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  • Rachel Reeves – 2024 Mansion House Speech

    Rachel Reeves – 2024 Mansion House Speech

    The speech made by Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, at the Mansion House in London on 14 November 2024.

    Lord Mayor, Governor, Ladies and Gentlemen.

    It’s an honour to be here with you this evening.

    Thank you to the City of London Corporation for hosting us.

    It is a privilege to follow the Lord Mayor’s address…

    … and to give my first Mansion House speech.

    As the Lord Mayor said, there are so many reasons to be optimistic about our country…

    … and I absolutely share his ambition for our potential.

    The potential of our financial services sector.

    The potential we have to make Britain more competitive.

    And critically, the potential that we have to grow our economy.

    That is why…

    … both in opposition and now in government…

    … improving economic growth has been at the very heart of everything that I am seeking to achieve.

    In my Mais lecture earlier this year…

    … I set out my view that we are in a moment of flux…

    … and a new approach was required to build secure and sustainable growth…

    … on the platform of stability, investment and reform.

    When I arrived at the Treasury just over four months ago…

    … I said on day one that economic growth was now our national mission…

    … as I set out plans to tackle some of the longstanding issues in the supply-side of our economy.

    And two weeks ago, I delivered my first budget as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

    It was a once in a parliament budget to wipe the slate clean.

    It was a budget that tackled two elements in our plan for economic growth.

    First, it provided economic stability…

    … by putting our public finances back on a firm footing.

    That required difficult choices.

    On spending, on welfare, and on tax.

    But by making those tough choices now…

    … we are providing stability for the long-term.

    Because instability in our public finances leads to instability in our financial markets.

    That is not good for investment.

    That is not good for growth.

    And it is not good for business.

    So by drawing a line under instability…

    … business can now plan for the future.

    And we have provided stability for our public services too…

    … which now deliver within the spending envelope that they have been set…

    … and through reform, they must live within their means.

    The second step that we took to improve economic growth at the budget…

    … was to change course on public investment.

    Public investment was set to fall by nearly 1% of GDP under the plans that I inherited.

    That would have held back our growth potential for many years to come.

    As the International Monetary Fund have set out…

    … low levels of public investment have been a major contributing factor to the UK’s weak growth performance…

    … not least, because it makes it harder to catalyse the private investment that we so badly need.

    Now, as a result of the measures that we have taken…

    … public investment will be £100bn higher over the next five years…

    … creating jobs…

    … and driving growth and opportunity across the United Kingdom.

    This will be delivered alongside a series of vital guardrails…

    … to ensure that spending delivers the very best value-for-money…

    … provides returns for taxpayers…

    … catalyses private investment…

    … and significantly boosts growth and productivity.

    Because of the steps that we took…

    … the Office of Budget Responsibility have set out that, in the long-term…

    … our policies would permanently increase the supply capacity of our economy.

    But that does not represent the height of my ambition.

    I know that we can do more…

    … to go further and faster in realising our growth potential.

    So that is why economic growth will continue to be the central mission in the weeks, months and years ahead.

    Having focused on economic stability and public investment in the budget…

    … tonight I will set out the steps that we are taking …

    …to drive growth across the other key areas that have long been my priority.

    Increasing private investment.

    And reforming our economy.

    Let me begin with our plans to increase investment.

    More investment is how we spur innovation and growth.

    It is how we boost the efficiency and the capacity of our economy.

    And it is how we create the new opportunities and high-skilled jobs in every part of our country.

    Today, I am focusing on how we continue to attract investment across the world.

    And how we increase private investment…

    … by working in partnership with business…

    … and specifically, with the financial services sector.

    Before entering politics, I worked as an economist at the Bank of England.

    And then in financial services.

    Before we came into government…

    … I was clear that financial services must play a central part in our economic vision…

    … and our plans for economic growth.

    Because I know that this sector is the crown jewel in our economy.

    It employs 1.2m people, from London to Edinburgh, and from Manchester to Belfast.

    It is one of the country’s largest and most productive sectors, accounting for 9% of our economic output.

    And it is a global success story, as the Lord Mayor has said: we are the second largest exporter of financial services in the G7.

    But we cannot take the UK’s status as a global financial centre for granted.

    In a highly competitive world…

    … we need to earn that status…

    … and we need to work to keep it.

    I have been determined to do just that since becoming Chancellor.

    Just one week into office, I welcomed the biggest changes to the UK’s listing regime in over three decades…

    … to reform our capital markets…

    … increasing the flexibility for firms and founders of British high growth companies…

    … so we have more British success stories…

    … like Raspberry PI and Applied Nutrition…

    … IPO right here in the UK.

    In our first month, we launched the landmark Pensions Review, and I will return to that later in my speech.

    And in September, we announced the final stage of our post-crisis reforms to banks’ capital requirements…

    … marking the end of the journey to ensure that banks are well-capitalised…

    … working side by side with the Governor…

    … strengthening the resilience of our banking system…

    … whilst protecting banks’ ability to lend to small and medium enterprises…

    … and also for infrastructure.

    Now, we must build on the steps we’ve already taken.

    In the Spring, we will publish the first ever Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy.

    This will give the financial services sector the confidence it needs to invest.

    Financial services is one of the eight growth sectors in our modern industrial strategy…

    … recognising that, just as in other parts of the economy…

    … we must constantly work to remove barriers to growth and investment.

    This approach will ensure that we promote our strengths across the world.

    And today, we are setting out the five, priority growth opportunities on which that strategy will focus…

    … Fintech…

    … sustainable finance…

    … asset management and wholesale services…

    … insurance and reinsurance…

    … and capital markets.

    And we will work in partnership with you…

    … on the development of the strategy…

    … ahead of its publication in the Spring…

    … driven forward by our City Minister, Tulip Siddiq

    By providing the basis of long-term stability for the sector…

    … we are laying the foundations for more private investment.

    The UK has the lowest levels of business investment in the G7 as a percentage of GDP.

    In the Budget, we confirmed our plans to capitalise the flagship impact investor, the National Wealth Fund…

    … to invest in the industries of the future…

    … and catalyse over £70bn of private investment.

    And in the last month alone, the National Wealth Fund has struck a number of deals…

    … including funding to deliver full fibre broadband across the UK…

    … and to support the building of new infrastructure in Wales.

    The PRA, the Treasury and the National Wealth Fund will work together to crowd in investment by insurers…

    … in productive assets…

    … taking full advantage of the new Solvency UK regulatory regime.

    That includes investment in clean energy projects.

    I want London to be the place where the billions needed to finance the energy transition are financed…

    … and we have already mobilised significant private capital through the International Investment Summit last month…

    … including £4bn for the East Anglia 2 wind farm…

    … and £2bn to build new solar farms in Essex, Yorkshire and Wiltshire.

    This week, the Prime Minister welcomed the launch of the Climate Investment Fund Capital Market Mechanism on the London Stock Exchange.

    Tonight we are building on these foundations to deliver a world-leading sustainable finance framework.

    This will be built in partnership with industry…

    … and we will be co-launching the Transition Finance Council alongside the City of London Corporation.

    This presents a huge opportunity for the UK financial services sector…

    … and I am determined that we win this race for global business.

    Alongside our National Wealth Fund…

    … we must ensure that there are a wide range of other vehicles to drive private investment.

    Tonight, I want to focus on our plans in one of those key areas: pension funds.

    Our pensions market is one of the largest in the world.

    There will be £800bn of assets in workplace Defined Contribution schemes…

    … and £500bn of assets in the local government pension scheme…

    … by the end of this decade.

    Pension funds will always play an important role in the gilt market…

    … but for too long, pensions capital has not been used to support the development of British start-ups, scale-ups or to meet our infrastructure needs.

    I have long been of the view that this hurts our economy…

    … because our highest-potential businesses cannot expand…

    … and savers are not seeing the returns on their investment which they deserve.

    So I was pleased when the previous government, led by my predecessor as Chancellor…

    … working with industry…

    … took steps through the Mansion House Compact…

    … to encourage more pension fund investment into productive assets.

    I welcomed those reforms and we will take them forward…

    … but now we need to go further.

    That is why one of my first steps as Chancellor was to announce the Pensions Investment Review…

    … led by our first ever joint Treasury and DWP Minister for Pensions, Emma Reynolds…

    … who has worked with many of you over recent months.

    Australian pension schemes invest around 3 times more in infrastructure investment compared to Defined Contribution schemes in the UK…

    … and 10 times more in private equity, including in high growth businesses, compared to the UK.

    One of the key reasons for this is the much larger size of their funds…

    … while our pensions landscape remains highly fragmented.

    That means many of our pension funds do not have the capacity to invest at the scale required.

    And more often than not, it is Canadian teachers and Australian professors…

    … reaping the rewards of investing in British productive assets through their pensions schemes…

    … rather than British savers.

    That’s not good enough…

    … and we need to change that.

    So tonight, we are publishing the interim report of the Pensions Investment Review.

    It sets out our plans to create Canadian and Australian style-“megafunds” to power growth in our economy…

    … and start the most significant set of changes to the pensions landscape since the Turner Review…

    … underpinned by a clear commitment to legislate for these changes for the first time…

    … in the Pension Scheme Bill next year.

    We will deliver a significant consolidation of the Defined Contribution market…

    … to enable schemes to deliver better saver outcomes…

    … while investing to support growth.

    And we will legislate on measures to consolidate the Local Government Pension Scheme…

    … one of the largest pension schemes in the world…

    … and require that the 86 Local Government Pension Scheme administering authorities consolidate all their assets into 8 pools.

    These reforms will deliver real change in our economy.

    Through consolidation of the DC market and Local Government Pension Schemes into megafunds…

    … previous domestic and international experience suggests…

    …that we could unlock around £80bn for investment in private equity, including exciting growth businesses…

    … and in vital infrastructure projects including transport, energy and housing projects here in the UK.

    We will take a more proactive approach to working with investors to ensure that capital is directed to the UK’s biggest growth opportunities.

    We are creating NISTA and we will publish a ten-year infrastructure strategy…

    … to ensure that there is a pipeline of projects to attract that investment.

    We have established a new pathfinder British Growth Partnership…

    … to crowd-in institutional investment into venture capital funds and innovative businesses here in the UK.

    This work is already making an impact.

    I can confirm this evening that Aegon UK…

    … will be a substantial cornerstone investor…

    … and Natwest Cushon…

    … and they have now agreed to work with the British Business Bank on the launch of the British Growth Partnership…

    … with a view to making an investment in the initial fund.

    The final area I want to focus on when it comes to investment is the importance of looking internationally.

    Last month, with the support of many people in this room – including the Lord Mayor and Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, and M&G – we hosted an International Investment Summit in London…

    … where we saw £63bn of investment flow into the UK.

    That shows the potential that we have to attract funding from across the world into our country.

    But I want to be clear-eyed about the context in which the UK…

    … and its businesses…

    … will be operating under in the years ahead.

    We face geopolitical uncertainty.

    There are other countries who are looking for the very same economic opportunities as we are.

    And we face structural challenges too, including those which have come from Brexit.

    It will not be straightforward to navigate all of these headwinds.

    We should be honest about that.

    But as we navigate them…

    … I will be guided by a clear principle.

    I will always do what is in our national interest…

    … for our economy…

    … for our businesses…

    … and for the British people.

    That means free and open trade…

    … especially with our most economically important partners.

    That includes the United States…

    … our single most important destination for financial services trade…

    … and there is so much potential for us to deepen our economic relationship on areas such as emerging technologies.

    I look forward to working closely with President-Elect Trump, and his team, to strengthen our relationship in the years ahead.

    And of course our biggest trading partner is the European Union.

    We will not be reversing Brexit or re-entering the single market or customs union…

    … but we must reset our relationship.

    That will be my message when I attend the Eurogroup meeting of finance ministers in Brussels next month.

    We must recognise that our markets are highly inter-connected…

    … and ensure that on the economy and in financial services…

    … our approach supports growth and delivers investment.

    And where there are other important economic opportunities for the UK…

    … including by engaging with significant and fast-growing economies like India, China and the Gulf states…

    … we will look to realise those opportunities, too.

    Alongside economic stability…

    … and higher levels of investment…

    … we need reform.

    Supply-side reform has been a central part of our work in the last four months…

    … through changes to our planning system to unlock housing and new infrastructure…

    … policies to reduce economic inactivity, improve skills and bring people back into the workplace…

    … and a focus on place-based measures to deliver growth right across the UK.

    I know the Governor will have more to say on the topic of supply-side reform shortly.

    Tonight, I want to build on the work we have done…

    … which puts reform at the heart of this government’s agenda.

    First, I am clear that this must include reform of our public services.

    In the budget, I set out our future spending plans…

    … to ensure that our public services have the investment that they need for the years ahead.

    That additional investment comes with the clear expectation of better value for money…

    … and higher productivity.

    As the Secretary of State for Health said yesterday…

    … taxpayers welcome the additional investment we put it into the NHS…

    … but they worry it won’t be spent wisely.

    So reform will be a central focus of the second phase of the Spending Review right across government.

    We will use digital technology more effectively.

    We will focus on prevention, to manage pressures in the system.

    We will join-up services across government to increase efficiency and to bring costs down.

    And we will harness the knowledge and expertise of business leaders as we do so…

    … so that we can ensure that we bring the best ideas into government from beyond Whitehall, too.

    Alongside this …

    … we need economic reform to unlock the full potential growth potential of the British economy.

    Our approach to regulation is a critical part of that.

    As the Prime Minister has already set out, the key test for regulation is whether it will make our economy more dynamic and more competitive.

    So we will review the strategic guidance that we give to the CMA and to other major regulators…

    … to underline the importance of growth.

    That includes our financial service regulators.

    It was right that successive governments made regulatory changes after the Global Financial Crisis…

    … to ensure that regulation kept pace with the global economy of the time…

    … but it is important that we learn the lessons of the past.

    These changes have resulted in a system which sought to eliminate risk taking.

    That has gone too far…

    … and, in places, it has had unintended consequences that we must now address.

    Let me set out some examples.

    First, while the Senior Managers and Certification Regime has helped to improve standards and accountability…

    … some elements of it have become overly costly and administratively burdensome.

    So the Treasury, the FCA and the PRA will shortly publish the outcomes of our review…

    … including a commitment to consult on removing the current Certification Regime from legislation.

    Second, as the PRA have acknowledged…

    … post-crisis pay structures made the UK an international outlier on deferral arrangements…

    … so we will support their intention to consult on reducing the length of pay deferrals…

    … helping firms to attract and retain talent.

    Third, some of our regulatory requirements are duplicative, and they could be streamlined…

    … so I look forward to seeing the outcomes of the FCA’s Handbook Review…

    …which can free up resources for businesses to innovate and to grow.

    And finally, while regulation has been successful in improving the quality of financial advice being offered to consumers…

    … many people do not get the help with their finances that they want and need…

    … so the FCA will shortly consult on transformational changes to financial advice and guidance…

    … to ensure that people get the right support.

    As these examples show…

    …the UK has been regulating for risk, but not regulating for growth.

    So while maintaining important consumer protections…

    … upholding international standards of regulation…

    … and protecting the vital stability of our financial services system…

    … now is also the moment to rebalance our approach….

    … and take forward the next stage of reforms needed to drive growth, competitiveness and investment.

    The last government introduced legislation to make growth and competitiveness secondary objectives for our regulators…

    … which we supported in opposition.

    Tonight I can announce that we have issued new growth-focused remit letters to the Financial Conduct Authority…

    … Prudential Regulation Committee…

    … Monetary Policy Committee..

    … Financial Policy Committee…

    … and the Payment Systems Regulator.

    These make clear that I expect them to fully support this government’s ambitions on economic growth.

    I welcome the work that the FCA and PRA have already started…

    … and I look forward to seeing their next steps to deliver that growth and competitiveness.

    I have also heard from many of you that our approach to redress can cause uncertainty..

    … and be a drag on investment.

    The Financial Ombudsman Service plays a vital role for consumers to get redress when things have gone wrong, and that will not change.

    But reform is needed to create a surer climate for investment.

    So we have worked closely with the FCA and the Ombudsman to develop a new agreement between the two institutions…

    … with clearer expectations on how they cooperate…

    … including on historic market practice and mass redress events.

    And I strongly welcome their joint Call for Input, to be published tomorrow…

    … which seeks to significantly improve the rules governing how the Service operates.

    Alongside these measures…

    … we are tonight setting out a range of further steps…

    … to build a true partnership between government and the financial services sector…

    … and unlock its potential.

    Let me take you through them.

    Because reforming capital markets is a priority for this government…

    … we are today committing to legislate to establish PISCES…

    … an innovative new stock market…

    … by May 2025…

    … to support companies to scale and grow.

    We are supporting innovation in the financial services sector…

    … by launching a pilot to deliver a Digital Gilt Instrument…

    … referred to as DIGIT…

    … using distributed ledger technology.

    Insurance markets are also pivotal in supporting growth.

    So we are today publishing a consultation on captive insurance…

    … where a new approach could cement the UK’s position as a leading financial services centre.

    And alongside the regulators’ continued efforts, we will consider further steps to improve the UK’s Insurance Linked Securities offer.

    To protect the integrity of the financial services sector…

    … we are working with tech platforms and telco networks to reduce the scale of incidence and losses from fraud.

    To empower female entrepreneurs and support women in business…

    … we are backing the ambitious work of the Invest in Women taskforce, led by Debbie Wosskow and Hannah Bernard…

    … delivered alongside our Women in Finance Charter – led by Dame Amanda Blanc – which continues to go from strength to strength.

    To support the mutual sector…

    … we are launching our call for evidence on the credit union ‘common bond’…

    … and asking regulators to report on the mutuals landscape.

    And I welcome the work of Nationwide, Co-operative Group, Arla and Royal London to establish an industry-led Mutuals Council to drive growth in the sector.

    And finally, we are publishing our National Payments Vision…

    … including decisive action to progress Open Banking…

    … and support our fintech businesses.

    Lord Mayor, Governor, Ladies and Gentlemen.

    In the budget, two weeks ago…

    … we fixed the foundations…

    … and restored stability to our public finances.

    The precondition for a strong and successful economy.

    The changes that I have set out this evening will drive growth and competitiveness…

    … through investment and through reform.

    A long-term strategy to harness the strengths of our financial services sector.

    Making the UK a global leader in sustainable finance.

    Reducing uncertainty by developing the right approach to redress.

    Reinvigorating our capital markets by unlocking private investment through our pension funds.

    And reforming our approach to regulation to make it more dynamic and the sector more competitive.

    Taken together, these measures represent the most pro-growth financial services package since the financial crisis.

    Because we cannot rest on our laurels.

    Where we have strengths…

    … we must build on them.

    Where we have weaknesses…

    … we must address them.

    And in everything we do, we will work together…

    … with you …

    … in partnership.

    Because that is what our country needs to prosper and to grow.

    Thank you very much.

  • Georgia Gould – 2024 Speech to the National Leadership Forum

    Georgia Gould – 2024 Speech to the National Leadership Forum

    The speech made by Georgia Gould, the Parliamentary Secretary at the Cabinet Office, at the QEII Conference Centre in London on 14 November 2024.

    I am really delighted to be here

    I was keen to be here to firstly say thank you.

    I have been in local government for 14 years, with seven years as a leader.

    And I have seen firsthand how hard things have been.

    But also the extraordinary love, care and dedication of public sector leaders at every level.

    How an under-valued public sector stepped up to support communities through covid.

    How so many people risked their lives to keep others safe.

    How leaders had to create new systems quickly.

    And how the work has continued through recovery and the cost of living crisis.

    And too often I have seen that political decision making has failed citizens and those trying to serve them.

    Drastic cuts, short term budgets , top down decisions, constantly changing priorities.

    Resources wasted on bidding for small pots of money rather than real partnerships for change.

    It has often felt that serving people and communities has required you to work against the system.

    Overworked staff handling growing caseloads and demand.

    Citizens experiencing longer waiting lists for help and finding they have to battle to get support.

    Lord Darzi’s report showed the NHS is in a ‘critical condition’, with 6.4 million people on the waiting list for elective treatment in England and 10 % of patients waiting over 12 hours in A&E, deepening health inequalities.

    And local government budgets are increasingly taken up with supporting people in crisis.

    Today 80% of children services spend is on acute service, while just 7% is on prevention spend.

    But I don’t want to just focus on how hard it has been – everyone in this room has lived it.

    Because there has been another story.

    Across the public sector people haven’t just accepted the status quo, they are working to change it.

    They have come together across different organisations to wrap support around people when it would have been easier to stay in silos.

    They have brought together the VCs and private sector to create new coalitions for change.

    They have developed new solutions that make it easier for people to navigate services.

    They have found a way to innovate under extreme pressure.

    In Manchester, I visited health and care hubs where local police, council and NHS services had come together to provide a joined up service, so citizens didn’t have to spend months waiting for different organisations to speak to each other.

    In Sheffield, teams coming together to design a new joined up service for those facing multiple disadvantages saw reduced ambulance call outs, reduced rough sleeping, pressure on social care, hospital admissions and police.

    Public services are under pressure but they are also full of passionate, committed innovators.

    I know that many innovators are in this room and you need a government that will get behind you.

    We want to get behind those working for change and make it easier to come together to serve citizens.

    And the service of citizens is what connects us all.

    People have to be at the heart of how we deliver public services.

    In local government I saw the transformation that can be unlocked when you build services around people.

    But also the risks when you don’t hear their voices.

    I became leader of Camden council in 2017 and shortly afterwards we had the awful tragedy at Grenfell, 5 years later the memory of that awful night still feels very as does the terror felt by every resident living in a tower block. This was heightened in five blocks in Camden which had the same cladding.

    I will never forget the visceral fear in a packed room full of residents after this was confirmed – parents terrified for their children, and tenants running through a list of safety concerns.

    The next day the fire brigade inspected and told us the blocks were not safe for people to stay in due to a combination of the cladding and a list of internal issues.

    The thing was most of the issues that they picked up on were the same ones our tenants had alerted us to the night before.

    We hadn’t been listening hard enough to their voices – a reminder that people know their homes and communities best and not hearing them is dangerous.

    But we need to ask ourselves where else are we failing to hear people? What risks is that exposing us to?

    It can’t take a terrible tragedy for us to do the hard work of deeply listening to communities and taking action on what they say– this has to be the default way of operating.

    But when services do listen to people, the results can be transformative.

    When they pay attention to their aspirations, their strengths and understand their whole lives.

    When I led a council and we started to work differently with families in the child protection system we saw extraordinary results.

    We introduced family group conferences bringing together all the people involved in a child’s life to develop a plan to support them, and families came up with ideas that social workers would never have come up with alone.

    We saved millions, were judged by ofsted to have outstanding services and critically more children thriving within their family networks.

    There are these green shoots of change in communities around the UK but we need to get behind the leaders that are doing the hard work of designing public services around people.

    To help people at the earliest point so they don’t fall into crisis.

    To stop people bouncing between services and intervene early.

    To save money that can be invested back into public services.

    To achieve this we need a new partnership approach.

    Missions give us a clear shared purpose.

    A golden thread that connects the work of public servants across the UK.

    And we need public services to be at the heart of delivering these missions as they are big ambitions for the country…

    … to kickstart economic growth…

    …make Britain a clean energy superpower…

    …take back our streets…

    …break down barriers to opportunity…

    …and build an NHS fit for the future.

    To deliver these we need to work at a pace an ambition we haven’t seen before.

    We will need to draw on all the energy and ideas of our communities, and to use every lever available to us to make progress.

    We will need to build new coalitions with partners across different sectors, and your role as collaborative leaders is so important.

    Today for me is an important step in a new partnership.

    We won’t make policy in a closed room in whitehall but we will make it alongside you, working together to change how things are done on the ground and in the centre.

    We want to do away with what so many people are sick of…

    …politicians pursuing vanity projects…

    …ignoring the voices of those who use and deliver public services…

    …top down expensive projects that pay no attention to what is happening on the ground.

    The Budget was the start of a new era…

    …one that values public services…

    …that invests in our NHS…

    …guaranteeing more appointments to get waiting lists and times down…

    …using technology to improve productivity…

    …and a move to community based prevention.

    A budget that recognised there is no growth without investment in our public services…

    …in our schools, our hospitals, our public transport infrastructure.

    And as part of this was the introduction of the Public Sector Reform and Innovation Fund

    …backed with £165 million to create policy differently…

    …to help us develop new partnerships in place, that use the levers of local, regional and central government to solve the big issues we face like spiralling temporary accommodation costs.

    New approaches, developed in partnership with citizens.

    That creates real change in communities.

    And help us to develop policy that delivers for communities.

    We need the help of everyone in this room.

    We want to hear what is working in your services, to shine a light on the innovation happening across the public sector.

    And to work together to renew the public services our communities rely on.

    Thank you.

  • David Lammy – 2024 Speech at the Asian Development Bank Event

    David Lammy – 2024 Speech at the Asian Development Bank Event

    The speech made by David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, on 13 November 2024.

    Thank you, President Asakawa, for bringing us all together today.

    I am really very, very pleased to see such a strong line-up as we launch this important initiative.

    In my first major speech as Foreign Secretary, the Kew Lecture, I spoke about the need to put tackling the climate and nature crisis at the heart of our foreign policy.

    I passionately believe this is the right course for Britain – given the size of the threat, and the scale of the opportunity.

    And we are putting climate at the centre. Already domestically, we have got rid of the onshore wind ban. Already domestically, we have set up GB Energy – the first public utility to really harness and race us forward on that clean energy mission. Later on today, our Prime Minister will announce an ambitious NDC target, and we have already said that there will be no renewal of oil and gas licenses in the North Sea and we’ve seen the end of coal in the United Kingdom. We have got off to a major, major start. I passionately believe that this is the right course for Britain given the size of the threat then and the scale of the opportunity.

    But clearly, no one country can tackle this problem alone.

    So it is very important to see countries from the Indo-Pacific and the Euro-Atlantic, all working together, all recognising that our security is indivisible, and that this is a true climate-nature moment where we come together and we see that acutely in conflicts like the conflict that we see in Ukraine.

    I am also delighted that the UK will be playing its part, announcing today a 280 million dollar guarantee as part of this collective effort.

    I said it in my Kew speech and I have heard it frequently at past COPs, but it really bears repeating.

    Words are not enough. If we are to avoid the worst, all of us need to take action. And for countries like those on this panel, whose economies prospered in the age of hydrocarbons, that means putting our money where our mouth is.

    But it’s not just about what we commit, it’s also about making the most of that money.

    All of us on this panel will have experienced difficult conversations with our finance ministries.

    And at the same time, all of us will have heard again and again in conversations with partners in the Global South the shortages in climate finance and how big they are, and they risk getting bigger.

    The best way to manage this is through innovative and multilateral solutions like this finance facility. Whether we say we want to get our penny’s worth or bang for our buck, the point remains the same – this is about maximising our impact.

    I congratulate the Asian Development Bank and our friends here today for their work in reaching this milestone.

    Thanks to the design of this Facility, you will be able to use every pound, dollar, krona, yen or won from us, and lend four and a half times as much.

    As a result, we will have leveraged eleven billion dollars between us.

    And we are going a long way towards fulfilling your ambition to be the climate bank of Asia.

    This is urgently needed.

    Over half of our global emissions come from Asia, almost half from developing Asia.

    This is not surprising given the region’s size and impressive growth in recent years.

    But it highlights the need for climate action.

    Not least given how climate change risks reversing development gains particularly in the region, with over 40 million people at risk of falling back into extreme poverty because of the impact of the climate emergency.

    Ultimately, like all the work we do at COP, this event is about them, not us.

    It’s about taking the action they need.

    It’s about getting them access to the finance they deserve.

    It’s about changing their lives for the better.

    And preserving a planet on which they and we can live in harmony with our natural environment for generations to come.

    Thank you.

  • Wes Streeting – 2024 Speech on the Reform of the NHS

    Wes Streeting – 2024 Speech on the Reform of the NHS

    The speech made by Wes Streeting, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in Liverpool on 13 November 2024.

    I’ve come along today to lay down some direction.

    Not just to make the case for reform, which I’ve done before, but to spell out how we’ll do it and what I need you to do with me for us to collectively succeed.

    When it comes to the condition of the NHS today, the Darzi diagnosis is clear:

    • the NHS has not been able to meet its most important promises to patients since 2015
    • A&E waits are causing thousands of avoidable deaths
    • 50 years of progress on cardiovascular disease has gone into reverse
    • 345,000 people are waiting more than a year for mental health treatment – that’s more than the entire population of Leicester
    • as the performance of the NHS has deteriorated, so has the health of the nation
    • adults are falling into ill-health earlier in life
    • and children are less health today than a decade ago
    • Ara’s [Lord Darzi’s] conclusion was that the state of the health service is heartbreaking

    And I’m yet to hear anyone seriously contest this analysis, which was entirely based on the data.

    In my experience, not just as a patient, but in the last 3 years talking to frontline staff and NHS leaders – most people appreciate the honesty and recognise that the biggest barrier to patients accessing care is long waiting times.

    As I’ve argued before, a culture that puts sparing political blushes or protecting the reputation of the NHS above protecting the interests of patients is one that stifles inconvenient truths being spoken to power, that silences whistleblowers and that ultimately puts patient safety at risk.

    In the last few years I’ve come to know many of you in this room and in the last 4 months I’ve toured the country talking to leaders and frontline staff, so I think I know you well enough to know that you share my view that honesty is the best policy, you agree with the Darzi diagnosis and that you share my optimism that the NHS is broken, but not beaten. Every day there are outstanding episodes of care being delivered, by dedicated people working with some of the best science in the world. As Ara put it: “The NHS is in critical condition, but its vital signs are strong.”

    Our collective challenge is to take the NHS from the worst crisis in its history, put it back on its feet and make it fit for the future.

    The budget was important. The Chancellor gave us the investment we need to arrest the decline, begin fixing the foundations and start turning the service around.

    The NHS was the standout winner. We’re the biggest cash uplift in day-to-day spending of any government department.

    There have been 2 predictable reactions to this: the first says that the NHS is getting too much money. That this is a black hole that consumes ever-increasing amounts of taxpayers’ cash and that the NHS will complain it is never enough.

    So right on cue, some NHS leaders popped up in the newspapers, aided and abetted by the health think tanks, to complain that this isn’t enough.

    One of the luxuries of leading a think tank is that you don’t have to engage with the choices and trade-offs that government does.

    The Chancellor had to raise more than £40 billion to plug not just the £22 billion black hole we walked into in July and to fix the foundations so that our economy and our public services can recover.

    When the Chancellor announced the settlement for my department, she joked about how unpopular it would make me around the cabinet table.

    The truth is, at the cabinet meeting in which she set out the contents of her budget, I did feel uncomfortable.

    Not because I was worried about the opinions of the people in the room – because they support the NHS and the investment – but because I am worried about the jobs they have to do. As I look around that cabinet table I see a Justice Secretary who inherited overflowing prisons. A Work and Pensions Secretary who inherited more than 4 million children living in poverty. A Defence Secretary charged with securing our nation, at a time when there is a ground war in Europe, as well as the constant threat of cyber warfare in a more dangerous and unpredictable world.

    Every penny of extra investment that goes into the NHS was a penny that didn’t go towards child poverty reduction, extra prison places, or bolstering our armed forces.

    More than that, every penny spent on treating sickness is a penny that doesn’t go on preventing illness. You know as well as I do, that around only 20% of the nation’s health is affected by the NHS. The rest is dictated by the poverty we live in, the damp on our walls, the food we eat, the air we breathe and so on.

    So, you can’t pretend to care about the social determinants of ill-health if you only ever ask for more money for the NHS.

    So then, the argument goes, we must do both.

    Of course that’s right, but the choices and trade-offs aren’t just about spending money but raising it. The tax burden in this country is at record levels. We chose, rightly in my view, not to hit working people in their payslips. The extra investment in the NHS, as well as other public services, meant asking employers and the wealthiest to pay more.

    You will have seen in the past few weeks, that there are those who disagree with the Chancellor’s decisions. That’s the nature of tough choices.

    We stand by our decision to prioritise the health service: healthy businesses depend on a healthy workforce and a strong economy depends on a strong NHS.

    But if you want to know where the average taxpayer stands on NHS spending it’s quite straightforward: they welcome the investment, but they worry it won’t be spent wisely.

    They agree with the central argument we made at the last general election that investment must be matched with reform.

    Tight fiscal constraints mean that reform needs to do a lot more heavy lifting.

    We would still need to reform our public services because we are in the foothills of a scientific and technological revolution that is changing the world around us.

    Citizens are used to choice, voice, ease and convenience at the touch of a button. We expect everything faster.

    Unless our public services are modernised to meet the needs of our people, they’ll become increasingly redundant and irrelevant to people’s lives, unable to meet their needs.

    The failure to reform the state to meet the needs of the people is one of the fertilisers of populism we see across liberal democracies. The other is failure to ease the pain in their pockets. We need to address both – with NHS reform that delivers better outcomes for patients and better value for taxpayers’ money.

    By now you will be familiar with the 3 big shifts that will underpin our 10-year plan for health:

    • from hospital to community
    • from analogue to digital
    • from sickness to prevention

    These shifts are not radical new ideas, but delivering them truly would be.

    They’re necessary to tackle the challenges of our growing ageing society, rising levels of chronic disease and rising cost pressures; as well as to seize the opportunities of a scientific revolution in which AI, machine learning, genomics and data offer us the chance to transform our system of healthcare to one that can not only diagnosis earlier and more accurately and treat more quickly and effectively, but also predict and prevent illness.

    But we’re not waiting for the 10-year plan in May to get cracking with reform.

    Over the last few years, I’ve regularly heard the criticism of the top-down nature of the NHS. It can be a difficult criticism for those at the top to hear, but for the last 4 months I’ve found myself at the top of the system – at the peak of the mountain of accountability – and I not only recognise the criticism, I agree with it.

    The NHS in 2024 is more hierarchical than almost any other organisation I can think of. Even our armed forces, as the Messenger Review argued, is less locked into centralised command and control.

    Those of you who have studied the birth of the NHS will know that there were vigorous debates within the Attlee government about how the new NHS should be organised. Given the vital role that a strong state and central planning had played in Britain’s success in the Second World War it was perhaps inevitable that Nye Bevan’s centralised model won the day, albeit with concessions to the doctors to overcome opposition from the British Medical Association. But Herbert Morrison and others in the Labour movement had argued strongly for a municipally based model, with power and control exercised locally.

    Attlee and Bevan could scarcely have imagined in 1948 that the single payer system they created would make the NHS ideally placed to seize the opportunities of data, genomics, AI and machine learning. The ‘N’, the national, in NHS is important. It should be the guarantee that patients everywhere are treated according to the same values and the same standards.

    The framework I’m setting out today is based on triple devolution: with power shifting out of the centre to integrated care boards (ICBs), to providers and, crucially, to patients. I want to lead an NHS where power is moved from the centre to the local and from the local to the citizen. Morrison meets Bevan.

    It starts with clarity. The centre should be deciding strategy, policy and clear objectives for the system to deliver on behalf of patients. We should allocate resources against those objectives and provide the overall accountability framework for improving performance. We should ensure the same standards of care in every part of the country and we should unlock the unrealised potential of the NHS as a single payer model by making the NHS the best partner in the world for the development of new treatments and medical technology and to make the most of our collective purchasing power to deliver value for money.

    And the centre should be smaller.

    As power flows from the centre over time, resources should flow with it. Otherwise it will keep swamping local services with diktats and demands that distract them from the job of meeting patients’ needs and improving the communities they serve. We need more doers and fewer checkers and the centre needs to learn the words ‘stop’ and ‘or’ after years of ‘start’ and ‘more’.

    Clear priorities mean a few, not 50 different targets. So the instructions coming out in the forthcoming NHS mandate and following planning guidance will be short. I want to see waiting times cut, urgent and emergency care when people need it and improved access to primary care. The shift from hospital to community needs to start now.

    Amanda set out yesterday that NHS England, not ICBs, will be responsible for managing performance of trusts. When I talk to ICB leaders I hear mixed views about where they should be focusing their efforts. There is no uniformity and too much confusion.

    So let me be clear: I want to see local commissioning back and I want to see ICBs leading it.

    ICB chiefs, I am talking directly to you: you will lead the transformation of care – the pioneers of reform. Your organisations will play a critical role in doing what we’ve never pulled off before.

    I want ICBs to focus on their job as strategic commissioners and be responsible for one big thing: the development of a new neighbourhood health service. It will focus on building up community and primary care services with the explicit aim of keeping patients healthy and out of hospital, with care closer to home and in the home.

    All the evidence suggests that 1 in 4 patients in hospital should not be there and that 1 in 5 emergency hospital admissions are preventable – so long as earlier diagnosis takes place. There’s your challenge.

    We need to design services around people – particularly more than 15 million people with long-term conditions who are too often passed from pillar to post, from one service to another. Fragmentation needs to give way to integration and that is the job of ICBs.

    That will leave providers – whether NHS foundation trusts or regular trusts in mental health, community or acutes – to get on with the job of improving frontline services for patients, including restoring the 18-week waiting time standard.

    Over the past decade, provider freedoms have been curtailed. I view that as a retrograde step.

    Starting with the best performing trusts, providers should be given greater freedom and flexibility to innovate, run community services and manage their own house to meet the needs of their patients.

    Our long-term ambition is that all providers should enjoy the same freedoms as foundation trusts so long as they deliver improved performance.

    Critically, those ICBs that perform best – particularly in developing neighbourhood health services – should also enjoy greater freedom and flexibility.

    We will no longer treat all providers and ICBs as if they’re all performing equally, when you and I know it’s a mixed ability class.

    We’ll assess systems against a set of criteria and publish the results, starting from next year.

    Those systems and providers that are in the middle of the pack will get support to improve to bring them to where the best are now.

    Those ICBs and providers that are doing well will be rewarded with greater freedoms over how to spend their capital, with fewer ringfences for example.

    Those that demonstrate the best financial management will get a greater share of capital allocation. We want to move to a system where freedom is the norm and central grip is the exception to challenge poor performance.

    So improving services for patients should be rewarded. The quid pro quo is that there will be no more rewards for failure.

    The work you do couldn’t be more serious. When you get it right, lives are saved. When you don’t, the consequences can be tragic.

    If performance dips, I reserve the right to take those freedoms away.

    For those judged to be persistently failing, we will act. We will go from zero consequences for failure, to zero tolerance.

    Our new pay framework for very senior managers (VSM), which I know has been long awaited in the system, will be published ahead of the next financial year and will set out substantial reforms.

    It will drive consistency, increase transparency and limit VSM pay inflation whilst giving sufficient flexibility to attract talented candidates to the most challenging roles and providers. It will also ensure that those who are in charge of organisations that persistently fail to provide decent care or fail to keep a grip on their finances, do not receive annual pay uplifts.

    Failure to have appropriate regard to the framework will be considered a governance issue and therefore be backed by the full range of regulatory levers at NHS England’s disposal.

    Failing integrated care systems will not have access to capital flexibility, and neither will trusts, including foundation trusts that have the badge but don’t meet the mark.

    Turnaround teams will be sent in to diagnose the problem and help fix the problem, financial controls will be imposed if necessary and where leadership is found lacking, they will be removed.

    But there is one thing I am sure of over the last few months – one person behind a desk in Whitehall cannot deliver the mammoth task ahead of us. Taking the NHS from the worst crisis in its history and making it fit for the future will require first class leadership at every level of the system. The journey of reform is one I am determined to take with you, not impose upon you.

    And that’s where you can expect a grown-up break from the past. No more manager bashing for manager bashing’s sake.

    Lord Darzi’s investigation into the NHS concluded that the problem is not too many managers, but too few with the right skills and capabilities.

    And let me tell you, that is not the most convenient conclusion for a politician to receive. I could be no more popular than announce the sacking of lots of managers, but that would not be the right thing to do.

    I am prepared to make an unpopular argument with the public about the value of good leaders. The NHS is one of the biggest organisations in the world. We should be competing with global businesses to attract top talent, and for that we need to attract and retain the best.

    So we will invest in you and support you. Yesterday, Amanda laid out our plans to develop a new NHS management and leadership framework with a single code of practice, set of competencies and national curriculum to help develop essential leadership capabilities.

    And today I can announce that we are establishing a college of executive and clinical leadership, to help train and develop excellent NHS leaders. Non-clinical leaders should be working in lockstep with clinical leaders and that’s why I want this resource to be available to every type of leader in our NHS.

    And I have asked Sir Gordon Messenger, to help us develop and attract the talent we need to develop our 10-year plan.

    The most important person in all of this is the patient. Since we launched the national conversation on the future of the NHS with the Prime Minister a few weeks ago, I’ve been struck by how loud the patient voice has been during the exercise. It’s almost the inverse of my experience in my average working day.

    Popular and familiar ideas – like allowing patients to choose where and when to be treated, making it easier to rearrange appointments and grouping tests and scans together in one visit to save time – rarely pass the lips of most people of the people who walk through my door with something to say to me.

    I said in opposition I would be the patients’ shop steward. Now I’m in government I’m here to be the patients’ champion.

    They will be at the heart of the 10-year plan next year, their priorities will be reflected in a new NHS mandate shortly and when the elective recovery plan is published in the coming weeks you’ll see that greater choice and control is at the heart of it.

    We start from a low bar and we’re not going to change the experience overnight, but the direction is clear: patients should be able to choose where we’re treated and when. The ease and convenience with which we organise most of our lives – and the best performing providers allow us to organise our health care – should be available to everyone, in every part of the country. That’s why I welcome Amanda’s announcement yesterday about the new ‘ping and book’ service for breast and cervical cancer checks.

    Power to the patient is my mantra and it needs to be yours, too.

    Finally, right now, I know that many of you are feeling battered and bruised.

    I know it won’t be easy to turn the tide, but my message to you today is a message of hope.

    The Prime Minister pledged the biggest reimagining of our NHS since its birth.

    And it falls upon all our shoulders to deliver this – the jewel in the crown of this government’s decade of national renewal.

    The challenge is huge. But the prize is enormous.

    And the change has begun.

    The package of reforms I’ve announced today is how we will get more out of the NHS for what we put in.

    This is how we will make sure the investment announced in the budget delivers real change for patients.

    This can only be a team effort, based on a shared national mission, to recover and renew our National Health Service.

    You have dedicated your careers to public service and I know that, among you, I am not alone in the scale of my ambition.

    To coin a phrase, we are in this together. The NHS is already living on borrowed time.

    If we get this right, we can look back on our time with pride and say we were the generation that took the NHS from the worst crisis in its history, got it back on its feet and made it fit for the future.

    Many of you in this room have done it before. We can do it again.

    Thank you very much.

  • Keir Starmer – 2024 Statement at COP29

    Keir Starmer – 2024 Statement at COP29

    The statement made by Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, on 12 November 2024.

    The United Kingdom is determined to stand alongside those countries on the frontline of the climate crisis today…

    And to seize the opportunities of tomorrow.

    Because action on climate now is the route towards economic growth…

    Energy security…

    Better jobs….

    And national security in the long term.

    To deliver on the Paris Agreement…

    And keep 1.5 degrees within reach.

    In the first 100 days of my government…

    We launched Great British Energy – to create clean British power…

    We created a National Wealth Fund – to invest in the green industries and jobs of the future…

    We scrapped the ban on onshore wind…

    Committed to no new North Sea oil and gas licences….

    And closed the UK’s final coal power plant at the end of September – becoming the first G7 economy to phase out coal power.

    In line with the international agreement at COP28 to transition from fossil fuels…

    and the UK’s ambitious goal to be the first major economy to deliver clean power by 2030.

    Today I can confirm – three months ahead of deadline…

    The UK’s 2035 international target –

    Our nationally determined contribution –

    to reduce all greenhouse gas emissions by at least 81% on 1990 levels….

    Aligned with 1.5 degrees.

    And we urge all Parties –

    To come forward with ambitious targets of their own…

    As we all agreed at the last COP.

    We will work in partnership…

    to support other countries to develop their own commitments…

    And transition through our forthcoming Global Clean Power Alliance –

    And finance will be its first focus.

    We will honour the commitment made by the previous government…

    to provide £11.6 billion in of climate finance between April 2021 and March 2026….

    But we must use public finance as a multiplier…

    To unlock much more private investment…

    And reform our international financial institutions.

    Today we launch the new CIF Capital Market Mechanism, listed on the London Stock Exchange…

    With the potential to mobilise up to $75 billion…

    in additional climate capital for developing countries over the next decade.

    Putting the UK’s role as a global financial centre…

    at the service of driving the green finance and green energy transitions.

    Climate action is at the heart of this government’s mission for the protection and prosperity of Britain and the world.

    Writ large across our domestic and international priorities…

    We are taking the urgent action needed – to protect our planet and its people.

  • David Lammy – 2024 Tribute to John Prescott

    David Lammy – 2024 Tribute to John Prescott

    The tribute made by David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, on 21 November 2024.

    John Prescott was one of the giants of our party. Committed, loyal, Labour to his core. A relentless champion of working people who never forgot who he came into politics to fight for. Full of good humour and blunt common sense. Rest in peace.

  • Hilary Benn – 2024 Tribute to John Prescott

    Hilary Benn – 2024 Tribute to John Prescott

    The tribute made by Hilary Benn, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, on 21 November 2024.

    John Prescott was a political giant who made a unique contribution to the Labour and trade union movement he loved so deeply. Authentic, funny, tough, highly skilled and, at times, unpredictable, he often used the phrase “traditional Labour values in a modern setting”. In doing so, he would reassure and inspire Party members with whom he had a great bond. He will be much missed. All our thoughts are with Pauline and his family on this very sad day.

  • Jeremy Corbyn – 2024 Tribute to John Prescott

    Jeremy Corbyn – 2024 Tribute to John Prescott

    The tribute made by Jeremy Corbyn on 21 November 2024.

    I am really sad to hear that John Prescott has passed away.

    John was a huge figure and personality, from his seafaring union days to the highest offices in Government.

    I will be forever grateful for his personal and political support in the 2017 and 2019 elections. His endless warmth and iconic wit were loved on the campaign trail.

    My deepest sympathies to John’s family at their loss. He will be greatly missed.

  • Yvette Cooper – 2024 Tribute to John Prescott

    Yvette Cooper – 2024 Tribute to John Prescott

    The tribute made by Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, on 21 November 2024.

    Such sad news about John Prescott. A campaigning Labour hero & a remarkable minister who transformed lives – upgrading millions of council homes, coalfield regeneration, tackling climate change. Fierce & warm hearted – there was no one like him. Thinking of Pauline and family today.

  • Alastair Campbell – 2024 Tribute to John Prescott

    Alastair Campbell – 2024 Tribute to John Prescott

    The tribute made by Alistair Campbell on 21 November 2024.

    JP RIP. There was nobody else like him. Tony could not have had a better deputy. Labour could not have had a better campaigner. The government could not have had a better negotiator and – yes, often, peacemaker. Hull could not have had a better MP. Of course he was combative but he had an enormous heart and a great capacity for friendship. Even with his horrible illness in later years, the old JP was always there. Love to Pauline, Jonathan and David and nothing but fond memories of a total one off who will be missed by so many.