural programme organised by Liverpool as the host city for the Eurovision Song Contest which showcased Ukrainian artists. And I also celebrated with 7,000 others in the Liverpool arena at the Grand Final.
Creative excellence, TV production at its finest, world class BBC output.
I was sitting next to the Ukrainian culture minister.
As the show started Russia bombed Ukraine. He turned to me and said ‘it’s surreal.’ He looked around at the glitter, the spectacle and the sparkle. And said ‘I am here. And my wife is in a bomb shelter in Ukraine.’
Here in the UK we are lucky to have it all. Potential. Opportunity. Freedom.
And we must embrace it.
Because as my grandmother would have said, ‘what’s a heaven for’?
The opening remarks made by Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, in Iceland on 16 May 2023.
Addressing a huge crowd on the streets of Strasbourg in 1949 Winston Churchill, one of the founding fathers of this Council spoke about “le génie de l’Europe.” [the genius of Europe]
He was talking about what makes our continent so successful, the values of freedom, democracy and the rule of law.
The same spirit we’ve seen again and again that led Vaclav Havel to broadcast his messages of freedom during the suppression of the Prague Spring, that brought down the Berlin Wall and that leads Ukraine to defend its sovereignty with such valour, inspiring us to stand with them all.
The Council of Europe has nurtured that spirit for three quarters of a century.
And it must do so again now.
Because today, we are facing the greatest threat to democracy and the rule of law on our continent since before the Treaty of London was signed.
With Russia waging a war of aggression on European soil, and China growing in assertiveness the world is becoming more contested and more volatile.
The challenge to our values is growing.
And the moment to push back is now.
Democracies like ours must build resilience so that we can out-cooperate and out-compete those who drive instability.
That’s why we’re working so closely with our friends across Europe through the G7, NATO, the Joint Expeditionary Force, the European Political Community and with a welcome new tone in our relations with the European Union.
Friends, the UK may have left the EU, but we have not left Europe.
We remain a proud European nation.
And we must work together to defend the values we all hold so dear.
The Council of Europe, with its huge reach, has such a vital role to play.
And we need to think about how this Council should react to the realities of today.
We showed great purpose in expelling Russia last year – acting decisively together within days of the invasion.
Let’s bring that dynamism to the issues before us now. And let’s send a message from this hall, loud and clear that we will stand by Ukraine for as long as it takes.
We will hold Russia accountable for the horrendous war crimes that have been committed.
And we must also learn the lesson of this war – by being prepared to confront threats to our societies before they become too big to deal with.
That includes acting on cyber security and AI and it means tackling illegal migration.
The moral case for action is clear.
We can’t just sit back and watch as criminal gangs profiteer on people’s misery.
Illegal migration exploits the most vulnerable. It risks crowding out those with a genuine case for asylum. And it strains the trust that our citizens have – not just in our domestic borders, but in the international system.
That’s why so many of us are already acting at the national level. And why we need to do more to cooperate across borders and across jurisdictions and to end illegal migration and stop the boats.
The Council already plays a vital role but I urge leaders to consider how we can go further.
Because we know what we can achieve together. Just look at this Council’s extraordinary legacy: protecting human rights, abolishing the death penalty in Europe, supporting media freedom and championing democracy across Central and Eastern Europe after the Cold War.
So let’s take heart from that, and keep rising to the many challenges before us, true to our enduring values and certain that, as Churchill went on tell the Strasbourg crowd, the dangers before us are great… but great too is our strength.
Thank you.
The speech made by Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the Minister for the Indo-Pacific, at Lancaster House in London on 16 May 2023.
Sir Ben, thank you and thank you, Viktorija. Thank you to the Council on Geostrategy for bringing us together today through this lens of the First Sea Lord’s annual conference to discuss those challenges of maritime security in its many guises in this growing and challenging global environment.
Good morning to all of you here, and I know also a wider but equally august crowd online. It’s always great to see Lancaster House being put to good use in bringing great minds together from military, academic to industrial leadership…. As well as you may have noticed, the pomp and ceremony it was part of for the coronation just a few days ago.
It is always a pleasure to welcome – and I know I am allowed to say this, I asked permission first, my mother is French, so I’d like to particularly welcome our French colleagues and Admiral Vandier to the place where the Lancaster House Treaties have been negotiated over decades.
As an island nation and a global trading power, the UK is constantly focused on the seas and oceans, and as James mentioned, we’ve been doing it a long time – since Queen Elizabeth the First we have made use of the global waterways for our prosperity, and have been leaders in ensuring we can defend them for our security, but also for the peace and freedom of many others.
Day to day, as over a third of the UK’s food is imported, the protection of maritime trade routes has a direct effect on all our daily lives – and perhaps we don’t do enough to ensure that our citizens really understand the importance of the Royal Navy’s daily workload.
Globally, 3 billion people rely on the sea for their food security: more than ever, this now brings new levels of challenge around responsible stewardship of the marine habitats that sustain us all, with the need for protein which nations with growing young populations need.
So as we provide leadership in the protection of sustainable ocean habitats, we are also charged with supporting those smaller nations for whom defending and protecting their EEZs, – their exclusive economic zones, which sovereign states under UNCLOS have sovereign rights over to explore and use their own marine resources.
This is proving less than straightforward when faced with those large distant fishing fleets who don’t share or respect their responsibilities.
In my recent visit to the Philippines, I was struck by the existential threat felt from the gangs of Chinese militia boats gathered overfishing overfishing shoal waters, leaving local fishermen under daily threat.
The maritime domain is under increasing pressure from systemic competition, driven by those resource needs, and is facing levels of threat and coercion not seen since World War 2. I believe that its therefore right to say we are genuinely entering a ‘new maritime century’.
The reality is that maritime protection needs have never gone away, but rather that we have should always have remained focused on the maritime.
With constrained defence budgets, and post the fall of the Berlin Wall, which perhaps brought a naïve assumption of peaceful times ahead, followed by land wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the maritime has been quietly getting on with its job without as much attention as it needed.
Our Royal Navy continues to make us proud as the great guardian of our nation’s security near and far, and is respected and welcomed around the globe by our friends and allies. The expertise and trust which others share in our sailors continues to be a powerful deterrent to those who would flout the laws of the sea.
The Royal Navy guards our national security and wider maritime stability – the leading European nation in NATO, bringing our Continuous At Sea Deterrent submarine enterprise to the defence of all, and forging the alliances and partnerships around the world that make us all safer and protect our ways of life.
The threats we face today and in the years ahead may seem diverse and indeed far away, but they are all interconnected. It is vital if we are to continue to maintain freedom of navigation both for
that we build and deliver multi-pronged strategies.
Threats to global supply chains, the militarisation of the seas, and the erosion of global norms like freedom of navigation are more real than perhaps many of our UK citizens can imagine in our calm European waters.
The degradation of fish stocks, and the precariousness of maritime livelihoods has the potential to wreak havoc with many nations’ basic ability to feed their people. The fair management and sustainable harvesting of the sea’s resources is critical to maintaining peaceful, thriving communities.
The region which poses the greatest opportunity but also risks to UK interests is the Indo-Pacific.
For too many here in Europe, this seems far away and can be ignored in favour of those urgent tactical crises much closer to home, in Ukraine. But that misses the point of the indivisibility of the Euro-Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific to global challenges.
So to ensure it is those opportunities which prevail, rather than the risks of disturbed or broken sea lanes and the safety of maritime sovereignty, our naval colleagues all need to work together to ensure the Indo-Pacific remains stable and free together.
This is why the Indo-Pacific is at the heart of our long-term foreign policy strategy, as we restated in our Integrated Review Refresh published in March – it is crucial to sustaining free trade, freedom of action, and freedom from coercion.
Sixty percent of global shipping passes through the region, for which stability there has a direct impact on households and businesses right here. When I am trying to explain to constituents what this all means, why I am on a plane half of my life going to visit countries very, very far away, I try and set it out by saying that it is about the goods we purchase every day, from your washing machine to the prawns in the supermarket. They come by ship through the South China Seas and those wider sea routes. If those routes become blocked, or unsafe for civilian shipping, the economic shocks would be dramatic.
Beyond the present dependencies, more than half of global growth is projected to come from the Indo -Pacific by 2050, so we need to ensure the UK is right at the heart of the region’s successful future – so we must be alive to the threats, working with allies to counter them, so that in concert our businesses and people can maximise the UK’s interests and opportunities.
The Indo-Pacific, beyond its growing potential to be an economic powerhouse, is also full of potential for clean energy resources, and the UK wants to be able to continue to bring our world leading expertise in clean energy, from wind to nuclear, to support and help to build sustainable business growth and livelihoods.
So in our agreements and partnerships with nations from Vanuatu to the Republic of Korea, from Bangladesh to Indonesia, the UK is focused on bringing our expertise to support positive impacts in coastal communities, alongside building expertise in marine science, and sharing educational resources.
But all of this depends on ensuring that the maritime environment for all these Indo-Pacific countries is safe and free from coercive shipping which would restrict their potential in their own waters.
The UK government’s £500 million Blue Planet Fund is an important part of our leadership on marine issues, supporting developing countries to protect the environment and reduce poverty. It is one of the tools in our armoury to deliver the challenges set out in the Integrated Review Refresh, to tackle biodiversity loss, to halt and reverse plastic pollution, and to protect 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030.
This is work which we will deliver most effectively working with our key naval partners, especially through our Anglo-French alliance set on an even stronger course after our recent Anglo-French summit. These are tough targets because the oceans always have the power to surprise.
As with so many coastal regions, the North Sea – alongside my constituency’s 64 mile border in the North of England – can be both friend and foe. It’s giving us vast new resources of sustainable offshore wind power, but ferocious storms and the coldest climate in the country. Storm Arwen ripped through my patch in November 2021 and we are even now only starting to see normality resume with the opening of the National Park this spring after forestry was devastated.
The ferocity of Storm Arwen took everyone by surprise. But it was nothing compared to that which hit Ukraine last year, as Russia illegally invaded a sovereign neighbour. And whilst NATO and many other nations from around the world are doing all we can to support the Ukrainian war effort and their humanitarian needs, we should not overlook the maritime challenges the Ukraine crisis has created.
Economically, a secure, stable Black Sea is essential not only to rebuild Ukraine’s future, but because it is the sea lane which provides a vast proportion of the grain and fertiliser needs of East Africa and beyond.
The world needs those exports from the ‘breadbasket of Europe’ to resume and stabilise, alongside Ukraine’s need to deliver to the world for its own economic success. Trade and security go hand in hand, and it’s our navies who defend and ensure these flows of goods can continue safely.
We should also be much more comfortable in confronting the fact that the strategic link between maritime security in the Euro-Atlantic and in the Indo-Pacific are indivisible.
Where Russian actions flout the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, this provides China with an excuse also to disregard international norms, to ignore the rules-based international system for their benefit, destroying the option of a free and open Indo-Pacific for all.
So as we approach the NATO summit in Vilnius – I know we’re joined by Admiral Gilday and Rear Admiral Skoog Haslum this morning – the increasingly strong demonstration of defence in the Baltic, to deal with the urgent tactical situation we face, needs to demonstrate the capability and intent of those of us determined to defend free, safe and open global waters.
The NATO partnership, through our transatlantic bonds, are keeping more than a billion citizens secure. But the rest of the world’s oceans and seas do not feel free and open to too many of the Indo-Pacific countries I visit week in week out as the UK’s Indo-Pacific minister.
So the UK, as a committed global maritime partner, is finding new ways to bring our expertise and support to the region. Perhaps the most challenging, exciting and long-term is AUKUS, a trilateral agreement to create an arc of defence and deterrence for the Indo-Pacific.
AUKUS demonstrates how longstanding partners can come together to tackle the new threats. Together with the US and Australia, we are going to build a new global and interoperable nuclear-powered submarine capability, that will not only support a free and open Indo-Pacific, but will also strengthen UK contribution to NATO in Europe.
AUKUS will create that next generation of expert engineers, welders, logisticians, programme managers, data analysts, regulators, and machinists to mention but a few, who will be building these new boats, alongside the need for growth in the number of submariners serving in the Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy, with an extensive skill set needed to safely operate nuclear-powered submarines – and we will maximise our impact by creating a shared workforce.
This will bring new well-paid jobs for whole life careers for a growing workforce in Barrow, Plymouth, Rosyth and Faslane in the UK, alongside whole new workforces in Adelaide and Perth in Australia. This is not without its challenges, and the UK has a leading role to play in ensuring that our commitment to this huge military programme of work is a national endeavour here in the UK.
AUKUS submarines are part of Australia’s defence programme, but the Royal Navy and the UK’s submarine industrial enterprise will be critical to their success. Not since JFK’s determination to put a man on the moon, and NASA’s all encompassing national focus – where even the cleaners believed they were integral to the success of the project – has there been such a challenge to our industries and education systems.
Our universities and schools need to have AUKUS at the heart of their STEM programmes, so that every young person in school today has the chance to choose a lifetime career which is part of AUKUS:
but perhaps most importantly, to be part of the commitment by the UK to grow the capabilities of our allies to defend their backyard, to keep the Indo-Pacific free and open, so that those nations who cannot defend themselves know that the AUKUS family is alongside them.
I hope that, by laying the groundwork with our partners now, by investing in the solutions of the future, the threats from Indo-Pacific nations who demonstrate coercive behaviours in those waters, will understand that the UK stands firmly alongside our Indo-Pacific neighbours to weather any storms.
We must not turn away.
What we must do – given the scale of the challenge – is to come together, in partnership with friends old and new, to deter and defend against threats to maritime stability, and to ensure our strategic advantage in the maritime domain.
Interoperability with our allies will be a core source of strength. Interchangeability will make us stronger still.
Navies need to combine their power with diplomatic support, while our diplomatic efforts need to amplify our willingness and capacity to protect our collective interests, whether in home waters or across the world.
The Navy’s Maritime Domain Awareness Programme is our gold standard for using our security expertise to build trust, partnership and capabilities, including with Middle Ground countries under pressure from revisionist states.
Strong deterrence and joint working are its watchwords.
And so my call to action today is to take the long view. It’s for an end to the ‘seablindness’ that can creep into an ever more complex foreign policy, and for a look into foreign policy priorities in every aspect of the processes of naval planning.
Ultimately, it’s our combined commitment to bring together our collective wisdom, listening to those few with deep expertise in delivery of maritime security through decades of confrontations under our oceans.
These challenges are not new, but ensuring success requires that we all lean in to deliver on our commitment. And the rationale for AUKUS is because the Indo-Pacific is a really huge expanse of water. We need more submarine capability providing deterrence in the only stealth environment remaining, across these vast areas.
We will only deliver the pace needed if we make this a national endeavour. If we don’t get our deterrence posture right, coercion could become aggression all too quickly.
But if we do, we can assure the security and prosperity not only for my constituents, but for all those who are banking on us.
Thank you.
The statement made by the Metropolitan Police on 24 May 2023.
Understandably there has been extensive comment on this case in the media and on social media.
Now that an individual has been charged, I would ask that the judicial process be respected and allowed to take its proper course.
Sections of the article written by Gordon Brown, the former Prime Minister, which was published in the Guardian on 23 May 2023.
This week the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, used the meeting of the Council of Europe to intensify her call for a “dedicated tribunal to bring Russia’s crime of aggression to trial”, citing two options: a tribunal based on a multilateral treaty under which a group of countries like the council of Europe agree to act in unison; or a special hybrid court founded on both Ukraine’s own domestic crime of aggression and international law.
Such a tribunal, which would be vetoed by Russia at the United Nations security council, could be mandated by a majority vote of the 193 members of the UN general assembly which could charge Putin with planning to invade Ukraine starting in 2014 when his troops descended on Crimea.
Whatever happens, August will represent a fork in the road. Either Putin attends the Brics summit, risking arrest, or by staying away he exposes his fear of being arrested. Whichever outcome, a line will be crossed.
The speech made by James Cartlidge, the Minister for Defence Procurement, at the Sea Power Conference held at Lancaster House in London on 16 May 2023.
It’s a great pleasure to be here and even to those like me with no naval background, Sir Henry Leach needs no introduction.
It is a great honour to have been asked to deliver this lecture in his name, especially with his daughter Henrietta here in the audience.
With many distinguished guests, colleagues and of course senior chiefs and indeed from our many allies around the world – it’s a great pleasure to meet and see all of you.
During the Falklands conflict, as Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s so-called “knight in shining gold braid”, Sir Henry played a pivotal role in ensuring the Iron Lady stuck to her guns and secured freedom for the islanders.
Yet as we prepare to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Battle of the Atlantic next weekend, we shouldn’t forget that Sir Henry’s early years were spent as a midshipman and later First Lieutenant in the stormy seas of the Second World War.
Indeed, he had been assigned to serve on HMS Prince of Wales until his father Captain John Leach was given command of the ship.
Tragically, Captain John went down with his ship just two days after the pair had enjoyed a gin sling and swim together.
Despite such tragedy, Sir Henry distinguished himself in the war and as a junior lieutenant, was in charge of one of the 14-inch gun turrets in the battleship Duke of York which helped sink the German battlecruiser Scharnhorst off the North Cape in December 1943.
There can be little doubt that such formative experiences helped shape the character and resilience of the man who went onto become First Sea Lord.
A man who, when asked for his view on whether or not to send a taskforce to the Falklands, replied firmly: “It is not my business to say whether we should or not, but if we do not, if we pussyfoot in our actions and do not achieve complete success, in another few months we shall be living in a different country whose word counts for little.”
On the surface 2023 appears to have very little in common with 1943.
Yet, as Royal Navy and Allied warships sail to the Mersey ahead of three days of Battle of the Atlantic commemorations, it is striking how many of those challenges from Leach’s early wartime experiences remain relevant for us.
We might not be at war but we find ourselves once more having to confront the resurgence of state-based dangers.
President Putin is blockading trade in the Black Sea, threatening the undersea cables which support everyday life and increasing activity in the South Atlantic.
And just as in the Second World War, the threats are truly global.
We see, for example, in the South Pacific, that China is continuing to expand its Navy while using its military and economic might to intimidate its neighbours.
Again, much like the Battle of the Atlantic, we know these maritime challenges – coupled with the diverse dangers of terrorism and global criminal networks – will unfortunately endure.
Because the world is more dependent than ever on the oceans.
Global financial markets dependent upon tens of thousands of miles of underwater cabling.
90% of UK trade is carried by sea.
And climate change is expected to raise the stakes – resulting in new sea lanes and accessible natural resources in the High North as temperatures rise and ice caps melt.
So, Sir Henry would not be surprised to find his beloved Royal Navy more in demand than ever.
Over the last year, our ships have been all over the world.
Supporting NATO in Eastern Europe, leading exercises and training Ukrainian sailors in mine clearance.
Operating in the High North alongside partners in the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF).
And conducting numerous weapons and drugs busts in the Gulf region.
All the while, demonstrating the very best of naval soft power around the globe with HMS Tamar and Spey visiting some 15 countries, delivering medical support to Pitcairn and emergency support to Tonga after the devastating volcano.
And who could forget the poignant role they have played at home? With 140 naval ratings pulling the Queen’s coffin through Westminster on the day of her funeral.
As well as those who marched through the streets of London in the King’s coronation processions earlier this month.
So to those of you here today – and indeed all those who couldn’t make it – thank you for doing your duty for our country.
However, the Sea Power Conference is not an arena for self-congratulation.
As you all know our challenge now is to move our thinking on from the past and present to the future.
None of us has a crystal ball. But here’s what we do know.
We know the threats are growing.
We know that rising demand is colliding with tighter budgets.
And we know, in Sir Henry’s words, that, “effective deterrence involves maintaining a high state of readiness, being well equipped and trained, and deploying wherever and whenever the situation demands.”
How, then, can we reconcile these competing objectives?
To my mind we must borrow three lessons from the Battle of the Atlantic.
Lesson one is about strengthening that key stakeholder our industrial base.
In the Second World War, our force depended on the enormous power of our sovereign industries.
With great yards on the Clyde, Mersey and Tyne churning out mighty warships at a rate of knots.
Now, we’re determined to reinvigorate the famous British maritime sector.
Not just so we can produce the hard power required to succeed in this more dangerous era.
But so the sector itself becomes a kind of soft power deterrent – showing our adversaries that our small island has the capability to keep making battle-winning ships for as long as it takes.
And we’re going to achieve that by providing industry with a clear demand signal – with a fresh pipeline of cutting-edge vessels coming in over the next 30 years including Dreadnoughts, Astutes, SSN-AUKUS, Fleet Solid Support ships and next-generation frigates.
By working much more closely with suppliers, giving them the confidence to invest and upskill in the right areas.
And by helping them win commercial and export orders in major new global markets.
The totality overall demand or demand signal is something I’ve thought about and will do much more in future as Procurement Minister.
We’re also supporting the next generation of shipwrights by investing in training programmes and skills academies.
With the likes of Babcock, BAE and others as they put apprentices and graduates through their paces around the country.
Ensuring we have a powerful on-shore advanced manufacturing skills base for decades to come, so that the Royal Navy always has the firepower it needs to carry out its plans.
Lesson two is about encouraging innovation across the sector.
The advent of radar and sonar helped swing the Battle of the Atlantic our way in days gone by.
But today, technologies are advancing at a frightening pace.
AI, for example, is already revolutionising the way data and satellite imagery is informing decision-making in battle, while also enabling forces to carry out dangerous missions with uncrewed aircraft, vehicles and ships.
If we don’t stay ahead of the curve there is a risk that vessels designed in 2023 could be obsolete in ten years’ time frankly a lot less.
Part of that is about integrating new technologies onto existing platforms.
And this is where NavyX comes in, the team with the mission to get new technologies from the drawing board to the frontline as quickly as possible.
And to help them do that, they’ve got the new and unique Experimental Vessel Patrick Blackett.
Named after the former sailor and Nobel Prize winning scientist, Patrick Blackett provides the safe environment we need to test all the game-changing ideas coming over the horizon.
Now we just need to make the most of it.
By working with the regulator to unlock the maximum potential of Patrick Blackett and future technology.
While adapting our existing platforms in the here and now, to ensure we stay one step ahead of our adversaries.
Which brings me onto my third and final lesson. The importance of partnerships.
Sir Henry wouldn’t have got far in the Battle of the Atlantic without the support of allies like France and later the US and Canada.
As we are seeing today in Ukraine, great partnerships are still a great capability in their own right.
And this year we’re also celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Polaris Sales Agreement.
A major part of one of the most enduring bilateral relationships in history, it saw the US supplying us with our very first nuclear missiles, heralding the start of the ultimate deterrent which has kept us safe from the most extreme threats ever since.
The truth is that while our adversaries lack allies they can trust, we are part of a large family united by values we’ve fought and died to protect – Freedom, justice and a commitment to democracy.
And as the dangers around us grow, we’re seeing a renewed commitment to NATO across the board.
That’s why, here in the UK, the Navy is making a substantial commitment to NATO’s New Force Model – including our Carrier Strike Group – in addition to regular contributions to NATO operations.
But we’re also operating on a smaller multi-lateral level, ramping up our collaboration with our partners in the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) which is the 10-nation coalition aiming to preserve peace in Northern Europe.
Over the last year, the JEF has been at the forefront of providing military, economic and humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
Joint patrols, led by the British Type 23 frigate HMS Richmond, have been joined by Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian, and Danish ships, supported by Swedish and Danish fighter aircraft.
And last year we held Exercise Cold Response near Norway, one of the biggest exercises in Europe since the end of the Cold War.
We’re also strengthening our partnerships beyond Europe.
In the Indo-Pacific, which we all know is one of the main strategic chokepoints in the world, we are persistently operating two ships to reassure allies and partners, while helping to uphold freedom of navigation in the region.
By 2030, our five new Type-31 frigates will further enhance our global reach.
And at an industrial level, the T-26 continues to garner interest in the export market, having already been selected for the Hunter class frigate programme in Australia and the Surface Combatant programme in Canada.
But you and I know there is much more we can do.
And one of my priorities will be to make sure we get even more out of our international ties both at an operational and industrial level.
The three lessons I’ve outlined today – strengthening industry, encouraging innovation and bolstering partnerships – are embodied in what is our most powerful partnership of the last few decades – AUKUS.
AUKUS is not just creating thousands of skilled jobs here in the UK, strengthening our industrial base.
And it’s not just enabling the sharing of skills and expertise as we break new ground together on cutting-edge designs.
But, crucially, it’s uniting three great allies as we work together to protect our common interests.
That is the benchmark for the kind of deals we’re looking to make in the coming months and years.
So, as I’ve said, we’re living at a dangerous time.
A period of rising dangers.
But some things have not changed.
Our maritime power is as important as it has ever been.
So we must do everything we can to enhance Sir Henry’s great legacy through industry, through innovation and through international partnerships.
We must continue to channel his great willpower and his great belief in the values that underpin our daily lives.
Because, if we do not, the warning he gave to Mrs Thatcher still holds true; “We shall be living in a different country whose word counts for little”.
The statement made by James Cleverly, the Foreign Secretary, on 14 May 2023.
I welcome the announcement of a ceasefire between Israel and militant factions in Gaza, brokered by Egypt. The ceasefire must now be honoured to prevent the loss of further civilian life.
The UK will support all efforts to promote dialogue and create a pathway towards sustainable peace.
The statement made by Chris Philp, the Minister for Crime, Policing and Fire, in the House of Commons on 9 May 2023.
The coronation was a once-in-a-generation moment, a moment of national pride and a moment when the eyes of the world were upon us. It was a ceremony with roots over a millennium old, marking a renewed dedication to service by His Majesty the King in this new reign. The coronation went smoothly and without disruption. I thank the 11,500 police officers who were on duty alongside 6,500 military personnel and many civilians.
Today, Commissioner Mark Rowley has outlined the intelligence picture in the hours leading up to the coronation. It included more than one plot to cause severe disruption by placing activated rape alarms in the path of horses to induce a stampede and a separate plot to douse participants in the procession with paint. That was the context: a once in a generation national moment facing specific intelligence threats about multiple, well-organised plots to disrupt it. The focus of the police was, rightly, on ensuring that the momentous occasion passed safely and without major disruption. That was successful. All plots to disrupt the coronation were foiled by a combination of intelligence work and proactive vigilant policing on the ground. I would like to thank the police and congratulate them on that success.
At the same time, extensive—[Interruption.] Wait for it. At the same time, extensive planning ensured that protests could take place. That was also successful. Hundreds of protesters exercised their right to peaceful protest, including a large group numbering in the hundreds in and around Trafalgar Square. Where the police reasonably believed they had grounds for arrest, they acted. The latest information is that 64 arrests were made. I will not comment on individual cases or specific decisions, but the arrests included a person wanted for sexual offences, people equipped to commit criminal damage with large quantities of paint, and arrests on suspicion of conspiracy to cause public nuisance, often backed by intelligence. The Met’s update last night included regret—to use its word—that six people arrested could not join the hundreds protesting in Trafalgar Square and nearby. The Met confirmed that those six people have now had their bail cancelled with no further action.
The police are operationally independent and it is primarily for the Mayor of London to hold the Met to account, but let us be clear: at the weekend officers had to make difficult judgments in fast time, in a highly pressured situation against a threatening intelligence picture. I thank the police for doing that, for delivering a successful a coronation and for enabling safe, peaceful protests.
The speech made by Anne-Marie Trevelyan, a Minister of State at the Foreign Office, on 9 May 2023.
Thank you, Juan-Lucas, and welcome friends, colleagues and our Breakthrough co-lead, Egypt. I want to thank our hosts, and offer congratulations to the USA and UAE for their global leadership on AIM for Climate, which has spurred on a wonderful group of partners in this race we are all in to innovate for a more resilient and sustainable food system.
Because as we meet, our food systems continue to be rocked by the effects of the climate crisis and armed conflicts, including Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. A cruel act, which has also caused turmoil in food, fertiliser and fuel markets, triggering economic instability and plunging millions into food insecurity. This turmoil has contributed to increasing the number of food-insecure people around the world, currently standing at nearly 350 million people.
And yet, instability is only one of the risks that we face. Climate change and the steady erosion of our ecosystems pose a continuing severe threat. And agriculture itself is the second largest producer of greenhouse gas emissions, the primary cause of biodiversity loss, and the leading driver of deforestation.
So innovation has never been more urgent. With a lot of research and a little ingenuity, we can rise to the challenge. Scientific and technological advances over the last fifty years have allowed the world to make huge strides in tackling global hunger. The science of the Green Revolution increased GDP per capita in the lowest income countries by 20% by 2010. And modern crop varieties alone avert as many as 6 million infant deaths each year.
But as we confront the triple challenge of climate change, biodiversity loss and food insecurity, we need a new revolution – a truly green revolution, founded on innovation, that can deliver food security for all.
Fertilisers, for example, were highlighted as a priority in last year’s Breakthrough Agenda Report. From February to April last year, global fertiliser index prices rose by 30%, severely testing supply chains already buffeted by the pandemic. The highest global fertiliser prices since 2008, only piled on the pressure.
So that’s why I am pleased to announce today that the UK is joining the Global Fertiliser Challenge and will commit £3 million to a new research consortium, together with the USA and the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research. The Efficient Fertiliser Consortium will be dedicated to the development and testing of novel fertiliser products with the potential to transform productivity around the world, while safeguarding the natural resources on which we all depend.
So we invite others here, to join us in supporting this critical new research. We need everyone’s engagement, because innovation alone is not enough.
We need to get better at putting technologies to use, at scale. Too often, transformative ideas sit on the shelf, because market, policy, or investment barriers stand in the way of farmers’ access to them. And this is where the Agriculture Breakthrough comes in.
The Agriculture Breakthrough, which we launched during the UK’s COP26 Presidency, aims to “make climate-resilient and sustainable agriculture the most attractive and widely-adopted option for farmers everywhere by 2030”.
So at the heart of the agenda is international collaboration: the idea that, together, we can overcome those barriers that block widespread adoption of sustainable solutions:
From cutting-edge solar irrigation, which can transform the productivity of smallholder farmers in Africa, to climate resilient crops, such as the Vitamin A sweet potato which is nourishing millions, to promoting crop diversity by intercropping with beans and pulses which build soil health, to investing in cutting edge AI, predictive modelling and big data to extend credit to smallholder farmers, transform their productivity and enable them to grow more whilst avoiding land expansion and protecting those precious natural resources.
The opportunity is huge; agricultural innovation can unlock growth worth an additional $1.7 trillion to GDP in the Global South, and indeed could reduce global food prices by 16%.
At COP27, we welcomed thirteen new countries to the Breakthrough. But it is still young and we will hear from some of our newest members joining the group today, and I encourage others to join ahead of COP28 as we take on this enormous challenge together.
This meeting – standing as it does between COP27 and COP28 – is the ideal time for us to take stock and I am looking forward to the Breakthrough Agenda Report authors offering a preview of their findings for 2023. Their analysis will challenge us to do more together to accelerate the adoption of technologies.
Because as governments, we can create the conditions to make this happen. If we don’t, who will? Public support for agriculture is a key source of funding worth around £700 billion a year. There is compelling evidence that increasing the proportion spent on the development and deployment of climate-resilient, sustainable agriculture innovations, could yield substantial gains for the planet, for the economy and for everyone.
I urge you to grasp this opportunity over the coming months, as we all consider the Report’s recommendations and translate them into the Breakthrough action plans that we will set together at COP28.
Thank you.