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Tag: Speeches

  • John Cooper – 2025 Speech on Fishing Quota Negotiations

    John Cooper – 2025 Speech on Fishing Quota Negotiations

    The speech made by John Cooper, the Conservative MP for Dumfries and Galloway, in Westminster Hall, the House of Commons on 26 March 2025.

    It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Vickers. I congratulate the hon. Member for St Ives (Andrew George) on securing this important debate.

    I declare a sort of interest: in a previous life, I was a special adviser with the Scotland Office, and I spent the larger part of 2021 working on exports from Scotland to the EU. I have to tell the hon. Gentleman that the EU, far from being our avuncular friends in this matter, were a protectionist bloc. Many of the difficulties we faced, including the transport of live langoustines—he mentioned vivier transport—were to do with problems on the far side of the short strait. It was bloody-mindedness at best and outright protectionism at worst.

    But let us talk about chips—not the golden-fried essential component of what we Scots call the fish supper, but bargaining chips, for that is yet again what our fishing crews risk becoming. The statistics are superficially simple: the Office for National Statistics says that fishing accounted for just 0.03% of the UK’s economic output in 2021. However, that does not capture the reality that a great many of our fragile coastal communities, not only in Scotland but across the UK, are entirely dependent on jobs in fishing’s at-sea component and its allied onshore processors.

    If fishing were a trifling little homespun affair, why is the EU so interested in it? With the Business and Trade Committee, I travelled to Brussels to discuss this Government’s reset of relations. What Labour expects from this reset is opaque at best, but the EU—good protectionist that it is—has already drawn up an invoice, and top of its list is fishing. Amid warm words about security and co-operation between Britain and the EU, the French are keen to lock us out of the new £150 billion Euro defence fund, only to then show a bit of ankle on negotiations involving—quelle surprise!—fishing.

    Just as Labour’s Employment Rights Bill, with its heavy pro-union bias, takes us back to 1979 and the winter of discontent, so fishing is drifting back to 1973. Then, our prized and pristine waters were the quid pro quo for access to what was then the European Economic Community. Today, the dice are loaded in favour of the EU fleet. According to the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation—I note that the hon. Member for St Ives is not a huge fan of it, but I certainly am—the EU catches around seven times more fish by value in UK waters than we land from EU waters. Britain’s status as an independent coastal state was hard won, and we must not allow our fleet to be dragged back into the ambit of the hated common fisheries policy. We cannot allow a linkage between fisheries and access to markets to be established.

    British fishing is already under a series of threats. Let us be as clear as the blue ocean about the conservation issue: fishermen are to the fore in this area, for they know that if they clear the seas of fish today, there is no tomorrow for them. Things such as spatial squeeze are real. Our seas are vast but not limitless. Boats cannot fish between floating wind turbines or trawl near those turbines’ subsea infrastructure. To say that boats can simply up nets and go elsewhere is to demonstrate a terrifying lack of knowledge about the sea. Fish and seafood are not evenly suffused; they are in some places and not in others.

    Fishing is food security, as we have heard. It is a livelihood for many—not just for those who literally risk life and limb on the storm-tossed seas, but for those onshore. Fish and chips are as emblematic of this country as the bright fishing boats at quaysides from Kirkcudbright to Kirkwall and more. They must not be frittered away at the behest of an avaricious EU.

  • Yvette Cooper – 2025 Speech at the Organised Immigration Crime Summit

    Yvette Cooper – 2025 Speech at the Organised Immigration Crime Summit

    The speech made by Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, on 31 March 2025.

    Thank you very much. Thank you Prime Minister, thank you to the Italian Prime Minister and good morning everyone.

    Can I thank everyone for travelling here from all over the world. Interior ministers, senior law enforcement, delegations from over 40 countries and organisations, we are so pleased to welcome you to London and here to Lancaster House for this, the first summit of its kind on organised immigration crime and border security, and to have so many people come from across the world, shows the seriousness with which all our countries are taking these issues, but also, bluntly, how much more together we need to do.

    Of course, we are not the first generation to grapple with international migration, the societal, economic security consequences that flow through the centuries.

    Of course, people have travelled across borders to work, to study, join family, to flee war or persecution, to escape poverty, to seek a better life for a different future, to chase new resources, or to forge new nations.

    But in recent years, we have seen new and serious patterns and scales of irregular and illegal migration causing major challenges for border security, for national security, for the rule of law, for countries and the economy across so many of our countries, in source, in transit and in destination, countries alike.

    And 2 facts have accelerated and changed some of the challenges our countries face.

    Firstly, technology. The physical distances between nations and continents may not have changed, but technology has made the world feel a lot smaller.

    Organising journeys can be faster and easier than ever, and the details of a different future is suddenly right there on a smartphone in the palm of your hand.

    And the second factor is the emergence of a vast and ruthless criminal industry that stretches across borders and across continents worth billions of pounds.

    The criminal smuggler and trafficking gangs who profit from undermining our border security, our national security and the rule of law and from putting lives at risk, have grown and stretched across the globe.

    And every country here will have different stories to tell and insights to share, but across all of our countries, we’ve seen that organised immigration crime posing a significant and growing global threat with far reaching consequences for us all – breaking our laws, undermining our security and our cohesion.

    From the source countries where gangs prey on the vulnerable, to transit countries where people and equipment pass through towns and borders unchecked, to destination countries managing the financial, the social and the criminal fallout, no part of the journey is untouched.

    And those gangs profiting from what is a vile trade in human beings are exploiting more people than ever before.

    You have heard from our Prime Minister what that means for us here in the UK, and in just 6 years, we’ve seen a criminal industry organising the small boat crossings take hold along our borders.

    Three hundred people crossed the channel on flimsy, dangerous small boats 6, 7 years ago, but 4 years later, that rose to over 30,000, an increase, a 100 fold increase, powered by smuggler and trafficking gangs.

    The gangs who advertise on social media false promise of illegal jobs, gangs who organise the logistics, the fake papers, the illegal finance networks to take everyone’s money, have thousands of pounds, the supply chains, the flimsy rubber boats, the engines.

    And perhaps for us, one of the most disturbing things of all, for us and for France, for the Calais Group, to see some of the fake life jackets, including fake life jackets for children that would not keep anyone afloat in the cold sea.

    And then the organisation along the beaches of France, the violence, the increasing and outrageous violence, against law enforcement.

    And to give you the example of how they run some of those organisations, we’ve seen the small boats, the flimsy rubber boats, take off as taxi boats and make people wait in the freezing water, in the freezing sea, so they then wait to be picked up, to climb onto the boats and then they overcrowd the boats with women and children put in the centre of the boat, the boat can then fold in. There’s the women and children who get crushed and then if the fuel in flimsy containers then leaks and mixes with salt water that can cause terrible, terrible burns.

    And then we’ve seen children crushed to death, and yet the boat carries on and that shameful, disgraceful crime where people, criminal gangs have profited from those lives being lost.

    And that’s why we cannot let that carry on.

    All of your countries will have the different stories of the way in which the gangs are exploiting people into sexual exploitation, into slave labour, into crime.

    The way in which the gangs are using new technology, not just the phones, the social media to organise, but even the drones to spot where the border patrols are, the operations along the land borders, across continents.

    But it is governments, not gangs, who should be deciding who enters our country, and those gangs are operating and profiting across borders.

    So we and our law enforcement need to co-operate across borders now to take them down.

    That’s why, as you heard from our Prime Minister, we are strengthening our laws here in the UK, bringing in new counter-terror powers so we can seize phones, investigate preparatory acts, so we can crack down on the illegal working of modern slavery and establishing our new Border Security Command.

    But we know that strengthening our border security means working with all the countries on the other sides of our borders, not just standing on our shoreline, shouting at the sea.

    We know too that no country can do this alone, and that is why the partnerships and everyone gathering here is so important.

    So today we will talk about what to do to tackle this vile trade in human beings.

    How we choke off the supply chains, the false papers, how we go after the money, how we take down the advertising.

    And how we disrupt, how we pursue, how we prosecute, how we pursue this global battle against a trade in people.

    It is our determination to do this together, the alliances that we build across our borders can be stronger than the criminal gangs who seek to undermine us.

    Thank you all for joining with us in this event today, this first summit. We have so much work to do during the course of the day, so many conversations to have, but thank you so much for being part of it, and I look forward to hearing everyone’s views during the conference today.

    Thank you very much.

  • Keir Starmer – 2025 Comments at the Organised Immigration Summit in Central London

    Keir Starmer – 2025 Comments at the Organised Immigration Summit in Central London

    The comments made by Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, on 31 March 2025.

    It’s great to welcome you all to Lancaster House. It was right here, earlier this month that the UK convened leaders from across Europe together with President Zelenskyy to support a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.

    Because we know that Ukraine’s security is our security. And we can only deliver it by taking bold action at home, with the biggest increase in defence spending since the Cold War.

    And also, by working together with our international partners.

    Now – the same is clearly true for the security of our borders.

    Illegal migration is a massive driver of global insecurity. It undermines our ability to control who comes here. And that makes people angry.

    It makes me angry, frankly because it is unfair on ordinary working people who pay the price, from the cost of hotels to our public services struggling under the strain.

    And it’s unfair on the illegal migrants themselves. Because these are vulnerable people being ruthlessly exploited by vile gangs.

    So look, we must each take decisive action in our own countries to deal with this. Nobody can doubt that the people we serve want this issue sorted.

    But the truth is – we can only smash these gangs, once and for all if we work together.

    Because this evil trade, it exploits the cracks between our institutions. Pits nations against one another. Profits from our inability at the political level to come together.

    And that’s why from the moment I took office we said the UK would convene this Summit.

    And I’m delighted today to be joined by all of you. Representatives from more than 40 countries across the world, building a truly international effort to defeat organised immigration crime.

    And let me tell you why. Let me take you back to a visit I made as a relatively new Member of Parliament in 2016 to the camp on the outskirts of Calais.

    I can still picture it now. The muddy ground, sodden with rain and human waste.

    Children as young as five and seven, the same age as my children were then huddling together in freezing temperatures with almost nothing to keep them warm.

    Now, of course, that infamous camp has long since gone. But the evil of the people smuggling businesses that put people there, that remains.

    The gangs remain. That exploitation of desperation, misery and false hope – that all remains.

    There’s nothing progressive or compassionate about turning a blind eye to this. Nothing progressive or compassionate about continuing that false hope which attracts people to make those journeys.

    No – we have got to get to grips with it once and for all. That’s why when I spoke at the INTERPOL meeting in Glasgow last year I said we need to treat people-smuggling as a global security threat similar if you like to terrorism.

    We’ve got to bring to bear all the powers we have at our disposal in much the same way we do against terrorism.

    Before I was a politician, I was the Director of Public Prosecutions in England and Wales. We worked across borders throughout Europe and beyond to foil numerous plots.

    Saving thousands of lives in the process. We prevented planes from being blown up over the Atlantic. And we brought the perpetrators to justice.

    So I believe we should treat organised immigration crime in the exactly same way. I simply don’t believe organised immigration crime cannot be tackled.

    So – we’ve got to combine resources. Share intelligence and tactics. Tackle the problem upstream at every step of the people smuggling journey, from North Africa and the Middle East to the high streets of our biggest cities.

    And look, to that end, we’ve already got to work. Begun to make progress since I came into office. The UK has re-set its entire approach to international collaboration.

    I’ve put smashing the gangs on the agenda of international summits. Showing that the UK now means business. Working together with our allies. We’ve struck new agreements and plans with so many of the countries represented in the room here today.

    Take our work with France as a good example. Now previously – their maritime doctrine prevented French law enforcement from responding to small boats in shallow waters.

    But now we’re working with them to change that, to make sure we get new border patrols and specialist units on the French coast using state-of-the-art surveillance technology.

    With Germany another example, if you can believe it, it wasn’t technically illegal to facilitate people-smuggling to a country outside the EU, like the United Kingdom. But now it will be.

    And with our new bilateral agreement Germany will be able to prosecute the criminal networks facilitating this vile trade.

    Just a few examples of the international collaboration that is so important to taking this challenge on. And it’s beginning to bear fruit.

    At the end of last year, a major operation by French, German and British law enforcement smashed an Iraqi smuggling network with multiple arrests and the seizure seizing hundreds of boats and engines.

    In Amsterdam, a man was arrested on suspicion of supplying hundreds of small boat parts to people smugglers.

    That was a joint operation with our National Crime Agency together with Dutch and Belgian police.

    We’re also working upstream to address factors that drive people towards small boats in the first place.

    Working with the authorities in Albania and Vietnam on campaigns to deter those who are thinking about making that perilous journey.

    Because there is also nothing progressive about allowing working age people to come here illegally instead of supporting them to build their own economies, secure a better future for their own countries, and build a safer, more prosperous world.

    But look – as we work together more closely I think than ever before we’ve also got to take the tough measures at home in our own countries.

    That doesn’t mean gimmicks. You may be familiar with the gimmicks of the last 14 years here in Britain. It means understanding the problem.

    And coming up with pragmatic solutions that work. Actually, fixing what’s wrong.

    Few things show this more clearly, than our approach to border security. We inherited this total fragmentation between our policing, our Border Force and our intelligence agencies.

    A fragmentation that made it crystal clear, when I looked at it, that there were gaps in our defence. An open invitation at our borders for the people smugglers to crack on.

    To be honest it should have been fixed years ago. But we’re doing it now with our new Border Security Command. Led by Martin Hewitt – who many of you I think will know.

    We’re recruiting hundreds of specialist investigators from across our police, our Border Force and intelligence agencies. Creating an elite Border Force. Working with our international partners. Ending the fragmentation.

    £150 million invested over the next two years and new powers and criminal offences to get the job done. So the police will be able to seize the phones and devices of migrants arriving on our shores and gather intelligence about the smugglers.

    The police will be able to act when they have reason to believe preparations are being made for criminal activity instead of waiting for a crime to happen before they can act.

    And it will be an offence to endanger lives at sea to prevent more tragic deaths in the Channel.

    We are also redeploying resources away from the Tory’s wasteful Rwanda scheme. A scheme that spent over 700 million pounds of taxpayer money to remove just four volunteers.

    You know, even if that scheme had gone well, they were claiming they might remove – 300 people a year.

    Since coming to office – I can announce today we have returned more than 24,000 people who have no right to be here.

    That would have taken the Rwanda scheme 80 years to achieve. This is what I mean about not giving in to gimmicks. Just focusing our efforts and resources on the nuts and bolts of removing people. Getting the asylum system working properly. That’s how we’ve delivered the highest returns rate for eight years and the four biggest return flights ever.

    We’re also ramping up the deportation of Foreign National Offenders with a new team of specialist frontline staff going into our prisons, speeding up the removal of prisoners who have no right to be in this country.

    Now, all of this is providing a real disincentive to people thinking about coming to Britain illegally. But if we’re talking about incentives – we need to talk about the people smugglers as well.

    Because they don’t care about borders. They don’t care about the people they traffic. And they don’t care about our country and our people.

    They only care about one thing: money. They make huge profits out of ruining people’s lives. I mean – a few months ago, I went to see some of the boats that had been seized at the NCA headquarters.

    Now we call them small boats, but honestly they’re not worthy of the name boat. I don’t know what you would call them. To me they look like death traps.

    Flimsy. Rubber. No firm structure. You would not let your children climb aboard, even for a second in shallow waters.

    Seriously – if they were a car, they’d be off the road in minutes. The police would intervene.

    And don’t tell me they’ve got any purpose other than people smuggling. So I see no reason why we can’t go after them. And so we are.

    We have seized hundreds of boats and engines, driving up the costs for the smugglers.

    We have taken down 18,000 social media accounts. That’s 10,000 more than last year, disrupting the way smugglers promote their services.

    And more than that, we have announced a new sanctions regime. Treating people smugglers like terrorists. Freezing their assets, banning their travel.

    Putting them behind bars – where they belong. But just as important – putting their entire model, out of business, securing our borders on behalf of working people.

    Because as I said at the start – this is about fairness. And there is little that strikes working people as more unfair than watching illegal migration drive down their wages, their terms and their conditions through illegal work in their community.

    We have to be honest here. For too long, the UK has been a soft touch on this. While the last government were busy with their Rwanda gimmick, they left the door wide open for illegal working.

    Especially in short-term or zero-hours roles like in construction, beauty salons and courier services.

    And while of course most companies do the responsible thing and carry out right to work checks.

    Too many dodgy firms have been exploiting a loophole to skip this process: hiring illegal workers, undercutting honest businesses, driving down the wages of ordinary working people.

    And all of this, of course fuelling that poisonous narrative of the gangs who promise the dream of a better life to vulnerable people yet deliver a nightmare of squalid conditions and appalling exploitation.

    Well, today we are changing that because this government is introducing a tough new law to force all companies to carry out these checks on right to work.

    They take just minutes to complete – so they are not burdensome for business. And they can be done free of charge – so there will be no excuses.

    And no ability to claim they didn’t know they had illegal workers. And failure to comply will result in fines of up to £60,000. Prison terms of up to 5 years and the potential closure of their business.

    Now, none of these strategies on their own are a silver bullet. I know that.

    But each of them is another tool. An arsenal we are building up to smash the gangs once and for all.

    We must pull every lever available. And that is what this Labour government is doing.

    No short cuts, no gimmicks. Just the hard graft of sleeves-rolled-up, practical government.

    Securing our borders. Getting a grip on illegal migration. Delivering our Plan for Change.

    We want to work with you and with everyone who is as determined as we are to end the misery and evil of people-smuggling.

    Because together we will save lives.

    We will secure our borders.

    We will smash the gangs that undermine our security…

    And deliver fairness for the working people we serve.

    Thank you.

  • Steve Reed – 2025 Speech at the Dock Shed on the Circular Economy

    Steve Reed – 2025 Speech at the Dock Shed on the Circular Economy

    The speech made by Steve Reed, the Environment Secretary, at the Dock Shed in London on 27 March 2025.

    Thanks to British Land and Mace for hosting us at the Dock Shed today.

    The views up here are absolutely spectacular.

    I don’t think any of us can ever tire of looking at that iconic London skyline. No matter how many times you’ve seen it before.

    Or seeing the city shift and grow as buildings go up and down, as spaces are developed. As communities are created.

    When I was Lambeth Council Leader, I was co-chair of the Vauxhall Nine Elms Redevelopment – that’s the biggest regeneration project in Europe.

    But what people don’t always see is the waste that kind of development can produce.

    62% of all waste generated in the United Kingdom comes from construction.

    That’s resources lost from our economy.

    Lost economic value.

    As we meet our commitment as a Government to build 1.5 million homes, the infrastructure for clean green energy and a reliable and clean water supply, the datacentres to make the UK an AI superpower, we can and we must get better use out of our materials and eradicate waste.

    Mace and British Land – and many others in the room – are already rising to the challenge.

    In this building alone, thousands of tonnes of carbon were saved by smarter material choices, meaning every structure has a smaller carbon footprint.

    The stone floor beneath your feet is completely recycled.

    And in new buildings across the development, British Land and Mace are using material passports to digitally track all components so they can be adapted and reused in the future.

    Later this morning I’m looking forward to visiting the Paper Garden, just a few minutes from here, transformed from an old printworks into an education centre and a garden, where 60% of materials have been retained or reclaimed, including railway sleepers and the logs of fallen trees from Epping Forest.

    The principles of a Circular Economy are embedded in these designs.

    That’s what I want to talk about today.

    Not just in construction but across all sectors.

    We have an opportunity to end the throwaway society and move to a futureproofed economy.

    Where things are built to last.

    Where products are designed to be reused and repaired. And materials given new life again and again.

    This isn’t about merely modifying the way we currently manage waste.

    I want to work with all of you to fundamentally transform our economy so we get more value from it.

    When I was in opposition, this is what business leaders told me they wanted a Labour Government to do.

    So when I became Secretary of State for Defra, I made creating a Circular Economy one of my five core priorities for that department.

    British businesses want to make this change.

    So now it’s part of the Government’s national Plan for Change.

    But it needs long-term direction on how regulation will develop.

    So you can plan with certainty, so we can build the infrastructure we need, and financial institutions and businesses can invest with confidence.

    Today I want to set that direction so, together, we can make the Circular Economy a reality.

    Turn back the years and the things Britain made were built to last.

    Washing machines would be fixed, clothes mended, broken pieces of furniture repaired.

    But in recent times we’ve become trapped in a throwaway culture.

    It’s easier and quicker to replace something on Amazon than get it fixed.

    Our lives follow a ‘take, use and throw’ model that is economically unsustainable, creates mountains of waste that we have to bury or burn, and leaves our supply chains vulnerable and exposed.

    Yet we know the British public support change.

    Carrier bags sold by the main supermarkets have reduced by over 98% since 2014.

    We’ve cleaned up streets, rivers and beaches by banning single-use plastic items like cutlery and polystyrene cups.

    Both policies had huge public support.

    But we are falling behind the rest of the world.

    This Government is changing that.

    Packaging Extended Producer Responsibility will begin later this year, incentivising businesses to remove unnecessary packaging and make their products more recyclable and refillable.

    Simpler Recycling for the workplace starts next week.

    And a standardised, national approach to household recycling – paper, card, plastic, glass, metals and food waste – will be introduced next year so everyone understands more clearly what they can recycle and how they recycle it.

    This will end postcode confusion about bin collections and make sure households, workplaces and businesses never have to deal with the madness of 7 separate bin collections which the previous Conservative Government legislated to inflict on us.

    And this April, we will appoint the business-led organisation that will launch the UK’s first Deposit Management Scheme for drinks containers starting in 2027.

    Less than 60% of waste electricals are collected for reuse or recycling.

    4 in 5 of our plastic products are still made from virgin materials.

    Our household recycling rates haven’t improved in 15 years.

    UK landfill sites absolutely astonishingly cover an area almost as big as Greater London.

    We burn 12 million tonnes of waste collected by councils every year.

    We throw away £22 billion in edible food annually. Four and a half billion in clothes. 2 and a half billion in usable furniture.

    This is bad for the environment, bad for society and it’s bad for the economy.

    We are literally shovelling money down the drain.

    Under Michael Topham’s leadership at the Environmental Services Association, our biggest recycling companies are stepping up to the challenge.

    Our reforms are giving them the confidence to invest £10 billion pounds in the UK’s recycling infrastructure over the next decade, creating over 21 thousand jobs right across the country.

    I know parts of the industry have concerns around the impacts of some of these reforms.

    We are listening. And we’ll keep listening to make sure the changes work for businesses.

    Based on businesses’ feedback, we’ll appoint a producer-led organisation to lead our packaging reforms, building on the successful business-led board that steered them to this stage.

    We’ve published estimated base fees for year one of the scheme, rather than ranges, to give businesses more certainty.

    And we have stopped mandatory labelling requirements to avoid any trade friction or increased costs within the UK and with the EU.

    We’ve also worked with the Food Standards Agency to confirm they will take up the role of competent authority, carrying out the checks to verify the suitability of recycling processes producing food-grade recycled plastics for trade, so we can uphold the value of high-quality UK recycled plastics on export markets.

    Beyond our packaging changes, our ban on disposable plastic vapes comes into force in June.

    We are changing the law so online marketplaces and vape producers pay their fair share to recycle the electricals that they put on the market – encouraging them to consider other options like reuse.

    We’ve set aside £15 million to reduce food waste from farms and ensure it reaches families in need.

    And we’ve set strict conditions for new energy-from-waste plants so they work better for local communities and maximise the value of resources that can’t be re-used or recycled.

    I’m proud of where we’ve got to so far. But I know these reforms are still not enough.

    We need a bigger shift to an economic system that encourages repair, reuse and innovation, where resources are used again and again, and waste is designed out of the system right from the start.

    I worked in business for 16 years, with responsibility for driving up profit and driving down cost.

    To make this bigger shift, I know we must help you unlock innovation and technologies that will open new revenue streams.

    Work with local government to ensure the right infrastructure is in place.

    And show the public that the circular economy is not some abstract concept, but something that will bring real benefits to them, their families, small businesses and communities right across the UK.

    A Circular Economy makes sense.

    In the Netherlands, financial organisations like InvestNL and innovations such as the Denim Deal for textiles are stimulating innovation in every corner of their economy.

    I want the UK to match this. And then go further.

    Moving from our current throwaway society is vital to grow the economy and deliver our Plan for Change, so we can give working people economic security, and give our country national security.

    Towns and cities in every region will benefit from new investment that keeps materials in use for longer, whether in manufacturing and product design, processing or recycling facilities, or in the rental, repair and resale sectors.

    This will provide thousands of high quality, skilled jobs right across the country, getting more people into work, wages into pockets, and driving the regional economic growth this Government was elected to deliver.

    If you want to put a figure on it, external analysis suggests circular economy policies have the potential to boost the economy by £18 billion a year, every year.

    A Circular Economy is also a more resilient economy.

    Recent disruptions to global supply chains from the Covid 19 pandemic to Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine make it clear we can no longer rely on importing 80% of our raw materials from abroad.

    These include the materials and components essential to our phones, computers, electric vehicles, hospital equipment and clean energy infrastructure. And that’s to name just a few.

    To ensure our national security in an increasingly unstable world, we have no choice.

    We must embrace circular, local supply chains to reduce our exposure to global shocks and prevent us running out of critical resources.

    As the Chancellor has said, we need to remove barriers for British businesses, investors and entrepreneurs and grow the supply-side of our economy.

    It’s not just the economy though.

    Extracting resources and processing them is responsible for over half of global greenhouse gas emissions.

    Moving away from the linear make, use and throw model is vital to meeting our Net Zero and Environment Targets.

    It will mean less rubbish ending up in landfill. Fewer plastics under our feet and choking the seas, taking hundreds of years to break down.

    We can make better use of that land, whether for agriculture, housing, nature or green energy infrastructure.

    It will mean burning less waste. Less litter on our streets. Less fly tipping on the side of our roads.

    It will mean people can feel more pride in their communities.

    British businesses are already showing us what’s possible.

    From innovative tech startups turning waste into valuable materials, to social enterprises giving used goods a second life.

    Like SUEZ working with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority to give hundreds of tonnes of pre-loved items like furniture, bikes and toys a brand new lease of life.

    Reselling them to the local community at affordable prices or donating them to local charities.

    Too Good to Go, established in Copenhagen and spanning multiple global cities including here in London, which has over 100 million users and saved over 400 million meals.

    Low Carbon Materials in Durham, using alternative construction materials to decarbonise roads across the country.

    Or Ecobat Solutions’ in Darlaston recovering valuable materials from end-of-life lithium-ion batteries through their innovative recycling plant.

    I want to support businesses like these to succeed.

    By facilitating the transition you told me this sector wants to make.

    That’s why I set up the Circular Economy taskforce, bringing together experts from government, industry, academia and civil society to work with businesses on what they want to see so we create the best possible conditions for investment.

    I’m delighted to have so many members of the taskforce here with us in the room this morning.

    Under the leadership of Andrew Morlet and Professor Paul Ekins, the taskforce will work with businesses to develop the first ever Circular Economy Strategy for England.

    We will publish the Strategy in the coming Autumn.

    It will include the long-term regulatory roadmaps that businesses asked for, showing the journey to circularity, sector by sector, so you have the certainty and direction to invest in the future.

    We will start with five sectors that have the greatest potential to grow the economy: chemicals and plastics; construction; textiles; transport; and agrifood.

    This includes exploring how we can protect our battery supply so we can electrify the UK’s vehicle fleet, working with the Chancellor to make sure levers including the Plastics Packaging Tax help support the stability and growth of our plastics reprocessing sector, or how we harness new technologies to stop burning materials like the plastic films on packs of strawberries or mushrooms, but instead give them a new life.

    We’re already seeing innovation in plastic films by the company Quantafuel based in Denmark, and Viridor who are here today, alongside others, want to develop chemical recycling plants following that model here in the UK.

    It includes how we build on the industry led coalition ‘Textiles 2030’ to transform our world-leading fashion and textiles industry, tackle food waste to improve food security and bring benefits for consumers, businesses and the environment, and lower construction costs and emissions as we build 1.5 million homes during the lifetime of the current Parliament.

    In these roadmaps, we’ll learn from international best practice, including from the European Union.

    Until now, countries such as the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany have led the way on circularity.

    Our Strategy will give British businesses the support they need so we can put the UK back in the race.

    It will provide the freedom for businesses to harness the entrepreneurial spirit and innovation that Britain has long been known for.

    Those of you here today are the champions for this change.

    You were the first off the start line. You’ve battled to do what’s right for the environment, the economy, and the future of our country.

    I want to thank you for that.

    Businesses will lead the transition to a Circular Economy.

    It’s up to us to work together to bring the wider business community and society with us.

    We need to show the country that the Circular Economy is not just a diagram on a page.

    It’s cleaner streets, greener parks, and less fly-tipping in communities we’re proud to call home.

    It’s new income for businesses, thousands of skilled jobs, and economic growth in every region of the country.

    It’s resilience in the face of global supply chain shocks, and it’s essential for our national security.

    The Circular Economy is our chance to improve lives up and down the country. To grow our economy.

    And protect our beautiful environment for generations to come.

    I’m genuinely excited about what we can achieve together.

    My ask from you is simple.

    Please tell the taskforce, and tell me, what you need from us.

    Then work with us so we can make it happen.

    Thank you.

  • Feryal Clark – 2025 Speech at Alan Turing Institute’s Conference AI UK

    Feryal Clark – 2025 Speech at Alan Turing Institute’s Conference AI UK

    The speech made by Feryal Clark, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for AI and Digital Government, at the Alan Turing Institute in London on 17 March 2025.

    In 2001, I learnt to code.

    I was studying for my Master’s in Bioinformatics at Exeter.

    That meant analysing massive datasets, and picking up coding languages.

    And using that analysis to help us sequence genomes, create medicines tailored to your DNA, or predict the effects of new drugs.

    This was 24 years ago, and tech looked a bit different back then.

    I was rocking the Nokia 6310.

    Apple introduced the iPod, promising “10,000 songs in your pocket”. (If you were anything like me, you were using it to listen to U2 or Faithless.)

    Steven Spielberg released “A.I., Artificial Intelligence”, a futuristic fantasy about a humanoid robot trying to be a real boy.

    And in a computer lab in Devon, for this stressed-out Master’s student, the reality of coding was a nightmare.

    Any time something went wrong, you’d have to scour line upon line of code to try to find your mistake.

    The misplaced curly bracket in the binary haystack.

    One error could set your research back by days.

    I don’t need to tell you how different a picture we have before us now:

    • When my phone is my personal assistant, my concierge, my navigator.
    • When 90% of the world’s data was created in the last two years.
    • When AI is no longer the stuff of film directors’ dreams, but a practical tool changing our lives day to day – scanning for diseases in hospitals, or helping teachers plan lessons.
    • And when governments are seizing the opportunity to change how we operate, too.

    Last month, I went to see the Government Digital Service in Whitechapel.

    They’re using AI and other emerging tech to make interacting with the state as easy as banking on the go, or online shopping.

    A lot of that work is powered by AI.

    When I watched the team at work, I saw how every time there was a tiny mistake in the code, it would flash up in colour on their screens.

    Instant detection. Instant fix.

    No more hours hunting for that curly bracket, or days of research lost.

    Globally, change is inevitable.

    But what’s not inevitable is the UK’s place in all of that.

    Do we stand and watch change happen?

    Or do we take a leading role?

    I know that, for all of us in this room, there’s only one choice here.

    The UK’s legacy is one of leadership:

    • The 3rd biggest market for AI in the world.
    • Driven by research from 4 of the world’s 10 best universities.
    • And we’re home to some of the brightest luminaries in Artificial Intelligence – with two British Nobel prize winners for AI just last year.

    That talent stands on the shoulders of Ada Lovelace, Charles Babbage and the man whose extraordinary contribution brings us all here today.

    But we are not content to let this legacy remain just that – a legacy.

    A history that we look back on fondly while, in the present day, other countries outpace us. And British people miss out on the benefits that AI can bring to their day to day lives.

    To reap the rewards, academia, industry and the public sector must continue to work together in forums like this to solve our most pressing challenges.

    And the government must give you the tools to make change possible.

    That’s why, in January, the Prime Minister launched the AI Opportunities Action Plan.

    It sets out how we’ll unlock the economic growth that AI promises – up to 47 billion pounds every year for the next decade.

    We’ll give firms and researchers access to the power and information you need to get your ideas off the ground – with 20 times more computing power by 2030.

    Early access to the AI Research Resource for academics and SMEs is now live, as we open up our supercomputers Dawn and Isambard.

    We’ll unlock the public datasets you need to make new discoveries.

    And we’ll also plug the skills gap – by building up skills at school, and nurturing research talent both homegrown and attracted from overseas.

    As part of this, we’re expanding the brilliant Turing AI Fellowships, to give leading academics from multiple disciplines the tools they need to use AI in their work.

    And we’ll keep supporting collaboration between academia, public sector and industry – working with the Alan Turing Institute and UKRI to drive progress at the cutting edge.

    I started by looking back, to a time when texts had character limits, and coding mistakes caused me sleepless nights.

    It feels right to end by looking forward.

    If we get this right – if academia and public and private sectors all play the roles we do best – what could the future look like?

    Here’s what we could say about this country:

    • Like most new technologies before it, AI has created a raft of new, exciting jobs – adding more jobs than it replaces. Our children’s children are doing jobs we don’t have names for yet.
    • No longer weighed down by admin, businesses are infinitely more productive. People can focus on the parts of their jobs that impact the bottom line, but also genuinely bring them joy.
    • The strain on our health service has eased, as AI saves us months on each new drug discovery; and earlier diagnosis gives patients back years with their families.
    • And with access to the world’s knowledge at ordinary people’s fingertips, life in the UK becomes more equal.

    We know this future doesn’t just happen if we press ‘play’ and let time pass.

    It needs a supply of power and talent. Careful handling on safety and ethics. And a deliberate effort to make AI work for all in this country, not just the lucky few.

    Progress is only possible with partnership.

    So thank you for having me today.

    I hope the UK’s AI community continues to tell the government what you need, and to work with us to make our AI future as storied as our past.

    This is a chapter we can only write together.

  • Chris Bryant – 2025 Speech at the Connected Futures Festival

    Chris Bryant – 2025 Speech at the Connected Futures Festival

    The speech made by Chris Bryant, the Minister for Data Protection and Telecoms, on 26 March 2025.

    Hello. My name is Chris Bryant and I’m the telecoms minister. I’m really sorry I can’t be with you. Well, I’m here with you virtually, which I suppose is particularly important for the kind of connectivity that we’re talking about. But I’m afraid that, as you’re meeting, I will be in Parliament for the spring statement, when the Chancellor of the Exchequer will be talking about economic growth and how we get the economy to really springboard into the future.

    I suppose that’s the key part of what I want to say today, which is that connectivity is a vital part of making sure that the UK economy grows, that everybody gets a chance to participate in our economic future, and that we embrace the technological changes that can make so many differences to people’s lives, whether in the delivery of public services or in the delivery of all the services that we rely on, whether it’s ordering a pizza, parking your car, or engaging with our local GP and seeing our latest test results.

    I know that the geopolitical picture looks uncertain at the moment, and many parts of our lives, of course, are uncertain. Sometimes, trying to predict the future is difficult. That’s one of the reasons that, whereas we’ve always talked about “future telecoms” in the past, we’re changing the terminology to something which I think suits much better the situation that we face today. And that’s why instead of referring to “future telecoms”, we’re now going to be referring to “advanced connectivity technologies”, because advanced optics and satellite communications aren’t the ghosts of telecoms futures anymore, but actually telecoms present – let’s face it! Last year, Aston University transmitted data 4.5 million times faster than the average home broadband connection. We have started to send data through visible light. And Vodafone made the first video call via space last year. I’m an MP for a constituency in South Wales in The Valleys, and so I was very happy to see that that call took place from a remote Welsh mountain. The death of “notspots” may just about be in sight for us all!

    The breakthroughs we are seeing mean that the UK could once again be a leader in connectivity over the next ten years, and I’m absolutely determined that we take forward those opportunities.

    But before I take you into the future, let’s just pause briefly in the present. As we shape the next generation of connectivity, we must remember that some people in this country haven’t yet got this generation of technological connectivity. There’s 1.6 million people in the UK who live largely offline. We have to factor them into our future, and our ambition is to have gigabit-capable broadband in every home and in every business, and higher quality 5G to all populated areas by 2030. Through the Digital Inclusion Action Plan, which we’ve recently launched, we’ll make sure people also have the devices and skills to be part of a digital future. We want to tackle digital exclusion so that we can take the whole of our country with us. So, deploying the best technology we have today and taking a leading role in shaping the technologies of tomorrow is vital to our economic success.

    We will shape them, obviously, with global allies – but we will be guided by three central ideas. First of all, do they bring connectivity to everyone, everywhere, whatever your circumstances? Secondly, do they have security and resilience built in from the start? And thirdly, are they built sustainably, so that better connectivity gets us closer to net zero and not further away? These are all equally important, fundamental principles and ideas behind what we’re trying to achieve in this area.

    The UK has the potential to be at the forefront as we develop these technologies. For a start, we build on research from some of the best universities in the world, and the JOINER research and innovation platform gives them a unique test network to prepare for 6G. British firms are getting connectivity to places it hasn’t gone before, like trains, offshore wind farms and space. BT, who nearly two centuries ago set up the world’s first nationwide communications network, are now leading the way with Toshiba in trials of quantum secure comms. And global companies like Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung have all chosen to do R&D work here in this country, in the United Kingdom.

    We will shape them, obviously, with global allies – but we will be guided by three central ideas. First of all, do they bring connectivity to everyone, everywhere, whatever your circumstances? Secondly, do they have security and resilience built in from the start? And thirdly, are they built sustainably, so better connectivity gets us closer to net zero and not further away? These are all equally important, fundamental principles and ideas behind what we’re trying to achieve in this area.

    The UK has the potential to be at the forefront as we develop these technologies. For a start, we build on research from some of the best universities in the world, and the JOINER research and innovation platform gives them a unique test network to prepare for 6G. British firms are getting connectivity to places it hasn’t gone before, like trains, offshore wind farms and space. BT, who nearly two centuries ago set up the world’s first nationwide communications network, are now leading the way with Toshiba in trials of quantum secure comms. And global companies like Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung have all chosen to do R&D work here in this country, in the United Kingdom.

    We can and should go further, though, making the UK a global leader in advanced connectivity. And that’s where the government and industry really must work hand-in-hand. We will strengthen our supply chains – that’s really important. Today we will publish the government’s response to the report from the Telecoms Supply Chain Diversification Advisory Council, outlining how we will support a thriving ecosystem of suppliers for our networks. I’m immensely grateful to all those who took part in the Council’s work.

    We will back your growth in this sector. Advanced connectivity will be one of the growth markets in our Industrial Strategy within the digital and technology sector. That means the backing across Whitehall to help you succeed. As a sign of that commitment, today I can announce that we will invest nearly £60 million over the next year, 2025 to 2026, to support UK leadership in R&D so that more of the technology providing the world’s critical connectivity is developed here in the UK.

    If we get this right, then ten years down the line we will be able to say that this technology has made people’s daily lives better, put more money in people’s pockets and helps to keep the UK and our allies safe in a turbulent world. That’s a connected future we can only build together.

    Thank you and I hope you have a good conference today.

  • Yvette Cooper – 2025 Speech at the Community Security Trust

    Yvette Cooper – 2025 Speech at the Community Security Trust

    The speech made by Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, in London on 26 March 2025.

    Thank you, Sir Lloyd for those kind words, good evening everyone.

    And let me start by thanking everyone involved in CST for the remarkable, tireless and crucial work you have done not just this year, but day-in, day-out for the past 3 decades to keep our Jewish communities safe and secure. The work CST does makes the difference every single day between confidence and fear, between safety and danger, between life and death, and we owe you all a huge debt of thanks.

    For the research and analysis they undertake to expose the scourge of antisemitism. The critical security they provide for hundreds of Jewish communal buildings and events every year. The fact that every week, thousands of British Jews go to school, or to synagogue, more confident in the knowledge that CST are providing protection and support.

    And I particularly want to thank all the volunteers keeping us safe here tonight.

    It is a real honour for me to be here as Home Secretary and I want to talk tonight about why CST plays such a remarkable and important role not just in the security of Jewish families and communities across Britain, but also in the security of our entire nation. And why defending our national security – the first and foremost task of any government – means defending the security and safety of Britain’s Jews.

    But there is no way to pay tribute to this extraordinary organisation, without first paying tribute to its extraordinary founder and chairman, Sir Gerald Ronson. Gerald you have been the most formidable champion for CST and for the wider Jewish community, but also whose philanthropic work on causes from protecting children to older care has had such a profoundly positive impact on society.

    Since I came to Parliament in 1997, I have watched Gerald build CST into the pioneering and world-leading organisation that it is today. So Gerald thank you for being such an astonishing advocate – because without your determination and dedication, CST would not be what it is today.

    And on a personal note, Gerald and Gail, let me thank you for being such good friends to Ed and I over these last 25 years.

    Ed and I have come many times to CST dinners through the years in different roles. I think the first time we came was before 2010 government ministers, as shadow ministers. More recently for me as Home Affairs Select Committee Chair and for Ed as co-chair of the Holocaust Memorial Foundation. But we come not because of our jobs but because of what tonight is about – strongly supporting Britain’s Jewish communities and strongly supporting the remarkable work of CST.

    Many of you have asked where Ed is tonight. He does send his apologies tonight – and this is a sentence I never thought I would hear myself say, certainly not 10 years ago – he is in Hong Kong with George Osborne recording a special edition of their podcast. Such is the life of the former politician turned dancer turned glamorous media star.

    Although I did have a moment at a recent reception like this, when I introduced myself to a table of guests and started talking about my husband co-chairing the work on the memorial. Only for one of the older guests to nod wisely and tell her friends: “I knew I recognised her from somewhere – she’s married to Eric Pickles!”.

    But I do want to commend the work that the Holocaust Memorial Foundation is doing – chaired by Ed and Eric and backed by so many of you – to ensure that the Memorial and Learning Centre are built according to plan, next to the Palace of Westminster and the seat of our democracy, to ensure that future generations of young people in our country will learn about the evil of antisemitism and the horror of where it leads.

    This government will continue the work of our predecessors ensuring that the Holocaust Memorial is built for future generations. Just as we will continue our steadfast support for the CST and for the security of Jewish communities across the UK.

    And just as the Prime Minister was unrelenting in his mission to root out the stain of antisemitism from the Labour Party after that truly shameful period in our party’s history. Now in government, we will be equally unrelenting in our crackdown on those who spread the poison of antisemitism on our streets or online.

    We may have disagreed with the previous government on many things. And we may have inherited difficult decisions on the economy and spending. But when it comes to our support for CST and keeping our communities safe, there will be absolute continuity and certainty.

    I have spoken to 2 of my predecessors here tonight, Grant Schapps and James Cleverly here tonight and we have committed to maintaining the multi-year funding for CST that Rishi Sunak announced here last year. And why we will always seek to build the broadest cross-party consensus on public protection, so that no matter who has the keys to number 10 Downing Street, our Jewish communities know that the government is on their side.

    And I know that for the community this has been another extremely difficult year. In the short months I have been in the Home Office, I and other ministers in my department have met with many of you – just as we did many times when we were on the opposition benches.

    With the CST, the Board of Deputies, the Jewish Leadership Council, the Union of Jewish Students and many more. We’ve talked about the 3,500 incidents of anti-Jewish hate that were recorded by CST last year.

    The second highest total ever reported in a single calendar year. Threats to kill sent to synagogues. Individuals spat on or assaulted in the street. Graffiti daubed on religious sites. Antisemitic bullying in schools.

    And we’ve talked not just about the disgraceful crimes and the action needed, but about the real impact they have – for you and your families.

    I have heard some of your personal experiences of what recent years have felt like. Holding your child’s hand that bit more tightly on the way to school, the extra worry about your teenagers away at university. And the sickening jolt in the stomach from the antisemitic hatred posted online, waved on placards, worn on t-shirts, or shouted openly in the streets.

    It is those painful, personal experiences that lie behind the figures.

    And make no mistake – these horrific incidents are a stain on our society that simply will not be tolerated. Not now and not ever. Because there is no place for antisemitism in Britain.

    We all know that fear has grown since the barbaric terrorist attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023. The single deadliest day for Jewish people since the Holocaust. And the past 16 months have seen intense anguish. The living nightmare of hostages and their families. The appalling devastation and destruction we have seen in Gaza.

    The ceasefire deal agreed in January provided a glimmer of hope. I know the joy every one of us in this room will have felt seeing Emily Damari reunited with her mother Mandy, and the relief of so many hostage families, as well as the desperately needed aid flowed back into Gaza.

    But the breakdown of the ceasefire and resumption of airstrikes has devastating consequences – both for the remaining hostage families and for innocent civilians in Gaza, as this cycle of suffering continues.

    That’s why the Foreign Secretary has been clear that all parties must re-engage with negotiations, because diplomacy, not more bloodshed, is how we will achieve security for Israelis and for Palestinians. And that’s why the UK government will continue to strive for a return to a path of peace and the goal of a two-state solution.

    But as Home Secretary, I am clear that we must never allow conflict happening elsewhere to lead to greater tension or hatred here on our streets, and we will never allow antisemites to use this or any conflict as an opportunity or as an excuse to spread poisonous hatred against our Jewish community here at home.

    But let me be clear what zero tolerance means, because I know how wary you are of warm words that mean nothing in practice. Zero tolerance means that we cannot and will not accept people being abused, attacked or threatened because of who they are or what they believe.

    It means where antisemitic hate crimes are committed – whether in a local community, on a national protest or on the internet – we will back the police in the action they need to take. Arrests, charges and convictions. Whenever and wherever it takes place. But zero-tolerance also means ensuring that Jewish people in this country can take part in communal life free from intimidation and fear.

    Just as all communities are entitled to that right, but particularly when they attend their place of worship. Whether it’s going to synagogue for a Shabbat service; for a bar or bat mitzvah; for a wedding; to celebrate a festival or for any other community event. We know how sacred and special those moments are in the week, in the month and in the year for the family.

    And there is no shying away from the fact that over the last 18 months – for congregants of Central Synagogue, Western Marble Arch and Westminster – those sacred and special moments have been hugely disrupted by protest activity.

    On too many occasions, Shabbat services have been cancelled and people have stayed at home – worried to travel and attend shul as they normally would. We always say, and I say it again, so nobody is in any doubt. Protest and freedom of expression are cornerstones of our democracy, and of course that must always be protected.

    People have made use of that right to peaceful protest through generations, and they will do so for many more to come. But the right to protest is not the right to intimidate.

    And the right to protest must always be balanced against the freedom for everybody else to go about their daily lives. The police already have powers to place conditions on protests. And just as we supported officers last summer taking every possible action to defend mosques from appalling attacks violent disorder on Britain’s streets.

    I have strongly supported action taken by the Metropolitan Police in recent weeks and months to divert protest routes away from synagogues on Saturday mornings. But I know how hard the community has had to fight for those conditions – each and every time. And I have listened to your calls for change.

    So tonight I can announce that we will legislate in the Crime and Policing Bill currently going through Parliament to strengthen the law. And to give the police an explicit new power to prevent intimidating protests outside places of worship. To give the police total clarity – that where a protest has an intimidating effect, such that it prevents people from accessing or attending their place of worship – the full range of public order conditions will be available for the police to use.

    Because the right to protest must not undermine a person’s right to worship. And everybody has a right to live in freedom from fear.

    We will also never stand for the desecration of memorials and gravestones, or the vandalism and graffiti inflicted on synagogues, schools, shops and community centres. These are not minor acts of criminal damage, they are hateful acts of antisemitism and they will continue to be punished as such.

    And we will make a further amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill.

    We have carried over from the previous government an important new proposal to make it a criminal offence to climb the most significant memorials in our country, such as the Cenotaph, with a maximum penalty of 3 months’ imprisonment and a £1,000 fine. So I can tell you tonight that I plan to extend the proposed list of protected memorials to include the new Holocaust Memorial in Westminster, to demonstrate our commitment to ensure it is valued as a place of reflection and respect.

    And I don’t need to tell this audience why that matters so much. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

    And I had the enormous privilege of attending the special service at the Guildhall on Holocaust Memorial Day, to hear first-hand from those who witnessed those unimaginable horrors and still tell their stories.

    When you hear the testimony of survivors – they so often start with a description of a happy childhood. Going to the park, enjoying school, playing with friends. The joy of being children – free from worry and from fear.

    And they describe how quickly things changed. How almost overnight – peace became war; communities became ghettos; life became death.

    There are only a couple of generations separating those brave survivors from our children today. So when students feel compelled to remove their kippahs or their star of David necklaces, when organisations like CST say their workload has doubled, I understand why – for this community – freedom feels so fragile and safety does not feel guaranteed.

    But that is why understanding the history of antisemitism and where it can lead is so important. Not just for us to talk about tonight, but right across government and public services, and right across society.

    And certainly, for us in the Home Office where our core responsibility is to keep the country and communities safe.

    So I have agreed with the Permanent Secretary at the Home Office, that we will roll out antisemitism awareness training across the Home Office, and when Home Office staff seek to visit Auschwitz or other concentration camps with the Holocaust Educational Trust, March of the Living, and other organisations, that will not count towards their annual leave, because we will treat that experience as a crucial part and asset for their employment.

    I want to thank the Holocaust Educational Trust, the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, the Anne Frank Trust and other brilliant organisations for the work they do to educate new generations about the horrors of the past, just as we thank the CST for its work to challenge antisemitism and keep our communities safe today.

    But there must be no doubt. CST’s work and the work of the police and the government is not just about public safety, it is about our national security.

    Because in the last few years we have seen the threats to UK national security change and become more complex.

    Not just here, but across the world, we face a series of rapidly evolving and overlapping threats, from terrorism to malign state actors.

    Just as we are updating our counter terrorism response to deal with the greatest threat from Islamist extremism, followed by far right extremism, including reforming Prevent and our counter terror laws.

    And we are also upgrading our response to state threats here on our shores. As our Security Minister, Dan Jarvis set out in the House of Commons earlier this month, it is no secret that there is a long-standing pattern of the Iranian intelligence services targeting Jewish and Israeli people across the world.

    And we are not prepared to stand for the increasingly brazen Iranian activity on British shores in recent years, with our security services thwarting an increasing number of direct plots.

    This month we have announced that the whole of the Iranian State – including Iran’s intelligence services, like the IRGC – will be placed on to the enhanced tier of our new Foreign Influence Registration Scheme. This is a critical disruptive tool that will mean those who are being directed by Iran to conduct activities in the UK must register that activity, whatever it is, or face 5 years in prison.

    And we will not hesitate to go further when we need to – to protect our communities and protect our communities and democracy from the malign influence of the Iranian state.

    And this government will continue to work in lockstep with the police, the security services, our partners overseas, we work too with partners in this country. And I speak on behalf of both the government and law enforcement when I say how important a partner CST is in that work.

    Be it the response to different extremist ideologies or the interaction with state threats, CST’s work identifies how antisemitism is the poison that pollutes so many of our wider national security challenges.

    And no one should be in any doubt about the unparalleled professionalism and extraordinary expertise with which Mark Gardner and all the teams and volunteers carry it out. The information and intelligence-sharing with police forces and government, which has contributed to the arrests and convictions of the removal of so many individuals intent on causing harm.

    And the SAFE programme, through which CST shares expertise with other minority groups who want to keep their communities safe and secure – building the bonds and bridges across different faiths that help to keep our society as a whole cohesive and strong.

    Through all of this work, CST play a pivotal role not just in securing the safety of the Jewish community but our country as a whole.

    And for that, again, to Sir Gerald, to Mark, to Sir Lloyd and everyone at CST, I want to say a heartfelt and enduring thank you. In a few short weeks, I know many people here will be gathering with family and friends to mark Passover. Gathering around the Seder (say-der) table to recount the story of the Jews’ liberation from Egypt.

    A story of hardship, of resilience and ultimately one of freedom. These are undoubtedly difficult and unstable times, we keep sight of the light in the darkness. And the light of the Jewish community continues to shine so brightly in our country.

    Just look at the thousands of volunteers who work with CST every day.

    The synagogues who, throughout the winter, have hosted homeless shelters or drop-in centres for refugees.

    The life-saving humanitarian work of World Jewish Relief in Ukraine and across the world.  The brilliance of Mitzvah Day, inspiring thousands of people to contribute to their communities. The fantastic and essential work of Jewish Women’s Aid, who support survivors of domestic abuse.

    And all of the other countless ways that our Jewish communities enrich and enhance communal life here in Britain.

    As Home Secretary, I know that security and safety are the bedrock on which all of these other opportunities in our lives are built.

    A Jewish community that feels secure means a Jewish community that can flourish. And a successful, vibrant, confident Jewish community means a better future for Britain.

    Thank you very much.

  • Keir Starmer – 2025 Comments After the Coalition of the Willing Meeting in Paris

    Keir Starmer – 2025 Comments After the Coalition of the Willing Meeting in Paris

    The comments made by Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, on 27 March 2025.

    It is now over two weeks since Ukraine agreed to an immediate 30-day ceasefire.

    That offer is still unanswered. It is over a week since Putin agreed to an energy and infrastructure ceasefire.

    Since then, Russia has hit energy infrastructure in cities across Ukraine.

    They’ve increased their bombardment.

    Firing over 1,000 long range drones at the country.

    Hitting homes, schools and hospitals, with widespread civilian casualties.

    One drone killed a mother, father and their daughter – an innocent family.

    Then, this week we saw the agreement on a ceasefire in the Black Sea.

    I welcomed this as a vital first step forward.

    But within a few minutes of the announcement,

    Russia set out new conditions and delays.

    Now President Trump has rightly called them out for dragging their feet.

    And we agreed here in Paris today that it’s clear the Russians are filibustering.

    They are playing games and playing for time.

    It is a classic from the Putin playbook.

    But we can’t let them drag this out while they continue prosecuting their illegal invasion.

    Instead, we should be setting a deadline of delivering real progress.

    And we should hold them to that deadline.

    So here in Paris we agreed that we must go further now to support the peace process. Support Ukraine and increase the pressure on Russia to get serious.

    That means – first – stepping up the military pressure.

    So the Defence Secretary will chair the next Ukraine Defence Contact Group on 11 April, to marshal more military aid and keep Ukraine in the fight.

    Because peace comes through strength.

    That was one of the main messages reasserted today and emphasised today all-round the table.

    Second, it means increasing the economic pressure on Russia – accelerating new, tougher sanctions, bearing down on Russia’s energy revenues – and working together to make this pressure count.

    We also discussed how we can support the implementation of a full or partial ceasefire, when it is in place, and how we can build efforts towards negotiations on a just and lasting peace.

    That remains our shared goal. And that is what the Coalition of the Willing is designed to support.

    The political will from partners here today was clear.

    And this week in London we hosted over 200 military planners from 30 countries. Coming forward with contributions on everything from logistics and command and control, to deployments on land, air and sea.

    That work continues at pace.

    We will be ready to operationalise a peace deal whatever its precise shape turns out to be.

    And we will work together to ensure Ukraine’s security so it can defend and deter against future attacks.

    This is Europe mobilising together behind the peace process on a scale we haven’t seen for decades.

    Backed by partners from around the world, we are determined to deliver a just and lasting peace.

    Because we know it is vital for Ukraine and Europe as a whole and I am clear that it is vital for Britain.

  • Keir Starmer – 2025 Statement on Talks in Saudi Arabia

    Keir Starmer – 2025 Statement on Talks in Saudi Arabia

    The statement made by Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, on 12 March 2025.

    I warmly welcome the agreement today in Jeddah and congratulate President Trump and President Zelenskyy for this remarkable breakthrough.

    This is an important moment for peace in Ukraine and we now all need to redouble our efforts to get to a lasting and secure peace as soon as possible.

    As both American and Ukrainian delegations have said, the ball is now in the Russian court. Russia must now agree to a ceasefire and an end to the fighting too.

    I will be convening leaders this Saturday to discuss next steps. We are ready to help bring an end to this war in a just and permanent way that allows Ukraine to enjoy its freedom.

  • Torsten Bell – 2025 Speech at the Pension and Lifetime Savings Association Conference

    Torsten Bell – 2025 Speech at the Pension and Lifetime Savings Association Conference

    The speech made by Torsten Bell, the Minister for Pensions, in Edinburgh on 11 March 2025.

    Thank you to the PLSA for the invitation to speak…

    …and for bringing us all to Edinburgh…

    …the city my first boss in politics, Alistair Darling, represented and loved.

    It is always a pleasure to come…

    …well almost always.

    Because it can trigger traumatic flashbacks.

    One stands out.

    Of a pre-dawn drive across from Glasgow back in 2014…

    …to accompany Alistair to the Andrew Marr show on the Sunday just days before the referendum.

    It’s not a great distance, nor is the traffic bad at 5am…

    ….but it felt like an eternity given the weight of events.

    Events that could have had seismic repercussions for the whole UK…

    …and for this city’s pensions, and financial services, industry.

    Whenever I hear partisans of Manchester and Birmingham compete over which is the UK’s second city…

    …I gently remind them that, when it comes to productivity, there’s no contest: it’s Edinburgh.

    I was also here last August for a rather more light-hearted kind of trauma.

    I was due to speak at the brilliant book festival…

    …and had plenty of time spare ahead of a 7pm event.

    Or at least I would have done, if it actually had a 7pm start…

    I was ambling under the castle when my team rang.

    There had been a mix-up and the event started at 6.

    It was 5.45.

    This was an event on a big, serious, topic: the UK’s economic stagnation.

    But rather than pondering that I now had a rather more practical question…

    …how fast can a newly elected MP walk, or run, up the hills of this city while retaining a shred of dignity in transit and upon arrival.

    Quite fast it turns out is the answer…

    …although opinions differ on much dignity was retained.

    This is all a long way of saying particularly thank you to the PLSA for organising today…

    …and sparing us any short notice changes to the schedule.

    So we can give pensions the unflustered attention it deserves.

    Today I want to step back to focus on the big picture…

    …of where our priorities must be as our defined contribution saving landscape matures…

    …and defined benefit schemes see their funding positions changed materially.

    On the former my big argument is we have to pay more attention to returns for savers…

    …rather than just to costs, or savings rates – important as both those are.

    Celebrating the success of auto-enrolment can no longer be a substitute for answering the harder question:

    What does the best landscape for those savings to be managed in look like?

    Both to maximise returns for savers…

    …and to ensure those savers live in a country that is investing and growing again after a long decade of economic stagnation

    Now, our view is that scale does matter.

    We want fewer, bigger, better pension schemes.

    That is already the direction of travel – for a whole host of reasons.

    We are merely providing extra wind into the consolidation processes’ sails.

    Of course, some smaller schemes deliver great value for money.

    But for the market as a whole, and savers on average, consolidation is desirable.

    Larger schemes are better placed to invest in more productive asset classes.

    This is a diversification as important as that of geography, which rightly gets so much attention.

    Scale also helps reduce costs – and increases bargaining power.

    That both can help provide the headroom for building investment capability…

    …or just better returns for members.

    Around the world we also see that scale matters for the nature of ownership.

    Only large pension schemes can provide active, engaged ownership…

    … of the kind that presses management not just on short term returns today but on whether they can deliver over the long term.

    Now, scale of course is an enabler of change, and it is very far from a silver bullet.

    One part of interlocking reforms.

    Including reforms to focus more on value, and less narrowly on cost or price.

    I’m grateful for the support there has been for the proposed value for money framework.

    It will help focus minds.

    Employers including any in the room today will have no excuse for ignoring what matters most to their employees.

    But we also need to focus on value in debates and, to be frank, in sales pitches.

    Now why do I focus on enabling productive investment?

    Because we do so little of it.

    DC pension funds allocate 3% to infrastructure and 0.5% to private equity.

    That compares to an 11% infrastructure allocation in Canada, and 5% to private equity in Australia.

    Every percentage point counts, or part of a percentage point matter when this investment can deliver not only returns for savers…

    …but also contribute to economic growth.

    and if you want a simple summary of the government’s economic strategy this is it:

    It’s time for Britain to start investing in its future again.

    Again, this shift to investing in a wider range of assets is again one we are encouraging rather than instigating.

    Many of you have told me about changes you are already delivering…

    …building new capacities or partnering with others.

    I want to acknowledge the work going on across the industry to realise this shift.

    And from learning from parts of the industry that have been doing this for decades.

    I particularly want to welcome the ambition to go further through voluntary commitments.

    This work is ongoing, under the leadership of the PLSA, City of London and the ABI…

    I want to thank them all for it…

    … I look forward to seeing the results in the coming weeks…

    …and will weigh them heavily as we finalise the Investment Review that Zoe talked about.

    Now everyone in this room, given you’ve signed up and I suspect will be here for three days, loves talking about pensions.

    But we all know, higher investment is about far more than pension reform.

    That’s why we encourage you to focus on how the overall strategy, how the pensions reform sit within that wider argument.

    It also requires a supply of investable propositions, not just the existence of capital.

    Across the board we are working to grow that pipeline and to make it more visible.

    In June we will set out our 10-year infrastructure strategy.

    The British Growth Partnership is there to help bring VC investment opportunities to pension funds.

    Our work with local and regional government will highlight investable propositions right across geographies.

    Investment propositions will also need to be visible in another sense…

    …they actually need to get built.

    We have already got back in the habit of swiftly granting permissions for the likes of solar farms and reservoirs.

    Permissions which previously policy makers seem to have decided Britain could do without.

    And today we’ve introduced the Planning Bill to make sure we do get homes and infrastructure built.

    If we’re going to invest once again…

    …we have to make it possible to build it once again.

    Now in many ways, elements of our approach build on the success of the Local Government Pension Scheme.

    At £400bn it is not just one of the world’s largest schemes in the world…

    …but one of the fastest growing, projected to reach £1 trillion by 2040.

    Now given that, we must reflect on what is working well, and what more we can do.

    One clear objective is reducing fragmentation.

    Minimum standards for asset pooling are an important step…

    …and again there is lots of progress underway.

    Thank you to those who have prepared pool transition proposals, all of which we have now received.

    A great deal of time and energy has clearly gone into them.

    We put the onus on the LGPS to come forward with creative and collaborative plans.

    And we are now considering if the proposals have met that ask.

    You have all asked for clarity as quickly as possible and I’m delighted to be meeting each and every pool in the coming weeks.

    And because it is important that concrete progress is made…

    …I am today confirming that we will plan to stick to the timeline of March 2026.

    The pooling project began 10 years ago.

    By this time next year, our world class LGPS will be made up of large pools of professionally managed capital…

    …accountable to Authorities via robust governance structures…

    …and delivering for members and their communities.

    On the Investment Review more generally, it will be finalised in the coming weeks.

    The final report will be all the better for the consultation responses we have received.

    It – and the wider changes promised in the Kings Speech – will form the basis of the Pensions Bill…

    …which I aim to introduce before the summer recess.

    That Bill brings me to the £1.2 trillion in DB schemes and the incredibly important role these schemes have to play.

    We know that the market is already innovating.

    Hence our commitment to legislate for a permanent regime for Superfunds.

    Today’s £160bn of surplus is a good ‘problem’ to have.

    Infinitely preferable to the previous problem: perma-deficits.

    Surplus flexibilities will allow more well-funded DB schemes to release resources back to business and scheme members.

    Where it is safe to do so.

    And where trustees agree.

    They are best placed to determine, in consultation with employers, the appropriate use of any surplus in their scheme.

    As an aside, some may want to examine the position of members with non-indexed pre-1997 accruals when considering the use of any surplus.

    I look forward to sharing more details with you in the response to our Options for DB schemes consultation this Spring.

    And we are considering proposals to allow the Pension Protection Fund greater flexibility to reduce the levy it collects from pension schemes, when it is not required.

    I recognise this can all sound like…. a lot.

    Especially given wider changes – dashboards and the rest.

    There are limits on any organisations ability to deliver.

    I take those constraints very seriously.

    Not everything that could be legislated for will be legislated for in the forthcoming Bill for exactly that reason.

    And we owe it to you to provide a clear roadmap of how these changes fit together.

    Now I want to end on the big picture, before my talk of capacity constraints exhausts your capacity to feign interest.

    It’s helpful to consider how “the pension problem” has changed.

    Not over recent months which is too often the focus but recent decades.

    Now here’s an overly simplistic view, but still a useful one, is as follows.

    The 1990s pension problem was this:

    How do we run pension schemes, and regulate them, to cope with the danger that some employers go bust – leaving employees without the pensions they were promised?

    That is a problem regulation, and more recently a good dose of luck, helped answer.

    The problem of the 2000s was different:

    How do we deal with the disaster that swathes of people no longer build up any pension savings, never mind any firm pension promises?

    Again, policy provided an answer in the form of automatic enrolment.

    In both cases solutions were found and that should give us confidence for our own challenges today.

    But in both cases we took too long to find them.

    Innovation in face of a chronic problem, rather than a crisis is not easy….

    …for policy makers, or anyone else working in this area

    What is today’s problem?

    The consensus is just to say adequacy, due to insufficient savings.

    I agree, the levels of contribution is an issue but I’d put the problem slightly differently.

    Today’s problem is how do we deliver higher returns for savers, so they can have a decent standard of living in retirement without asking any more than is necessary of their standard of living in the here and now.

    Or asking them to become a pensions expert – which is your job.

    Getting absolutely the best value for savers is the priority to any wider debate on savings levels.

    That’s why phase 1 of the pensions review on the landscape, and the pensions Bill that will help reduce costs in the system and put decumulation on a firmer footing, must come before phase 2 on adequacy.

    The damage done by poor returns – including during decumulation – maybe feels less binary and catastrophic than the risk of Maxwell style broken promises…

    …but it’s a mistake to underestimate its impact on savers, which can in some cases be just as great.

    So that is today’s exam question.

    We are making good progress.

    And I look forward to answering it…

    …with all of you over the months and years to come.

    Thank you very much.