The comments made by Kemi Badenoch, the Leader of the Opposition, on 6 July 2026.
This is what we now face. Russia will keep testing us. We must step up. Starmer’s Defence Investment Plan is not enough and not even funded. Labour are weakening our national security because they aren’t prepared to take tough decisions.
The Conservatives will cut welfare and fund our armed forces properly. We must make the defence of our nation the first priority of government.
The comments made by Yvette Cooper, the Foreign Secretary, on 6 July 2026.
Russia’s repeated use of chemical weapons is a sickening violation of international law and a direct threat to global security.
From the use of Novichok nerve agents in Salisbury to Epibatidine in Siberia, poisoning Dawn Sturgess and Alexei Navalny, Russia continues to use barbaric tools to inflict death and suffering on innocent civilians, including in Ukraine.
We will continue to call out Russia’s violations of the Chemical Weapons Convention, hold those responsible to account, and work with allies to deter further use of these dangerous weapons.
The comments made by Ellie Reeves on 6 July 2026.
Rape and sexual assault cause devastating, long-lasting harm, and every brave victim who comes forward deserves to know their case will be treated with dignity.
Violence against women and girls is my top priority, and the Early Victims’ Right to Review rollout is a landmark moment.
For the first time, victims of rape and serious sexual offences across all of England and Wales will have the opportunity to have their case reviewed, where eligible, giving them a second chance at justice and real control at the most critical point in their case.
This government is determined to halve violence against women and girls within a decade, and ensuring victims are given fairness, dignity and a genuine voice in the justice system is central to that mission.
The joint statement made by Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron on 3 July 2026.
The Strait of Hormuz is a vital artery for the global economy. Restoring safe transit for ships of all nations through the Strait is a matter of global concern.
The Sultanate of Oman has agreed to work with the United Kingdom and France to ensure that its sovereign territorial waters are safe for navigation.
The UK and France also stand ready to deploy the wider Multinational Military Mission to support freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.
The United Kingdom and France reaffirm their shared commitment to regional stability, respect for the sovereignty of all States, and their willingness to maintain close cooperation with their partners in order to uphold global security, freedom of navigation and international law.
The speech made by Emma Reynolds, the Environment Secretary, on 2 July 2026.
Good afternoon, Groundswell. I’m really excited to be here today.
I’ve heard so much about Groundswell so my expectations were quite high, but I have to say today has exceeded all my expectations. The passion, the energy, the innovation, the optimism, and the buzz about this place is infectious.
No wonder people call it the Glastonbury of farming.
I would like to thank the Cherry family for hosting such an amazing event and having the vision 10 years ago to set this up.
As Environment Secretary, I see nature-friendly farming not as an alternative to productive farming, but as its foundation. I believe that profitable, resilient farming comes from working with nature. That belief has been at the heart of what I’ve been doing ever since my appointment last year as Secretary of State.
We all know that healthy soils are central to nature-friendly farming. They store more water during droughts, they support diverse habitats, they support pollinators and they support pest control. They provide cleaner water, stronger ecosystems and more efficient use of inputs.
That is why I am so excited about this agenda. And earlier today I was chatting with Andy Cato. We were talking about the government’s 25-year Farming Roadmap, which I published just last week. England’s first ever long-term farming roadmap. It provides a long-term plan through to 2050, and nature and regenerative farming runs right through it.
It brings together the different things that affect your farms and that I have been talking to people about this morning. The environment, land use, animal welfare and business resilience into one clear direction.
It sets out how improving nutrient management and input efficiency will help farmers to reduce resilience on artificial fertilisers, cut input costs and, crucially, boost resilience.
Ultimately, it shows that profitability and nature are not competing aims. They are inseparable. And we need innovation to help that strategic shift set out in the roadmap to a more nature-friendly farming system.
Last week, I announced £123 million pounds through the Farming Innovation Programme to back new technology and improve productivity.
That funding is already supporting some really exciting projects. This morning, I’ve met with Harper Adams University and UK Agritech Centre to discuss how technology can cut inputs, improve resilience, and work more closely with nature.
And I’ve seen the impact that government support has on farms across the country.
Earlier this year, I met Adrian and Charlotte Downing, who run Darville’s Hill Farm in Buckinghamshire. It’s a small mixed farm with native breed sheep, rare breed pigs, and an agroforestry approach that weaves trees and hedgerows into productive farmland. Over a cup of tea, and I am a big tea drinker, they talked me through their approach. The hedgerow management gives their livestock shelter and supports wildlife. Their grazing system improves soil health and environmental management.
They had benefited from SFI, a scheme which funds actions to directly improve soil health, the foundations of regenerative farming through actions like cover crops, herbal lays and building organic matter in the soil.
Window one of SFI26 opened on Tuesday and we have seen strong interest in it already.
And I’m delighted to say today that we are allowing farmers with land management agreements that are soon to expire to apply early for SFI26 so that you have the same confidence in the future as we do.
So, I’m really pleased to confirm that this new functionality will be available for window two, which opens in September.
But as I said, behind the numbers, there is a real story. Because when we get soil right, so much else follows. It means stronger crops, lower input costs, greater resilience. So in 10, 20 years’ time, the next generation can continue to run productive farm businesses, thriving landscapes, and a countryside richer in nature.
It’s why I’m delighted to announce today that we are making changes to the Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier, changes that will make the scheme simpler and more accessible.
The scheme already supports some of the most ambitious environmental work happening on farms today, bringing wetlands, peatlands and heathlands back to life, helping threatened species recover, restoring rivers and floodplains and caring for ancient and native woodlands.
Until now, the Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier has been invitation only, very exclusive. That is changing. From later this summer, farmers and land managers will be able to submit an expression of interest and we are introducing simpler, single-focus agreements so applicants can focus on the environmental priorities that matter most on their land.
Backed by at least £50 million pounds for new agreements, this will help support targeted improvements where they can make the biggest difference. And we will set out more detail later this summer.
So, ladies and gentlemen, I want to take a step back now and look at how far we’ve come in just a year.
I’ve published a long-term roadmap for the future of farming. I’ve published a revised Environmental Innovation Programme. I’ve published the country’s first ever Land Use Framework. And we have reopened SFI with record levels of investment. And backed innovation that will help farm businesses become more productive, more profitable and more resilient.
Thank you all again for engaging with us to help make all of this possible, for your willingness to adapt as farmers have always adapted across the generations.
What I see at Groundswell gives me great inspiration and great optimism for the future. Your determination to leave the land in a better condition for the next generation is truly impressive.
Thank you very much.
The statement made by Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, in the House of Commons on 2 July 2026.
Thank you Mr Speaker. This morning in Downing Street, I met some of the mothers and adult adoptees harmed by historic adoption practices in England.
They are here with us in the gallery today and I had the chance to talk with them privately.
They are the most remarkable women, and I know the whole House will want to join me in paying tribute to the extraordinary courage with which they have shared their harrowing testimonies and fought for the truth, time and again.
I have to confess, as I said to them this morning, that I found it difficult to read the testimonies and to hear their stories. I found it particularly hard as a dad.
How much harder it must have been for them to go through that, to set out their testimonies, and tell their stories over and over again.
As they said to me this morning, something that is so intensely private, having to be public and the courage and resilience they have shown – and others alongside them – is absolutely incredible and I want to mark that.
Mr Speaker, what happened to them – and to tens of thousands of mothers, children and families – should never have happened.
It is a stain on our history.
Mothers – many young, vulnerable, and without support – were coerced, bullied or misled into feeling they had no choice but to have their children taken from them. What a thing to do.
And Mr Speaker, these were not isolated or accidental acts.
They were practices embedded within systems across local authorities, across voluntary and faith-based institutions, and in health and social care services, including parts of what is now the NHS.
All institutions that operated with power over people’s lives, yet they did so without compassion, without consent, and without dignity or proper safeguards.
Mr Speaker, these practices were particularly prevalent between 1949 and 1976 but also extended beyond those years.
In some cases, women, including those placed in Mother and Baby Homes and other institutional settings, were cut off from their families, relationships, education and employment and subjected to harsh and isolated conditions.
Some experienced treatment that amounted to exploitation and abuse.
Mr Speaker, many were made to feel ashamed – and that came through very, very powerfully in the discussions I had this morning – silenced, and unworthy of care or dignity.
Children grew up believing they were unwanted.
Young mothers were told they were immoral – and that their babies were better off without them.
And again, as they told me this morning, that lasts a lifetime and has a huge impact.
Ann Lloyd Keen, here in the gallery and of course formerly of this House.
Described to the Education Committee how she was stitched without anaesthetic and told – and I quote – that she was told: “You will remember the pain, because you’ve been a bad girl”
Mr Speaker, many of those harmed in this way feel a gut-wrenching sense of shame.
Ann and others have said that stayed with her – and that she still feels it today.
And I know that this apology will not be able to lift that completely, it will help a little I hope, but it won’t lift it completely.
Mr Speaker, today I say to Ann, to everyone here in the gallery with us and to all those impacted and affected wherever they are in the country – and there are many, many thousands of them, including some who are have still been unable to speak about what happened to them to this day.
And I hope this statement and this apology perhaps gives some of them the confidence to speak about what happened to them because it will help in a small way.
But I say this.
The shame is not yours. The shame was never yours. The shame is ours.
And I say that on behalf of the whole country, I say it to every single person impacted, we are deeply and profoundly sorry.
To the mothers who were told they were unfit who were prevented from caring for the children they desperately wanted to help and to keep and who have carried this loss for decades.
To those who were not given the information they needed to provide informed consent, who faced pressure or coercion, and who experienced practices that were unethical.
To the sons and daughters, the children who are now adults, who through pressure and coercion within these systems, were taken from their families and denied their identity, their history, and sometimes their safety.
To those who grew up believing they were unwanted, some of whom were even told directly that they were second class.
To those who have carried a burden of loss, confusion and stigma, or who experienced neglect, and abuse, without the protection or oversight that should have been their right.
To those who have experienced lifelong uncertainty, loss, or questions around identity and belonging, or whose mental and physical health, relationships, and sense of self across their lives has been affected.
To the fathers who were denied a voice, excluded from decisions, or separated from their children.
To the siblings, grandparents, partners, extended families, and future generations who have lived with the consequences of these practices.
To those who experienced harm from these practices, even while being brought up in loving homes, by their adoptive parents.
To those who were adopted across borders or cultures who lost connections to their heritage, racial and personal identity.
And to those from ethnic minority backgrounds who experienced racism or were treated differently within these systems and who as a group were less likely to be adopted or to grow up in stable family homes.
Mr Speaker I am struck by the words of Debbie Iromlou who I met this morning. She says she was “raised with racist views towards her own biological family.”
Mr Speaker, how do you even begin to comprehend that?
To each and every one of those affected, we say a deep and heartfelt sorry.
And Mr Speaker, let me be clear and unequivocal. These harms were compounded by the actions and failures of the State.
Governments funded, enabled and relied upon systems that were not consistently or effectively overseen.
The State did not prevent harm from continuing.
The State bears responsibility for the systems it funded and legitimised, which enabled these practices to occur.
The State did not do enough to protect mothers, children and families from harm.
And for this systemic failure, I am truly sorry.
Mr Speaker, many of those affected have suffered a further injustice.
They’ve had to fight for the basic human right to know their own history.
As Sally Ells has put it – “We are treated as if the information about our own lives, does not belong to us”
Debbie was told her birth mother’s life would be in danger if she tried to search for her. Barriers put in place at every twist and turn.
Records have in some cases been lost, altered, or not made fully accessible to those seeking answers.
And the whole process is painfully slow – traumatic and dehumanising all over again.
Mr Speaker we do say sorry and we mean it, but sorry is not enough.
This must also be the start of real change.
Working with those affected and their families to improve access to records.
And to provide the care and support that people need.
So today I can tell the House.
We will fund the development of a national online resource, creating a single access point to locate records wherever they might be held across the country.
We will consult on requiring existing records to be retained for 100 years, so they remain available across the lifetime of those affected.
And my Rt Hon Friend the Education Secretary is today writing to local authorities, Regional Adoption Agencies and Voluntary Adoption Agencies, setting out the expectation that requests for records should be responded to swiftly and with compassion and consistency.
We will expand access to funded intermediary services with particular focus on pre-1976 cases where access to support is currently most limited.
We will establish national virtual peer-led support groups for mothers and adopted adults to improve access to ongoing, trauma-informed support across the country.
And we will work with NHS England to ensure those affected are taken seriously when they seek help.
This includes new support for clinicians to better understand the impact of forced adoption and respond appropriately in their care.
The NHS England will also explore how those who wish to do so can have their experience of forced adoption appropriately recorded in their health record.
And finally, to further recognise those affected, and ensure we learn the lessons of the past, we will also commission a testimonials project to capture the stories of those with experience of historic forced adoption practices.
Through all of this and more, we will continue to meet regularly with those with lived experience, guided by them to get this support right, to learn from our past – and ensure that nothing like this can ever happen in this country again.
Finally, Mr Speaker, this national apology reflects and builds on the approaches taken by Scotland and Wales, whose devolved governments have also issued apologies for these practices which we fully endorse.
And I welcome the process underway in Northern Ireland to establish a Statutory Public Inquiry into Mother and Baby Institutions, Madgalene Laundries and Workhouses.
I also want to thank the Joint Committee on Human Rights and the Education Select Committee for all they have done to shine a light on this injustice.
But most of all, I want to thank those who have campaigned for so long to have the truth recognised, including those who are no longer with us to hear this apology they fought for.
It should never have happened.
And you should not have had to fight for this day to come.
But today, finally, I do say on behalf of the State – and on behalf of the nation as a whole –
We see you. We hear you. And we are truly sorry.
And I commend this statement to the House.
The comments made by Bridget Phillipson, the Secretary of State for Education, on 2 July 2026.
This is one of the defining challenges of this government. Fixing it is crucial to the prosperity of our country: we cannot afford to let a generation of young people drift away from opportunity and more fulfilled lives.
Accurate, timely tracking is not a box-ticking exercise, it’s the difference between a young person getting support early or falling through the cracks entirely. While local authorities do incredibly difficult work, often against real constraints, it’s not consistent enough.
We’re supporting councils to intervene early to help, as part of our new deal for young people, to ensure they realise their potential through worthwhile training and stable careers.
The comments made by Bridget Phillipson, the Secretary of State for Education, on 1 July 2026.
Our brilliant school and college teachers go above and beyond every day, and I’m determined that dedication is not just recognised, but rewarded.
This multi-year deal, backed by significant additional investment, shows the immense value we place in our teachers, while giving schools and colleges certainty over pay and their budgets.
It’s also right that classroom teachers are not seeing executive pay rise faster than their own – or set at excessive levels in the first place – so tighter controls will mean unjustifiable exec salaries become a thing of the past, helping level the playing field for school staff and drive every pound towards classrooms.
The comments made by Lisa Nandy, the Secretary of State for Culture, on 1 July 2026.
The National Lottery is played by millions of people every single week. It is not just public money, it is literally the public’s money and they must be in the driving seat of how it is spent.
But for two decades no government has asked people how they want their money to be spent. Decisions are made hundreds of miles from communities who know best and favour larger organisations who can meet the needs of the system, rather than bending the system to work for the small, grassroots organisations who are the lifeblood of our communities.
This Government is determined that will change. With this consultation we are bringing people back into the conversation. They will write the next chapter in the story of the National Lottery and of our country.
The speech made by Peter Kyle, the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, on 1 July 2026.
Thank you for your very kind and warm words. It is great to see you all here today. It is great to see your whole team come over Minister Wang.
The JETCO tomorrow is the third major meeting between our governments in less than one year. And that is a cause for real, genuine celebration.
There was our JETCO in Beijing last September, and of course the Prime Minister’s historic visit back in January – the first such visit in eight years.
And I know many of the attendees of that meeting are joining us here today as part of the delegation. And I have to say, thanks to you, it was a huge success.
It unlocked £2.2 billion in new export deals and a further £2.3 billion in market access wins over the next five years.
As a result of that visit we now enjoy visa free travel, making it easier for professionals to travel and do business across China. This is something businesses have repeatedly told us that they are keen to do.
But we also made real progress in breaking down the barriers to trade. That includes China cutting tariffs on UK whisky exports from 10 per cent to 5 per cent – a vital boost to an iconic British sector.
Minister Wang and I were present when the Prime Minister and President Xi were discussing that and it was a real win I think for both of our countries.
But even more important than that, these meetings have been rebuilding a relationship that has been dormant for far too long.
The fact is, in an unstable geopolitical climate, the most important thing we can do now is to talk to each other.
Because talking to each other, even when we have differences, means that we can understand each other.
And by understanding each other, it means that we can work together.
And by working together, we can build stability between us as countries and governments but also for and on behalf of business.
Tomorrow, those talks, and that work, will continue as we discuss how to implement the MOUs that we signed back in January.
And as we discuss how to step up our trading relationship even further.
We have already come to a strong understanding between us.
Our Industrial Strategy, and the Chinese five-year-plan, well I think that they are very well aligned. Some of our sectors overlap. And that creates opportunity for both of our countries.
We’ve already seen some of that opportunity become reality.
British firms across the Industrial Strategy sectors are showing just what they can offer.
Silverstream Technologies has worked with 13 major Chinese shipyards to install their net-zero lubrication technology to new builds and also to retrofits.
Meanwhile Anemoi Marine Technologies has secured £28 million in export value through sales of its Flettnor Rotor Sails.
We’re working together in sport also, with World Snooker agreeing a £15 million five‑year deal in China, including new major events in Chinese cities.
And in life sciences companies like Cultech have partnered with China resources to deliver £90 million in exports and create jobs in Port Talbot in Wales.
But where I’m hoping we can make some real headway is on services.
Services make up 59% of our exports to the world, but only 42% of what we export to China.
That’s an area where we are a genuine global leader, and where we have lots to offer, especially to Chinese businesses looking to grow and export around the world.
I know hundreds of British businesses are champing at the bit to get their presence in China.
That’s what I want to see as our next steps: To get British services on Chinese business’s speed dial.
To bring China to the top of our companies’ minds for expansion. To ensure that as Chinese companies go global, UK professional service companies are their first phone call.
To build a services superhighway between London and Beijing.
Of course, neither Rome, nor London or Beijing was built in a day.
It will take time and it will take hard work to create a relationship that works well for both countries.
That’s why after the Prime Minister’s trip in January, we agreed a new Bilateral Services Partnership.
A structured channel to take forward practical issues affecting UK services, sector by sector, building on the access and political mandate that that visit created.
Under the Partnership, we are working directly with the Ministry of Commerce to address challenges that businesses face in areas where the UK has clear strengths and firms are already active – like financial services, professional and business services and also in education.
As part of that partnership, both the UK and China have committed to establish a Professional and Business Services Matchmaking platform. It will give Chinese companies looking to go global access to UK expert companies that can make that dream a reality.
And work is happening fast on the Joint Feasibility Study on a bilateral Trade Services Agreement.
The sector keeps chasing me on when they can expect to see some more progress on all of these initiatives, so I’m hoping to make some real steps forward in our discussions – if only for the sake of reducing my inbox!
And we are looking forward to hosting our next Economic and Financial Dialogue in London later this year, from which we will announce the next actions and the next steps that we will take together.
And looking further ahead, because we want to keep momentum going, strengthening our work together in the areas that will benefit us both, and opening up new ways for our businesses to work together, to grow together and to learn from each other.
Serious engagement is back. By working together, and talking together, both of our nations will prosper.
Thank you.