The statement made by Kwasi Kwarteng, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, on 6 February 2024.
Yesterday I informed my Association Chair of my decision not to stand at the next General Election. It has been an honour to serve the residents of Spelthorne since 2010, and I shall continue to do so for the remainder of my time in Parliament.
The speech made by Grant Shapps, the Secretary of State for Defence, in Saudi Arabia on 4 February 2024.
60 years ago, the skies above Riyadh bore witness to a remarkable demonstration as a supersonic aircraft shot into the atmosphere at twice the speed of sound.
Just two years later and 40 of those iconic English Electric Lightning jets were heading to Saudi Arabia where they became as revered an icon of the skies over here as they were back in the UK.
Yet that special flight also seemed to send our own partnership into the stratosphere.
1964 saw the first British military mission to the Saudi Arabian National Guard, and 14 years after that we brought across a project team which has been supporting you with advice, information and communications service ever since.
So that one pioneering flight demonstrated ours is a partnership built from the strongest of frames. An understanding of the value of Defence, an appreciation of the merits of innovation, and a desire to keep working together.
And how fitting then that 60 years on, here at this fantastic World Defense Show, we are once again celebrating a partnership that’s putting on the afterburners.
Not only can we reflect on a mutual commitment to combat air that’s taken us from Lightning, to Tornado, to Typhoon – with hundreds of UK military personnel now committed to Saudi programmes.
But we have also stepped up the pace on the ground as well, with our Defence Cooperation Plan catalysing deeper cooperation between our Land Forces.
However, my purpose in attending this great exhibition is not to reminisce about our past, nor even to reflect on our present, it is to talk about our future.
Because if the incredible story of the Lightning tells us anything, it’s that when an opportunity arises in our mutual interests, we know how to seize it together.
And frankly, when I look around me, I see opportunity abounds.
Yours is a nation buzzing with energy. Creating new cities out of sand, redefining sport by hosting the World Cup in E-sports. Spearheading the charge towards a greener future.
Yet if there’s one event that seemed to encapsulate your sense of ambition, it was what happened last year, when Saudi fighter pilot and astronaut, Ali Al-Qarni, and his crew member, Rayyanah Barnawi, became the first two Saudi astronauts to visit the International Space Station.
Proof – if it were needed – that you are nation in fast forward.
You’ve bottled lightning, and now you’re accelerating towards the future with increasing velocity.
The UK wants to be on that journey with you. But there’s only one thing that can pull us back down to earth.
Instability.
For decades our prosperity and progress has been underpinned by the international rules-based order, yet today we live in a far more dangerous world. Our once reliable order is under threat from the likes of big state aggressors and from rogue states, whose terrorist proxies are hell-bent on destroying our freedom and damaging our wealth.
So now is the time to tighten our ties.
How? First by working together – in the words of your conference, to be equipped for tomorrow.
Once upon a time we showcased a jet in your skies. Today we’ve brought more than 30 of our finest UK firms to your show, including a Wildcat helicopter, delivered by one of our Royal Air Force’s A400M transport aircraft.
Demonstrating our skills not just in the air, but on land, sea, cyber and space. Our delegation are experts in power and engines, in critical components and complex weapons, in state-of-the-art surveillance and next generation electronic warfare.
Our people know everything there is to know in mine counter-measures and military suspension and durable materials, 3D sensors, sonars, and uncrewed systems.
But my second point is that we are looking for much more than a transient transaction.
We want to build an even deeper industrial partnership.
Saudi Arabia quite rightly wants to develop its own defence industrial base – and we want to help you get there – developing mutually beneficial capability programmes to support regional security.
Already we have a deep industrial partnership stretching across air, land, sea and cyber.
To take just one example, BAE’s workforce here in Saudi Arabia is almost 75 per cent Saudi.
Which brings me to my third and final point: Both our nations share pressing strategic priorities.
We both seek to calm conflicts. We both desire de-escalation. And even as Saudi Arabia aims for the stars, so its influence on terra firma is increasing too.
It has a critical role to play in this region as interlocutors, as mediators and as leaders.
So I see us doing more together to help shore up our international rules-based order. Doing more to ensure adherence to international humanitarian law. Doing more to prevent a breakdown in regional security, so we guarantee the safety and security of all people.
Sixty years ago, we brought Lightning to this great Kingdom and helped transform our partnership.
Sixty years on, we’re now looking to elevate our relationship to even greater heights.
I, for one, am a strong believer that Lightning can strike twice.
The speech made by Stuart Andrew, the Sports Minister, in London on 1 February 2024.
Hello everyone,
Thank you for the introduction, and for inviting me to speak today. I am delighted to be here with you all.
Firstly I want to thank you all for the important work you do to help build a healthier and more productive nation. Being active promotes individual wellbeing, reduces loneliness and strengthens communities.
A fit and active workforce also has a positive effect on employment skills and job readiness and contributes significantly to our economy.
As you know, we recently published our new Sport Strategy, ‘Get Active’, where we set out our unapologetic ambition to build a more active nation and ensure the sector can thrive in the years ahead.
As part of the strategy, we committed to the target of 2.5 million more adults and 1 million more children being classed as ‘active’ by 2030.
Whilst the Government has a vital role to play in meeting this ambition, securing the sport and physical activity sector’s active involvement is central to making this ambition a reality. Each and every one of you can help us to make a difference.
That is why, as part of Get Active, we launched the National Physical Activity Taskforce. It aims to connect government departments with the sector and independent experts, to focus on measurable actions that will get an additional 3.5 million people active.
I am delighted that ukactive – as part of the National Sector Partnerships Group – is a standing member of the taskforce. This helps to ensure that your voice is heard and your views represented at the table.
Lioness legend Jill Scott is also a permanent member of the taskforce, helping to provide a fresh perspective on how we get the nation moving. It is great to see that she will be joining you later today.
Get Active also sets out our desire to ensure that our country has a sport and physical activity sector which is efficient and resilient – one which is financially robust and environmentally sustainable. The Government is committed to working in collaboration with all of you to achieve these ambitions.
It is great to see that data will be a key theme throughout today’s conference. It is something that is a top priority for DCMS – helping to ensure the role and impact of sport and physical activity is articulated clearly.
We have already come a long way as a sector in achieving this. We now need to ensure that the evidence base is indisputable, so that those ‘outside the tent’ can be convinced. We need all of you to do your part in helping push this forward, by sharing data and helping us react to its findings.
A great example of where data is being used to empower the sector and drive forward participation is within public leisure. Alongside the private sector, public leisure provides a vital contribution to the wellbeing ecosystem.
Sport England’s Moving Communities service helps us understand the social value of public leisure centres to those who use them most. They recorded over 211 million visits to over 1000 public leisure facilities in the last 12 months alone. A third of those visits were to the gym and a fifth were for using the pool. These visits were made by just over 10 million people, with more than half women and just over a quarter under the age of 16.
This data helps build a picture of what interventions are needed to get specific groups active and ensure there is an inclusive offer for all.
This insight also helps open the door to understanding other opportunities where sport and physical activity could make a difference.
As we set out in the Get Active strategy, facilities provide important community hubs, connect individuals with the areas in which they live and help to deliver on important social and mental health outcomes.
The Government is playing its part – the Swimming Pool Support Fund is helping to keep the nation’s public swimming pools afloat. I am delighted that we have been able to support hundreds of swimming pools across England.
In particular, through the Fund we are improving the energy efficiency and sustainability of facilities to safeguard them for future generations.
This investment is part of our wider efforts to improve facilities across the country – with over £400 million from 2021 to 2025 which includes multi-sport pitches, tennis courts and swimming pools, to make sure every community has access to the facilities they need.
Likewise, the Department for Health’s new WorkWell service will support Integrated Care Services in developing localised plans for work and health strategies. It is clear that both the private and public leisure sector have a role to play in this work in helping to empower individuals to get back on track.
Nonetheless, there is clearly more work that needs to be done. Too many people are still not getting the benefits that being physically active brings.
As a Government we continue to consider ways in which we can ensure that the sector has the conditions to enable it to prosper. Because we know the more active we are, the stronger and healthier our communities and economy, and the more prosperous our society.
I thank you for all you do and I urge you all to continue to make sport and physical activity an essential part of everyone’s daily life.
No matter how big or small your business, together, we can make a difference.
I hope you enjoy the rest of the conference today – and make the most of the opportunity to build connections across the sector and to share successes with each other.
The speech made by Alex Chalk, the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, in Washington, the United States, on 31 January 2024.
Friends, ladies and gentlemen.
It is a huge pleasure to be here in Washington DC and an honour to address this distinguished audience.
When Britain’s great novelist, Charles Dickens, who of course you all know, visited the United States in 1842, he wrote that on the occasions he encountered his fellow Brits here, the British displayed, and I quote ‘an amount of insolent conceit and cool assumption of superiority, quite monstrous to behold.’ I want to be clear that I am not intending to repeat that!
I’ll do so not least as an admirer of America, and a humble student of American history at university. It was there I was first introduced to the defining principle, first set out by John Adams, of America as a ‘nation of laws, not of men’. And also as a barrister – i.e. attorney myself – of the inalienable right of citizens to be defended in court however unpopular their cause, also indelibly demonstrated by John Adams in his famous defence of British soldiers in the eighteenth century.
The US today is, of course, a beacon of the values that our two countries demonstrate in the world – of democracy, of diplomacy and of deference to the international rule of law, and that’s what I want to focus on today: on the importance of the rule of law, the existential threats it faces, and how together we can – and indeed we must – face down these threats and emerge stronger.
What do I mean by the rule of law in the international context? The idea that all nations are bound by common rules and principles that govern the way we interact with each other, no matter our size or power. And it’s underpinned by mutual consent and agreement, peaceful resolution of disputes, and regard for international institutions.
My central argument is that we need to restate that these are not quaint notions to get dewy-eyed over, or trite phrases to trot out in seminars; rather they can be the guarantors of freedom, security and prosperity for all our people.
And it’s worth pointing out that the order has brought about an extraordinary growth in international trade – indeed, the volume of world trade has multiplied roughly 45 times since 1950, while worldwide living standards have almost tripled. So this is no tedious law lecture. It’s food in citizens’ stomachs.
But this is now under threat. The truth is we are in a global contest of ideas, a contest between rule of law nations like ours and those who offer an authoritarian alternative, a solution that says ‘might is always right’. And it means that a global post-war consensus, which we assumed was unshakeable now needs shoring up. But rather than letting complacency reign, we must reinforce the rule of law foundations on which it was built.
We don’t need a history lesson to remind ourselves how the international rules-based international order came into being in the long shadow cast by World War II. What’s important is that it lit the way towards a new era: one based on mutual consent and common obligation… where states could resolve their disputes peacefully, act with restraint, and hold each other to account for their actions. It allowed us to achieve a depth of international co-operation that would have been unfathomable just a few short years before.
And this was properly expressed in the late George Bush senior’s visionary 1990 address to Congress following the fall of the Berlin Wall – which I was reminding myself of before I came here to America. As that authoritarian regime crumbled, he set out a vision of the world where in his words: ‘ the rule of law supplants the rule of the jungle. A world in which nations recognize the shared responsibility for freedom and justice. A world where the strong respect the rights of the weak’.
But the world is very different today. The accord they worked so hard to build is not just fraying at the edges, it is threatening to break down altogether due to the actions of international actors – such as Russia and Iran. Many believed – and this is important – that it had a remorseless momentum… that it would inevitably draw rising powers into its orbit… that its future would grow and was guaranteed. I believe the illusion and assumption that nations would automatically see the benefits of the Rules Based International Order has been eroded. But why? Why has it been eroded?
The rule of law is being attacked on three fronts, contributing to this current crisis of consensus.
First, the agreements that have helped secure the world’s stability and success since 1945 are no longer respected. By ‘those agreements’ I am referring to the legally recognised borders that have been the guardian of peace over decades. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is the starkest but not the only demonstration. And of course, it’s from a country, Russia, which after all is the successor state to the Soviet Union which signed and for a time broadly abided by arms reduction treaties for the benefit of all humankind.
And looking further afield, when Hamas carried out armed incursions into Israel, butchering over a thousand innocent men, women and children in their homes and taking approximately 250 more as hostages, it was an unprecedented, and wholly unlawful assault.
Amid this growing normalisation of illegality, of states disregarding borders and flouting international law, hostile geopolitical spheres of influence and indeed axes are being formed and strengthened in direct opposition to the Rules Based International Order. Recent assaults on commercial cargo ships in the Red Sea by the Hamas-supporting Houthis are just one example of these deadly alliances in action. And why have the Houthis been able to wreak so much havoc in the Red Sea? Because they are backed by agents of chaos in Iran.
And all this geopolitical unrest brings me to the second threat to the rules-based order. The reality is that this unstable geopolitical landscape is making middle ground and non-aligned states feel caught in the crossfire of conflicts for which they bear no responsibility. They understandably fear the repercussions, and some are beginning to equivocate. Desperate to avoid the costs of dispute and conflict, states are left unsure which way to turn to seek reassurance, stability, and protection.
And we must ask ourselves whether sustained instability of the type we are seeing risks making states like these feel they have no choice but to enter into alliances which undermine the Rules Based International Order. These alliances are pursuing a zero-sum outcome through fear, rather than mutual prosperity through shared values. They not only undermine the rules based order, but could shift the balance of power so the contest of ideas about how we should be governed – whether through the rules-based system as we cleave to, or through the chaos preferred by our competitors – is lost. So it is imperative that we ensure that non-aligned states and rising powers make the right choice.
And what of the poorest and most vulnerable countries? This brings me to the third risk I think we must consider. Despite huge economic advances in the Global South enabled by the Rules-Based International Order, many of the poorest countries are struggling to protect their citizens from hunger, the effects of climate change and the impact of increased populations. That in turn can pull them into the orbit of authoritarian nations who offer them a quick fix.
While rule of law underpins prosperity, its absence feeds poverty, insecurity and instability. And for citizens, this leaves many feeling they have no choice but to leave their home country and seek better opportunities elsewhere in the world. This has led to record levels of migratory movements, and fuelled illegal migration. It is clear that unmanaged illegal migration disregards borders and is putting unacceptable pressure on the national systems of rules-based countries like ours – as countries whose sovereign legislatures believe in, and consciously have chosen to be part of, the order I refer too. The actions of criminal gangs smuggling people across borders brings those very rules into disrepute, particularly if they are perceived to afford, perversely, an unfair advantage to those who break the rules rather than those who abide by them.
For rule of law countries in Europe, we are experiencing an influx of illegal migration. In the UK, that manifests as a steady stream of small boats across the English Channel bringing illegal migrants into our country. And in 2023, we saw a 36% reduction in the number of small boat arrivals compared to the year before, but we must continue to go further. Because we see dangerous tactics used by Organised Criminal Gangs to facilitate crossings and people who put their lives in the hands of criminal gangs. Too many perish. I know tragedies are also happening at your southern border.
So, what does all this mean for the rule of law, and, crucially, how we strengthen it?
Well as Thomas Paine put it in his rallying cry of 1776, “in America the law is king” – now those were heavily loaded words at the time. It meant, among other things, that the law is supreme. And if the law is supreme, it must have power, and if it must have power, it must therefore be respected. Put another way, it must be enforced.
That means ensuring accountability, it means consequences. And it means bearing down on those who commit international crimes, until justice is served.
And we can be proud of the leadership our two nations have shown. Together, we have, along with the European Union, established the Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group, to support Ukraine’s Prosecutor General with funding and expertise in the domestic investigation and prosecution of more than 120,000 alleged conflict related crimes.
In 2022 the UK led a state party referral to expedite the International Criminal Court’s investigation into the situation in Ukraine, and we continue to support the ICC so it has the resources it needs to carry out its independent investigations. We welcome the recent legal changes here that have enabled America to assist the ICC’s investigation into the situation in Ukraine.
And we continue to fight international terrorism in all its contexts. The UK and US were right to stand up to the aggression in the Red Sea by carrying out air strikes on strategic Houthi targets in Yemen, and the international community clearly accepts that it was the correct course of action in the circumstances.
So, amid the contest of ideas, and conflicting narratives, it is incumbent on all of us – the UK, the US and our allies in the G7 and NATO – to show that the rules-based international order works and it is worth upholding.
While others cause chaos, as part of the International Rules-Based Order – as nations who believe in the rule of law – it is our legal systems that are the engine room for prosperity across the globe, supporting trade the world over. English common law and US common law are the basis for no less than 27 percent and 20 percent of the world’s legal systems respectively.
However, both international and domestic law must evolve if they are to meet the challenges posed by insecurity, and to win what I’ve called ‘the global contest of ideas’. Because, as Thomas Paine also famously said, “a state without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation.”
In the UK, we are making clear once and for all that it is Parliament that should decide who comes to our country, not international criminal gangs. Through landmark emergency legislation, we will control our borders, deter people taking perilous journeys across the channel, and help end the continuous legal challenges filling our courts. We are a humane, welcoming nation but it’s fair that everyone plays by the rules.
Our legally binding removal treaty with Rwanda makes absolutely clear that individuals relocated will not be returned to a country where they might be placed in danger.
But above all, the principle of relocating people to another country to have their asylum claims processed is lawful – the UK High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court too have found it to be so. Indeed, the UN Refugee Agency itself has its own scheme for refugees in Rwanda, albeit not through treaty.
And look, the unique genius of the common law, of course, is its flexibility – its readiness to adapt and respond to societal changes and perspectives. As the UK Government has made clear, we need some of that same spirit when it comes to the challenge of uncontrolled migration, and the evolution of the rules-based system as a whole.
As countries that believe in the rule of law, it’s crucial for us to demonstrate that it works for citizens in our own countries. For our justice systems that means that while we update them to make them fit for the 21st century, we must do so in a way which strengthens the values and principles on which they are built.
Access to justice is a key part of that – probably the single biggest reason I came into politics – and the current era of rapidly changing technology is opening up new possibilities for improvement all the time. For criminal and civil justice, we must ensure that citizens can continue to access justice in ways that work for them today. And there are a number of important ways we can do this.
First, by making sure our legal systems adapt to a changing world – updating our legal frameworks to take account of advancing technology, and fostering environments in which our legal professionals are properly equipped to practise the law both now and in a more technologically driven future.
Second, by showing our communities and victims that criminal justice works – so that justice is not just done, but seen to be done. Whether that’s the worst offenders being imprisoned for longer, or those at the lower end of the scale repaying their debt to the communities they’ve wronged.
Third, by harnessing new technology to ensure that the order of the Court is properly enforced. In England and Wales, GPS and alcohol monitoring tags mean we can deliver tough community sentences, avoiding short, costly stints in prison which research shows do little to reduce reoffending. I’m looking forward to visiting New York this week to see similar projects in action.
Fourth, by developing digital tools to improve how individuals and businesses can access the law in ways that work for them, opening up early legal advice and support so they can, where appropriate, settle disputes outside of court.
Fifth and finally, by keeping pace with advancing methods of delivery, such as transformational technologies like generative AI, and fostering innovation and the growth and adoption of lawtech – so that we can maintain the attractiveness as destinations for global businesses that are a boon to both our economies.
In each area, there are opportunities; to improve justice for our citizens and to demonstrate our commitment to the rule of law; to show that we believe in its ability to make our societies fairer and allow them to flourish further; to show that we can evolve and adapt while our opponents remain rigid and dogmatic. These are some of the most powerful ways that we can make the case for the rules-based order.
So look, as others have said before me, the relationship between our two nations is not just special – it is essential. Because when we stand together in the face of the chaos that our opponents seek to create… when we pursue accountability for the wrongdoing that others wreak on their neighbours… we will win the argument for the international order that our predecessors worked so hard to build and which has served the world so well.
To end where I began, with Charles Dickens. As Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher observed when she visited Washington in 1981, Dickens was right to say that the people here are ‘…hard to deceive, prompt to act, lions in energy.’ Those are the qualities we need, you and us – as we fiercely defend the rule of law and make the case for a more secure and more prosperous future in the world.
Thank you.
The comments made by Ed Davey, the Leader of the Liberal Democrats, in the Guardian newspaper on 1 February 2024.
The Post Office Horizon scandal is the greatest miscarriage of justice of our time, and I am deeply sorry for the families who have had their lives ruined by it. As one of the ministers over the 20 years of this scandal, including my time as minister responsible for postal affairs, I’m sorry I did not see through the Post Office’s lies – and that it took me five months to meet Alan Bates, the man who has done so much to uncover it.
The Post Office is owned by the government but not run by it, so the official advice I was given when I first became a minister in May 2010 was not to meet Bates. He wrote again urging me to reconsider, and I did then meet him that October. But he shouldn’t have had to wait. When Bates told me his concerns about Horizon, I took them extremely seriously and put them to the Post Office. What I got back were categorical assurances – the same lies we now know they were telling the subpostmasters, journalists, parliament and the courts.
The statement made by Oliver Dowden, the Deputy Prime Minister, on 26 January 2024.
The UK Government has approved the Strategic Relationship Agreement between Vodafone and e&. Using the National Security & Investment Act it has put in place proportionate measures to address any potential national security concerns.
The UK is rightly a magnet for global investment and, in this spirit, the Act is entirely country-agnostic.
Where investment might impact the UK’s national security – for example through the acquisition of certain technologies or infrastructure – we will work with investment partners to minimise any risk. As part of our Critical National Infrastructure, telecoms is one such sector. Vodafone is also a particularly important company for the UK Government given its critical functions, including as a key partner in HMG’s Cyber Security Strategy.
The speech made by Bim Afolami, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, on 25 January 2024.
This building and indeed this city, but this building in particular, reflects the UK’s commitment to openness, competitiveness and innovation in financial services and the significant role that financial services can play in growing our broader economy, and there’s been a great deal of talk in recent months about this.
Since 2010, the British economy has seen the third fastest growth in the G7 faster than France, Germany, Italy, Japan. It is clear that our long-term underlying growth rate needs to rise in order for us to deliver prosperity, lower taxes and more effective public services.
And it’s right then, that our long-term plan for this country’s growth is our commitment to openness, competitiveness and innovation writ large.
That’s why we’re cutting taxes, to ensure hard work is rewarded, and to allow businesses to take long, firm decisions and investment in R&D.
That’s why we’ll continue to reduce our national debt, to fight inflation and deliver affordable mortgages for working people.
That’s why, through investment, we will ensure that our supply of homegrown, clean, affordable power is matched by home grown teachers, doctors and nurses.
Because since the beginning of 2023, we’ve seen real progress. Inflation and borrowing costs have fallen with inflation more than halving, our economy has bounced back, outperforming the forecasters, outperforming many of our European neighbours, and our national debt continues to fall.
I know that all of you, not just in Bloomberg, will continue to monitor our progress closely. But today I want to focus on the role that our capital markets can play in building our economy for the future. Rising to our economic challenges and achieving Britain’s economic potential.
Well, the first thing we should say is, well, what are we talking about? What are capital markets? Why do they matter? They play a key role in our economy because by allocating capital, facilitating investment, growth and job creation, they create investor returns. And those investors are not just international conglomerates. They’re British businesses. They are British people. And all of this drive’s activity across the economy.
London in particular, is an international powerhouse with a foreign exchange market three times the size of the American one. The derivatives market 50% bigger than the American one, all of which helps to make us a global hub for investment.
Now, I have, this Chancellor, this government, we’re not the first to recognise the potential of capital markets to grow the British economy in the 1980s, Nigel Lawson’s reforms, the Big Bang suspect, so to speak, unlocked the UK’s capital markets.
However, in recent years they have lost some of the dynamism for which they became well known in that generation. We in this country have not been immune to the global shift away from public equities to private equity.
According to a recent paper by McKinsey, total private market assets under management have grown at an annual rate of nearly 20% since 2017, which was the first year I was elected to parliament.
But between 2015 and 2020, London accounted for only 5% of global IPOs, and the number of listed companies in the UK has fallen by about 40% from as recently as 2008, the year of the financial crisis. Now those, I’m sure you agree, are sobering figures. And we take that on, and we know that we need to change them. But to change them, we must first understand what’s driving them.
A large part of this story is the success of New York across the pond. Over the past five years, the FTSE 100 increased by 12%, while the S&P 500 increased by 81%. Nasdaq has been very successful in attracting new listings, especially big tech firms. There, American home grown American tech firms like Apple, Meta and Alphabet.
And interestingly, if you remove the seven big tech companies from the S&P 500, the gap in performance is not anything like as wide as one thinks. Indeed, at one point in time, and this is quite an interesting fact, at one point in time, Apple alone out valued the entire FTSE 100. And we are also seeing greater competition from smaller EU exchanges such as Amsterdam.
It’s true however, there has been a broader trend over the past decade or so of a change in British investor behaviour, with domestic British investors shifting away from investing in UK equities and moving beyond our shores. Why has that happened?
My thinking after speaking with I don’t know how many people in the last few weeks a month since taking this job. Is that our approach to capital markets must carefully balance appropriate regulation with investors’ appetite for risk. And our post 2008 approach has focused too much on the former and not enough on the latter. In part that reflects the culture mindset of the government and our regulators.
Now, as many of you may know, I’ve spent some time in this office and beforehand making the case for the importance, the importance of risk in our society. And I pushed against the modern trend across the whole Western world. It’s not just Britain. Pushed against the modern trend to seek to eliminate all risk, which has only accelerated after the Covid pandemic.
Now, look, this is an understandable, but it’s a deeply damaging instinct. We have to move faster. Yes, with speed limits and controls. But accepting that innovation and growth cannot come and an entirely risk free environment.
As I argued in my remarks to the FT banking summit, which was, I think, the first public statement I made in this post. There is no point us in the UK having the safest graveyard.
Through a journey of root and branch reform. We need to move from a risk off to a risk on outlook, to move from a complacent incumbent mindset to an insurgent one, whilst recognising the challenges that we face because it’s only through measured and purposeful risk taking that we can deliver progress, economic growth and a capital markets renaissance.
Here’s what we’ve already achieved. Here’s what we’ve already done. First step on our reform journey was to properly diagnose the problem that started in earnest in 2020, the end of 2020 with my very good friend Lord Hill. The UK Listings Review, which built consensus across government and the industry on how to boost IPOs and capital raising on UK markets.
Then 2021 Mansion House, our then Chancellor, now Prime Minister mapped out our destination and he said he wanted a more open, competitive, technologically advanced financial services sector. And he launched the Wholesale Markets Review to consider how we could use our newfound regulatory freedoms to make UK markets more competitive. So having diagnosed the problem, next came our solutions.
Reforms progressed across all areas in our legislation and regulatory regimes, but also in the culture and mindset of government and regulators. On the legal and regulatory front, we have passed a huge act, the new Financial Markets and Services Act 2023. This delivered the Wholesale Market Review’s most urgent changes, and as a result, firms can now trade in the most liquid market and get the best price for investors.
We’ve also set statutory growth and competitiveness objectives for our regulators, established the new Regulatory Complaints Commissioner, Rachel Kent, who is here in the front row. So, she is, to ensure that regulators are fully accountable to market participants as well as accountable to consumers. And we’ve worked hand in hand with industry to carefully review every single aspect of our rulebook.
Now, this issue is very close to my heart. As the former chair of the Regulatory Reform Group in Parliament, which I set up. I’ve long been a critic of the accountability gaps in our regulatory system and the disproportionately anti-growth mindset of many regulators.
However. As my thinking has evolved over time, I’ve come to understand the responsibility that politicians have, not just regulators. Politicians from all parties. We as politicians must take a lot more responsibility for this. We created the system and incentives that the regulators operate in, whilst often blaming them for not acting fast enough on an issue of consumer harm, and then staying silent when industry complains about an ever more complex and costly rulebook.
This culture of risk aversion has been very present in politics as much as it has been present in the regulatory state, and this must change. So be in no doubt. While I’m closely monitoring how the new system breaks down and closely monitoring how our regulators take on this growth and competitiveness objective that we have given them.
I will act and we will act further if we don’t see a sensible shift in our regulators toward more pro-growth mindset. At the same time, I want to lead a cultural shift within our politics and within our politicians. More immediately, we are taking forward a host of new initiatives like the Digital Security Sandbox, which will test the use of distributed ledger technology in trading and settlement. That’s just one of the huge range of reforms coming up stream. The results of these reforms is that after three and a half years, we are now within sight of making the UK’s public markets match fit again.
But you and I know we must go further to fully deliver on the promise of our capital markets. The regulatory and legal reforms are a necessary but not sufficient condition. So let me tell you about the steps that we are taking now to go further, because we’re supporting companies through every stage of their investment life cycle.
First, we will ensure that companies can scale up effectively so that they are primed and ready for listing. To do this, we are establishing a world first, a new class of exchange, which will allow private companies to raise capital on an intermittent basis.
Now, the private intermittent securities and capital exchange system. And this came across my desk and I said, guys, this isn’t going to work. I don’t even understand what that is. So, what I did was I played around with the acronyms with the words, and we’re going to call it Pisces. Pisces for short will be established before the end of this year.
The Pisces platform will give private companies better access to UK capital markets, break down the artificial regulatory cliff edge that exists between the public and private markets. This development will allow us to take advantage of the structural shift that I was discussing earlier to private markets, rather than suffer from.
Secondly, we want to ensure that when companies choose to list, when they do that, the process of doing so is as frictionless as possible. And as I’ve now taken the UK’s new prospectus legislation through Parliament in recent days, the FCA can now complete their entire rewrite of the prospectus regimes rulebook to deliver on the recommendations from the Lord Hill reforms and indeed the Mark Austin reviews. This will boost the operating environment for our capital markets in two principal ways.
First, by increasing the pool of investors in participating capital raises and enabling firms to raise larger sums of capital more quickly and more easily.
Finally, we want to ensure that once listed companies are matched with the best investors for their offering, we will achieve this by taking forward Rachel Kent’s Investment Research Review recommendations.
We aim to revive the research market, which has been damaged in recent years, by delivering more efficient and accurate pricing, in particular for small and medium sized businesses, whilst attracting a more diverse range of investors, including retail investors.
And I’m not going to have any more time to list some of our wider initiatives, like Charlie Gatlin’s Accelerator Settlement Taskforce, which will upgrade our back office operations for the 21st century by moving from a T2 to a T1 settlement, or our form of Solvency II which were released 100 billion pounds of investment into our economy.
But given present company that, of course, seeking a balance of risk and reward, I’m prepared to make a bet with you about our future delivery of these reforms and then make a bet with you. This is dangerous. The Mansion House 2024 will mark substantial progress in all three of the investment lifecycle stages that I’ve set out today.
First, the FCA’s new listing rules will consolidate our dual segment structure into a simpler single listing segment. And that would have narrowed the gap with our international competitors. I am confident that as part of this transition, the FCA will engage with firms who want their IP to benefit from our new regime, ensuring that the UK IPO pipeline is ready for action.
Secondly, we will be well on our way by Mansion House midway through this year to delivering the regulatory framework for Pisces by the end of 2024.
And finally by taking forward Rachel Kent’s IRR recommendations, the Investment Research Review recommendations, we will allow much more investment research to be produced in this country on smaller, mid-cap British businesses giving more information to investors, particularly retail investors.
Now, why am I so confident in this agenda? Well, partly that’s just because that’s an occupational hazard of being politicians. But in all seriousness, I’m confident in this agenda. I’m saying it to all of you today because it’s underpinned by our commitment to where I started to openness, competitiveness, growth, dynamism, innovation in financial services. That is not for financial services. It is for the British economy as a whole.
Now, I know, or at least I hope very strongly that the people in this room share those values. When they are properly applied, they will have an impact far beyond financial markets. After all, the Big Bang improved the lives of millions across this country. And I’m confident that when we have delivered our capital markets renaissance, those will too. Thank you.
The speech made by John Glen, the Minister for the Cabinet Office, on 23 January 2024.
Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s a pleasure to be here with you all today.
I would like to start by thanking the Institute for Government for hosting this event. In particular, thank you to Dr Hannah White for her engagement leading up to it. I enjoyed your blog and the recently released Whitehall monitor.
Today, I want to outline the next steps of civil service reform and how I will build on my predecessors’ work to make the Civil Service a lean, keen and productive machine.
But, before I look to the future, I would like to look to the past.
Modernisation and reform have always been a crucial part of the Civil Service.
In fact, the modern Civil Service was born out of a report f- as I’m sure many of you know – from 1854, one that argued the case for urgent reform.
The Northcote-Trevelyan Report focused on creating a permanent Civil Service based on integrity and honesty.
Now, I’m paraphrasing here, but the report ends by stating: “Our priorities are, to provide efficient public servants, to foster merit, to overcome the fragmentary nature of the service”.
To get the best people to encourage good work, to improve the structures of central government.
It could have been written yesterday, but actually next month that report celebrates its 170th anniversary.
I think these priorities will speak to the public’s concerns. They want a public service that is easy to navigate, one where the best people are in the right jobs, where their lives are made easier by Government decisions.
It’s these priorities that I will discuss today and how I will seek to help the Civil Service to achieve them.
Recent Change & Future Challenge
Now, the size of our Civil Service has always shifted.
It shrunk following the financial crisis after 2010, in 2016, it grew to deliver Brexit and it grew in 2020 to respond to the pandemic.
It’s clear that if the world changes, the Civil Service must change, too. And this is right – the public would expect an adaptive and agile service, one that can respond to the big challenges facing the country.
Just think of the Furlough scheme, the AI Safety Summit, or all the work that’s gone into making us one of the highest performing education leaders in the world, these are significant achievements worth remembering.
It is also worth remembering the range of roles in the Civil Service.
They make up our government departments, agencies and public bodies, but they’re also the people who translate policies of politicians into action.
They work incredibly hard but crucially hard work does not always equal great productivity.
We must improve to keep pace with innovation in the private sector. For too long, productivity in the public sector has not been a high-enough priority, we have thrown more people at our biggest challenges, but have more to do to embrace the potential of technology and innovative ways of working.
As a recent Chief Secretary to the Treasury, I know that public finances are tight, they are always tight. Having established the Public Sector Productivity Review, I focused on squeezing every pound to deliver for taxpayers and I carry that focus with me in my new role in the Cabinet Office.
I know how important it is that the Civil Service cracks its productivity puzzle, because doing so will open the door to greater productivity across our entire public sector.
We can only afford a Civil Service that embraces innovation, especially when we consider the challenges ahead.
Demand for public services is growing – not just because of the immediate cost-of-living pressures, but an ageing population means we need to carefully consider many of our policies.
The cost of running Government is also increasing – tech costs more, and Government debt costs more to manage.
So, we have a public that is rightly expecting more, but it is also costing us more just to stand still.
As the Minister responsible for Civil Service reform, I am relentlessly focused on its future.
It is clear we have to do more with less, but I don’t think it’s about cutting corners.
It’s about being more productive. It’s about encouraging the best possible performance. It’s about bringing our people with us, to embrace the possibilities that modernisation brings.
Changes Already Made
Now, I hope I’m not arrogant enough – 10 weeks into the job – to think I’m the first to recognise these challenges.
My predecessors have set some fantastic work in motion already – most recently Sir Jeremy Quin, and not least the inimitable Lord Maude and his series of reforms. I was happy to discuss this speech with him yesterday evening.
The foundation for my work is the Declaration on Government Reform led by Michael Gove in 2021, where all permanent secretaries and the Cabinet agreed a programme of reform.
It was an ambitious programme focussed on greater efficiency and productivity – and we’ve already made some great progress.
Like merging 200 legacy IT systems into 5 corporate services.
And we’ve moved 16,000 London Civil Service roles into cities like Aberdeen, Cardiff, Wrexham and Belfast, making a Civil Service representative of the public it serves.
That’s all good, but what’s missing?
For me, there are three areas we can focus on to accelerate Civil Service modernisation: embedding technology, embracing simplicity, and enabling people’s potential.
Embedding Technology
So, first, let me turn to technology.
My vision is that every single civil servant is either actively delivering – or enabled by – digital technology in their day-to-day job, whether that’s eliminating bureaucracy. or coming up with new ideas to support our citizens.
Much of the focus is on how we in Government use AI, but I am clear that is not an inevitable solution.
AI will only work if it’s properly embedded, if it’s clear why and how we’re using it, and that civil servants get the right training and support to use it well.
I’m pleased to say we are already taking exciting first steps to unlock the benefits of generative AI, ensuring that our AI teams are working with industry experts, in order to solve some of the public sector’s most pressing problems.
Like launching AI pilots to make it easier for people to claim compensation in the case of criminal injury.
I believe better use of technology allows us to encapsulate everything that I’ve already spoken about: powered by the right people, it will improve how we deliver to the public at lower cost.
For example: before, if you wanted to sign a mortgage deed, complete a DBS check, or manage your company’s apprenticeship scheme, you had to sign in to each specific Government website, re-enter your personal details again and again and again.
So, we released a Gov.UK app that uses the One Login system, it’s already been downloaded 4.5 million times, and it has whittled 29 service logins down to just one sign-in process.
It’s so successful we’re rolling it out to over 100 other services this year.
It’s a great example of how we can better serve the public especially where they engage directly with public service.
Embrace Simplicity
But tech and artificial intelligence are not a one-size fits all solution to our issues, I believe there is a lot we can do by simplifying our processes.
Inevitably, the Government is – and always will be – a complex organisation. But I fear that now, it’s more complex than it needs to be.
Complex processes hide inefficiencies, simplifying how we work will make the Civil Service more productive, and will help us improve public services.
I want to acknowledge the work of my Ministerial colleague Esther McVey, who has come into her new post in the Cabinet Office to root out our inefficiencies.
She brings a refreshing clarity and analysis to how the Government works, a clarity which I – and the public – truly welcome.
It was a vision shared by Lord Maude, who also wanted to see improved accountability.
Today, we are considering ways to improve accountability in the Civil Service, including accountability to ministers.
The public expect no less, because they too want the processes and services they use to be more straightforward.
Take Universal Credit, for instance: it replaced a complicated landscape of multiple benefits administered by multiple organisations.
When we were delivering it, people were complaining it was taking too long, but we stuck to it, and steadily implemented it, and now, five years after its introduction, the change it has brought is remarkable.
It provided essential support throughout the pandemic rapidly, and will save £650m per year by 2027.
Now – that was a big idea with big benefits and it didn’t just happen.
It took the combined effort of civil servants, local councils, politicians and thousands more to make it work.
I pay tribute to them all, who – over half a generation – have transformed this complex service into a simple and productive one.
Projects like that demonstrate how our approach to policy development needs to change.
It needs to prioritise productivity as a goal from the outset, and ensure we are building an evidence base demonstrating which interventions work and which don’t.
But it’s not just the public-facing work we need to reconsider we also need to re-evaluate the labyrinth of processes that make up the back office of government.
That means doubling down on the functional reform agenda that Lord Maude began.
Which is why we introduced functions in 2013 to raise standards of specialist work across government.
Renewed approaches to functions like commercial, finance and project delivery have delivered £7.8bn in efficiencies just between 2020 and 2022.
But we need to go further, and actually create a way of doing things that gets things done well and done quickly.
So let me give you an example of the kind of efficiency I’m talking about.
Let’s say you’re a new civil servant, and it’s your first day in a Government department.
You need to get an ID card, but security clearance is a rigorous process, and for some that can take many months, so you get a temporary pass.
You need a laptop, but I.T. don’t have one available, so you have someone else print out all your induction material, and you remain offline for a while in a very online world.
It’s now a couple of weeks. Without proper access to the building, you don’t have a laptop and you don’t have an online account, and to resolve each one of these pressing issues, you have to speak to a different person.
Does this sound productive to you? Of course it doesn’t.
From launching a job advert to getting that new civil servant sat at their desk, takes – an astonishing average – of up to 115 days.
We can, we must and we will do better.
Which is why we are piloting a new model to make one person accountable for this process end to end, making sure that new starters in the Civil Service can start quickly with all their needs met and be productive from day one.
Enabling People’s Potential
That leads me on to my final focus for my speech – people.
Undeniably, people are the Civil Service’s greatest asset, but I believe that the current system is letting us all down and doesn’t enable our staff to achieve their best.
Complex structures mean that measuring progress can be difficult, our ways of incentivising high-quality performance are limited, people feel like the only way they can progress is to shuffle roles, all leading to dissatisfaction which, of course, results in the Civil Service churn being too high.
It’s a serious challenge for us – one which the IFG says costs the public nearly £36m a year on recruitment, training and loss of productivity.
We know that pay isn’t everything for civil servants, but it is undeniable that it is a deciding factor for them to move roles.
Pay, too, can prevent the external talent the Civil Service desperately needs.
Only one in five successful Senior Civil Service recruits is external, and vacancy rates for crucial digital and data professionals are at 15%, which undermines our digital transformation ambitions.
So, my ambition is simple: a smaller, more skilled Civil Service that is better rewarded.
Its simplicity masks the challenge, however, in implementing it, but I believe the time to make that change is now.
Which is why I am pleased that we are reviewing our pay framework for digital and data professionals, to ensure these roles can compete with similar roles in the private sector, especially those that will be at the forefront of AI delivery.
Not only will this attract and retain talent, but it will also save the taxpayer money, with savings of up to £270m by reducing reliance on expensive contractors.
My message to today’s tech leaders is this: yes, the Civil Service is doing everything it can to compete on pay – but no tech giant, no FTSE100 company, no unicorn anywhere will ever compete with the level of the work you will do in the Civil Service.
I have been fortunate enough to work in a number of Government departments, alongside many great people and some of them are here today. I’m loathed to name any of them individually, yet the commitment they showed me, the great advice they have given me, and go the extra mile – all this allowed me to achieve everything I could.
That environment often comes down to the culture our line managers create, they help improve performance, giving their teams clarity, support and accountability.
When line management is done well, it is transformational. There are over 100,000 civil servants with line management duties and, if they’re good at their job, this can improve productivity by providing clear expectations, training and support for their teams.
We also know that standards of performance management can too often vary between teams and departments.
Staff might not be getting full, honest feedback that helps them address issues, or help them progress their career at the right pace.
That is why we will be setting out the line management standards we want across the Civil Service and providing the support to managers they need to achieve these.
Yet, in some cases, consistently underperforming staff can languish in roles, or move between departments without properly addressing the reasons for poor performance.
In the worst cases, managers can too often feel unable to remove consistently poor performers
This is a problem that needs a solution, which is why I’m pleased to announce that I will work with Civil Service leaders to review our performance management approach.
This will build on the best practice already happening across much of the Civil Service and it’s only fair to our staff that we support them with proper, honest management.
But let me be clear – we are not dodging our responsibilities to deal with bad performance.
Where there is consistent poor performance in a very small minority of staff, we must take necessary action to address that.
It’s something which is a cause of real frustration for our civil servants – particularly senior civil servants – some of whom can feel they have to tiptoe around a colleague’s lacklustre performance, or have to work extra hard to make up for it.
It’s just one of the many things that frustrate them which can be resolved by better management. Another is working from the office.
There is no denying that there are many benefits to colleagues working all together in an office. People can be more productive, and complex tasks often can be overcome more efficiently.
I have already set out the expectation for staff to be in the office at least 60% of the time, and I believe that our senior civil servants need to set an example as leaders.
I want to consider how this expectation can be baked into our management of senior staff, which is why we will be making this distinction clearer for senior civil servants at the start of the performance year.
Ultimately, I want staff to bring themselves – their ideas, their passion and their dedication – into the office to tackle problems together.
I’ve already spoken about how we are building a public sector that reflects the society it serves, but I know there have been questions raised on the role of staff networks in supporting that effort.
Now, I’m sincerely grateful to the work of civil servants to make their profession open and inclusive.
Staff networks can create collaborative spaces, build a sense of belonging, helping us to work across-departments.
But, managing these networks should not become a second job.
I believe we have an opportunity to improve how these networks operate and ensure they do not impact our broader productivity.
So I have been working with Ministerial colleague Esther McVey to look into how staff networks operate across the civil service, and we will be publishing guidance in due course.
We must also ensure these networks uphold the Civil Service’s long-established rules on impartiality.
That’s why we are introducing new impartiality guidance which will support Civil Servants to remain objective when engaging in diversity and inclusion work.
We must make sure our civil servants can express themselves and maintain the trust and confidence of the public.
Conclusion
So, ladies and gentlemen, we have seen – whether it’s in 1854 or in 2024 – our civil servants have the capacity to adapt to the challenges of the day, but we must adapt today to prepare for the urgent challenges of tomorrow.
Over the next six months, I will address these and other Civil Service priorities, including the use of consultants in the public sector, and the responsibility of public bodies to the government.
But, for today, I want to reaffirm the kind of Civil Service I want to help create: a Civil Service that can meet the productivity challenge, where the most innovative and inspired minds are called to serve, to stay, and to be successful and fulfilled, where our processes are borne of robust evaluation, where innovation supports how people actually use our public services.
Our citizens deserve nothing less, and I believe we can do so much more to serve them better.
Thank you very much.
The speech made by Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the Minister for the Indo-Pacific, at Asia House in London on 23 January 2024.
It is a real pleasure to be here again for the launch, gosh in a blink of an eye isn’t it, the 2024 Outlook. And it really doesn’t seem like a year since I was standing at this lectern, predicting I think as I was, ‘months of change ahead’. But I wasn’t entirely wrong because it has indeed been a busy year and an awful lot has happened.
Now we did know even then that we were going to be looking at an unpredictable year, but I’m not sure that any of us would have anticipated the scale of events that has impacted economies over the last year, from the continuing challenges around climate change, to cybersecurity, from the conflicts in Ukraine which continue to create huge strains and of course in Gaza, US-China competition, the really substantial impacts we’re seeing through BRICS expansion and of course the Saudi-Iran deal.
And not wishing to be a predicter I think 2024 is probably going to be equally unpredictable. As you mentioned we have got elections in 60 countries, over 2 billion people going to the polls. Which is an extraordinary thing when you think about that sort of voice being spoken from citizens across the world. It is actually a global first – from Bangladesh and Taiwan in the last few weeks to India, Indonesia, South Korea, Sri Lanka… our own UK general election at some point, I can give you no insider information, and of course at the end of the year the USA’s Presidential election.
So I think Lord Green is right to talk about ‘turbulence’ in the coming year. But there will be 2 things that will remain consistent in 2024. One of those is Asian growth, and the other one is the UK’s commitment to be at the heart of that.
So we’re going to be continuing to seek those deeper partnerships with all these amazing countries across the Indo-Pacific, and with the regional network in partnership with ASEAN, the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) and the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), amongst others.
I had the great pleasure to attend the IORA Ministerial in Colombo in October last year, and indeed the Pacific Islands Forum in the Cook Islands in November. I spend a lot of time on planes these days, some of which work better than others. I think what I’ve heard time and again from my counterparts, in spite of their very diverse interests, was a desire for the kind of stable world order that will support economic growth and genuinely allow sustainable development. Because that stable world order in which we can all win that race for climate security, and of course the health security. And a stable world order that gets that prosperity that every country needs back on track.
Now the Foreign Secretary has called this an ‘age of insecurity’, and that insecurity can fan out both by land and by sea. And of course the recent situations in the Red Sea are a blunt reminder of what that looks like.
Something that became particularly stark in 2023 is that Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific security are clearly inseparable. Understanding that, and for that reason, that’s why the UK and so many of our partners want to be part of sustaining a free and open Indo-Pacific. Simply put, it is in our interests for the Indo-Pacific to be secure and stable. And it is in the interests of the region’s people to build a free, fair future, where top quality trade rules are respected, trade routes can stay open, data and energies can flow freely, and countries have free choices.
So the UK’s deployment of HMS Diamond in support of Operation Prosperity Guardian, an international taskforce to protect commercial shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, is perhaps a clear example of the UK’s intent. On maritime security, I’m looking forward to continuing engagement with the AUKUS partnership this year, as well as working with some key Indo-Pacific partners to assure global waters are safer for everyone.
The UK knows that security and trade will form a virtuous circle in our relationships throughout Asia. In 2023 we saw a number of notable successes for this approach, as we signed our Accession Protocol to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership – CPTPP – that was in July. Now joining CPTPP is going to give UK businesses an extraordinarily exciting enhanced access to the Malaysian market for the first time, and it puts the UK at the heart of a dynamic group of free trading countries, which are in the right place, and at the right time.
And we of course have our Free Trade Agreements with Australia and New Zealand came into force last year, with an expectation to increase bilateral trade by 53 and 59% respectively over the long term.
And in May we announced the expansion of British International Investments (BII as it’s known) to the Indo-Pacific, which is going to invest up to £500 million of climate finance. And we’ve also agreed the UK-Singapore Green Economy Framework MoU.
These are pillars if you like in the UK’s continuing growth and development of that commitment to the Indo-Pacific. More widely in support of regional security and stability, we’ve agreed a Reciprocal Access Agreement with Japan in January last year. The UK is the first European country to agree an RAA with Japan, which is enabling both countries to undertake longer, larger, more frequent and more complex joint exercising. And we are also sharing our cutting edge technology through the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP for short), to strengthen our deterrence and defence and the signing of the GCAP treaty with Japan and Italy in December was a really important milestone for that.
We’ve also been strengthening important bilateral relationships, with a new Strategic Partnership with Singapore, and the Downing Street Accord with the Republic of Korea. The Downing Street Accord commits both sides to deeper cooperation on defence and security, on trade and investment, on science and technology and on wider global issues together.
Now all of these relationships require a degree of trust. Trust that there are certain rules of engagement that the parties agree to follow. 2023 saw an important moment in this regard, as the UK, China and 27 other countries signed the Bletchley Declaration at the AI Safety Summit, to voice our mutual concern at the dangers of unfettered AI development, and to work together on safety research. This work is a cornerstone of the UK’s leadership in digital transformation, as we carve out our role in a new technical world this year.
2023 also saw publication of the UK Government’s Integrated Review Refresh, which set out the UK’s approach to global threats more widely, as well as our approach to the UK-China relationship. As Permanent Members of the UN Security Council together, each with a powerful global reach, the UK’s relationship with China has enormous potential to overcome some of the greatest global challenges together. So I welcomed China’s attendance at the AI Summit and also the UK-China engagement on climate change at COP28.
The COVID pandemic taught us that it is prudent to reduce dependencies in our critical supply chains, but we do believe that a positive trade and investment relationship with China is also critically important for both our countries’ interests. So we must maintain open channels to discuss all areas of our relationship, including where we have concerns. That includes the deterioration of freedoms in Hong Kong and the need to preserve peace in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait. These are matters of global interest. And so following Taiwan’s recent elections, I hope that those on both sides of the Strait will renew efforts to resolve differences through constructive dialogue. It is important that engagement between the UK and China continues to grow throughout 2024, and I am very pleased to be joined here today by our esteemed colleague, His Excellency.
Looking to the opportunities to come, Outlook 2024 rightly notes the importance of digital transformation to support economic growth. We know that AI and other critical technologies have the potential to transform our societies and improve the lives of millions. So we will build on the AI Safety Summit and continue to spur collective international action to navigate both the opportunities and the risks of this new frontier. We seek to ensure public safety, to drive commercial benefits and to promote values in line with our democratic ideals, assisting businesses in the process.
On trade, we’ve continued negotiations on our UK-India Free Trade Agreement: a deal to boost our current trading relationship, already worth £38 billion, and we are working to upgrade the UK-Korea FTA as announced during the recent State Visit, to enhance our existing £18 billion trade relationship with South Korea.
And of course, our ambition is to complete the required domestic procedures to join CPTPP as soon as possible, with the aim of completing that in the second half of this year. This is all before we mention the long-term benefits that membership of CPTPP presents for the UK: that stronger voice to shape global standards in areas like digital trade, more resilience and security in our supply chains, and more opportunities for jobs and growth right across the UK.
And as Asia House correctly foresees, this will likely be a turbulent year. Therefore, 2024 also needs to be a year of patient diplomacy, as we continue to put in place these long term frameworks that will build the range of partnerships required to protect UK prosperity and security and to support global efforts to tackle those shared challenges. Whether those frameworks are FTAs, defence and security arrangements or innovative approaches to mitigating the impacts of climate change.
So it is my great honour, as Minister for the Indo-Pacific, and our superb team of Ambassadors and High Commissioners around the world, to understand our partners’ priorities and to respond to them and work with you. We will encourage and work with our brilliant businesses, our investors, our entrepreneurs and their counterparts across the region to maximise these opportunities, for 2024, and for the long-term. Thank you.
The speech made by David Cameron, the Prime Minister, at King Charles Street in London, on 23 January 2024.
Your Excellency, distinguished guests, today we honour the 6 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust – humanity’s darkest hour.
We reflect on subsequent genocides, in Rwanda, Cambodia, Bosnia and Iraq. And we recommit to rid the world of the prejudice and hatred that persists today.
Let me begin by thanking those who work so hard to support this work, including the Holocaust Memorial Day and Holocaust Educational Trusts, who both do so much to sustain memories and understanding.
I would also like to thank Ambassador Hotovely for joining me to host today’s event and for her remarks.
There are lots of days in your life that you remember. I remember the birth of our first child. I remember the death of our first child.
But there are 2 other days that I will never forget. One was a winter’s day 9 years ago where I had the privilege of visiting Auschwitz.
It’s an extraordinary thing to go through. And, of course, you are struck by this massive architecture of murder, these famous archways, the mechanics of deaths, the scale of murder.
But what really hits you is when you see those displays of the luggage, the suitcases piled high. The children’s toys taken from the children before they were killed. The hair taken from those that went into the gas chamber.
These are things you never forget when you see them. And it’s so important that children have the opportunity today to see first hand what this architecture of mass murder is all about.
That’s why it’s important to say, ‘never again’ and to hear this testimony. That’s why the work you do is so important.
But there is another day that I will never forget, and that was the attacks on 7 October last year.
Not long after the event, I stood in Kibbutz Be’eri. The first thing that strikes me is what a place of peace it is. Built out of nothing in the desert, inhabited by people who went to make a life and a future for themselves and their families.
But then you go house to house, and you can see the bullet holes in the walls. The blood on the floors. The cupboards where children hid before they were pulled out and murdered in front of their parents. The appalling death and destruction on what was, let’s remember, the deadliest assault on Jewish people since the holocaust.
And since then, not only have those people had to live with that tragedy. Not only have they had to live with the fact that there are still 130 more hostages in Gaza whose fate we are so worried about and who we want to see released so badly.
But there has been this upsurge in antisemitism here in Britain as well as elsewhere.
So, in my view, it has never been more important to say so clearly that we stand with Jewish people. We stand with the state of Israel, We stand with their right to defend themselves as they go through this terrible ordeal with the legacy of the holocaust. And that’s why it’s so important we are gathered here today.
We gather today in the Foreign Office, with me standing before you as Foreign Secretary, to recognise that diplomacy is a profession dedicated to building bridges. To strengthening alliances. To promoting peace and freedom.
And this is a department with its own history. Today we are all telling stories about this period in history, and I want to tell you a quick story about what this department did.
Many British diplomats saved lives in the face of hatred and tyranny. I want to share with you one example.
From 1938, a brave team of Foreign Office and church officials in Vienna took huge risks, provided travel documents and baptismal certificates for Jews who were desperate to cross Austria’s borders to safety.
Reverends Hugh Grimes and Reverend Frederick Collard carried out hundreds of baptisms every day. Officials led by Thomas Kendrick and George Berry worked around the clock to exploit every possible loophole to issue travel permits and passports.
It was a dangerous business. Two members of this group – Kendrick and Collard – were harshly interrogated by the Nazis. The Jewish-born verger of Christ Church was sent to Auschwitz, where he died.
But thanks to the courage of some 25 individuals, tens of thousands of lives were saved.
Until recently, their devoted efforts were unknown. But the FCDO were determined they should not be forgotten. So last March, relatives of survivors joined us, faith groups and Lord Pickles, in unveiling a plaque at the British Embassy, opposite Christ Church.
British officials also played a role in that great rescue operation led by Jewish organisations 85 years ago.
That operation saved thousands of children from Nazi persecution in Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia.
I’ll never forget meeting one in Number 10 Downing Street when she showed me the little pocketbook that her father had written when she got off her train. It just said, ‘be a good daughter to the country that gives you hope’.
But while many children found safety here, they paid a high price – the murder of their parents, who were not allowed to accompany them. Freedom, for those children, was indeed fragile, and tinged with what must have been deep and abiding sadness.
So, we are equally determined this story – in all its complexity – is not forgotten. Last year, during the first State Visit of his reign, His Majesty the King and German President Steinmeier paid tribute at a memorial to the Kindertransport in Hamburg.
I share these stories as we must truly grasp their lessons for today. These are once again dangerous and volatile times. We and our partners must show strength and unity if we are to defend freedom.
In March, the UK assumes an important mantle, the Presidency of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.
We will use this opportunity to explore the circumstances of the Holocaust, and highlight the nature of societies that allowed mass murder to take place. And crucially we want to emphasise that these things take place in plain sight, and we must shine a spotlight on all those who had a part to play.
We want all generations to grapple with the legacy of the past, and recognise its relevance in the present. Because with memory of the Holocaust soon to pass from our living history, we must never allow it to slip from our consciousness.
After the horrors of 7 October, we must renew our vow – never again. That is our solemn duty – today, tomorrow and always.
Thank you.