Tag: Speeches

King Charles III – 2023 King’s Speech to Parliament

The speech made by King Charles III in the House of Lords on 7 November 2023.

My Lords and members of the House of Commons

It is mindful of the legacy of service and devotion to this country set by My beloved Mother, The late Queen, that I deliver this, the first King’s Speech in over 70 years.

The impact of Covid and the war in Ukraine have created significant long-term challenges for the United Kingdom. That is why my Government’s priority is to make the difficult but necessary long-term decisions to change this country for the better.

My Ministers’ focus is on increasing economic growth and safeguarding the health and security of the British people for generations to come.

My Government will continue to take action to bring down inflation, to ease the cost of living for families and help businesses fund new jobs and investment.

My Ministers will support the Bank of England to return inflation to target by taking responsible decisions on spending and borrowing. These decisions will help household finances, reduce public sector debt, and safeguard the financial security of the country.

Legislation will be introduced to strengthen the United Kingdom’s energy security and reduce reliance on volatile international energy markets and hostile foreign regimes. This Bill will support the future licensing of new oil and gas fields, helping the country to transition to net zero by 2050 without adding undue burdens on households.

Alongside this, my Ministers will seek to attract record levels of investment in renewable energy sources and reform grid connections, building on the United Kingdom’s track-record of decarbonising faster than other G7 economies.

My Government will invest in Network North to deliver faster and more reliable journeys between, and within, the cities and towns of the North and Midlands, prioritising improving the journeys that people make most often.

My Ministers will strengthen education for the long term. Steps will be taken to ensure young people have the knowledge and skills to succeed, through the introduction of the Advanced British Standard that will bring technical and academic routes into a single qualification. Proposals will be implemented to reduce the number of young people studying poor quality university degrees and increase the number undertaking high quality apprenticeships.

My Ministers will take steps to make the economy more competitive, taking advantage of freedoms afforded by the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union. A bill will be brought forward to promote trade and investment with economies in the fastest growing region in the world. My Ministers will continue to negotiate trade agreements with dynamic economies, delivering jobs and growth in the United Kingdom.

My Ministers will introduce new legal frameworks to support the safe commercial development of emerging industries, such as self-driving vehicles, introduce new competition rules for digital markets, and encourage innovation in technologies such as machine learning. Legislation will be brought forward to support the creative industries and protect public interest journalism. Proposals will be published to reform welfare and support more people into work.

My Government will promote the integrity of the Union and strengthen the social fabric of the United Kingdom.

Working with NHS England, my Government will deliver its plans to cut waiting lists and transform the long-term workforce of the National Health Service. This will include delivering on the NHS workforce plan, the first long-term plan to train the doctors and nurses the country needs, and minimum service levels to prevent strikes from undermining patient safety. Record levels of investment are expanding and transforming mental health services to ensure more people can access the support they need. My Government will introduce legislation to create a smokefree generation by restricting the sale of tobacco so that children currently aged fourteen or younger can never be sold cigarettes, and restricting the sale and marketing of e-cigarettes to children.

My Ministers will bring forward a bill to reform the housing market by making it cheaper and easier for leaseholders to purchase their freehold and tackling the exploitation of millions of homeowners through punitive service charges. Renters will benefit from stronger security of tenure and better value, while landlords will benefit from reforms to provide certainty that they can regain their properties when needed.

My Government will deliver a long-term plan to regenerate towns and put local people in control of their future. Legislation will be brought forward to safeguard the future of football clubs for the benefit of communities and fans. A bill will be introduced to deal with the scourge of unlicensed pedicabs in London.

My Government is committed to tackling antisemitism and ensuring that the Holocaust is never forgotten. A bill will progress the construction of a national Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre in Victoria Tower Gardens.

My Government will act to keep communities safe from crime, anti-social behaviour, terrorism and illegal migration.

A bill will be brought forward to ensure tougher sentences for the most serious offenders and increase the confidence of victims. My Ministers will introduce legislation to empower police forces and the criminal justice system to prevent new or complex crimes, such as digital-enabled crime and child sexual abuse, including grooming.

At a time when threats to national security are changing rapidly due to new technology, my Ministers will give the security and intelligence services the powers they need and will strengthen independent judicial oversight. Legislation will be introduced to protect public premises from terrorism in light of the Manchester Arena attack.

My Government will deliver on the Illegal Migration Act passed earlier this year and on international agreements, to stop dangerous and illegal Channel crossings and ensure it is the government, not criminal gangs, who decides who comes to this country.

My Government will continue to champion security around the world, to invest in our gallant Armed Forces and to support veterans to whom so much is owed. My Ministers will work closely with international partners to support Ukraine, strengthen NATO and address the most pressing security challenges. This includes the consequences of the barbaric acts of terrorism against the people of Israel, facilitating humanitarian support into Gaza and supporting the cause of peace and stability in the Middle East.

My Government will continue to lead action on tackling climate change and biodiversity loss, support developing countries with their energy transition, and hold other countries to their environmental commitments.

The United Kingdom will continue to lead international discussions to ensure that Artificial Intelligence is developed safely.

My Government will host the Global Investment Summit, the European Political Community, and the Energy Conference, leading global conversations on the United Kingdom’s most pressing challenges.

I look forward to welcoming His Excellency the President of the Republic of Korea and Mrs. Kim Keon Hee for a State Visit later this month.

My Government will, in all respects, seek to make long-term decisions in the interests of future generations. My Ministers will address inflation and the drivers of low growth over demands for greater spending or borrowing. My Ministers will put the security of communities and the nation ahead of the rights of those who endanger it. By taking these long-term decisions, my Government will change this country and build a better future.

Members of the House of Commons.

Estimates for the public services will be laid before you.

My Lords and Member of the House of Commons.

Other measures will be laid before you.

I pray that the blessing of Almighty God may rest upon your counsels.

November 7, 2023
Keir Starmer – 2023 Speech to the North East Chamber of Commerce

The speech made by Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition, on 3 November 2023.

Thank you, Andrew.

It’s such a pleasure to be here in such magnificent surroundings.

And a privilege to have the opportunity to share our plans for growth with you.

This is not the first Chamber of Commerce speech I’ve made this year.

But it is the first time I’ve addressed the reigning UK Chamber of the year.

So before I go any further – I’d like to congratulate you all on that.

Because it’s no exaggeration to say that Labour’s ambitions for government, our most important mission.

To get Britain building again.

Grow our way out of the suffocating cost-of-living crisis.

Will depend on your future success.

Now, before you pulled up that fantastic palatial drive, some of you may have travelled here today along the A1, a road that is absolutely critical to doing business in this region – indeed for the whole the east side of England.

But, as many of you will know, a little further up from here, between Morpeth and Ellington.

There’s a stretch of the A1 that the Prime Minister has recently promised to upgrade. But there’s a catch. Because he announced he would upgrade it in 2020, when he was Chancellor.

Just like Theresa May’s Government did in 2017. Just like David Cameron did in 2014. Just like the Conservative manifesto promised in 2010.

It’s a metaphor for how our country’s been run for the past thirteen years. The cameras get called, the press releases written.

All smiles for the photos, and then it’s back to Westminster. Job done. Rinse and repeat.

It’s a story you see right across Britain.

Infrastructure projects – some with billions already committed. Businesses planning around them. Strategies – developed in rooms like this.

But the projects and investment get stuck. Blocked, by objections, consultations, legal challenges, ballooning costs. Delays, delays, delays.

Until in the end, it’s easier just to pack up and move on.

We all know about HS2, a project the Conservatives couldn’t get built, even at the cost of £400 million per mile.

That’s the most expensive railway in the world – ever.

And I’m afraid to say that all the hallmarks of that project: the waste, the stagnation, the short-term sticking plaster politics. An inability to roll our sleeves up, and get things done that will actually grow our economy. Can be seen right across the country.

I mean – right now, the number of businesses going under has soared to its highest level in years.

And as you will all appreciate, every one is a personal tragedy.

An ambition, a dream, an investment in a better future. Gone.

Now I’m not here today to hit you over the head about this.

You can see the country just as clearly as me.

But next week is the King’s Speech. And we can already see that it will only bring more of the same.

A manifesto for the 14th year of Tory failure. And the starting gun fired on the next general election.

A choice, between a Conservative Party with no plan for the future. Hurtling down the only high-speed project it’s ever managed to build: the highway to British decline.

Or the Labour alternative. A party that understands the potential that lies in regions like this. That has a plan to grow every corner of this country.

Will work with you to get the North East building again.

Get our future back, with a decade of national renewal.

Because mark my words, Britain needs this King’s Speech to kickstart a big build.

We need to focus on the real problems that face the businesses and communities of this region.

That’s why a Labour King’s speech would rip up the red tape in our planning system that stops us building the infrastructure you need.

Would establish a new generation of technical colleges – a plan for the higher skills you need.

And would bring forward a modern industrial strategy. Work hand in glove with the private sector. Invest in the potential of regions like this. And win the race for the jobs of the future.

That is the job of government as I see it.

We have to provide the businesses, communities and people of this nation, with the conditions to succeed.

A fundamental deal.

That we serve the country, while you drive it forward.

The Tories can’t do this. Rishi Sunak is too weak to stand up to the blockers on his backbenches. Too haunted by the ghosts of Conservative imagination to see the country’s problems as you see them.

So, if you’ll indulge me, I want to set out exactly how our plan would benefit your business.

And grow the economy of this proud region in three steps.

Step one, we will get the North East building again.

We will take on the blockers that hold a veto over British aspiration.

We will build one and a half million homes right across our Britain. With opportunities for first time buyers here in the North East.

New infrastructure to support businesses, families and communities to grow. Roads, warehouses, grid connections, labs – all built quicker and cheaper.

And with all that – a prize for your business. A path to a stronger skills base, a happier workforce, more dynamism, more demand, more growth.

I mean – let me just give you a couple of examples.

The Thames Tunnel in East London. A project with a planning application thirty times longer than the complete works of Shakespeare. Sixty thousand pages.

£800 million worth of taxpayers money spent without even breaking ground.

Or take Sizewell C. A next generation nuclear power station in Suffolk. A £20bn project of national importance. Vital for British energy, security and independence.

This one had forty-thousand pages of its planning application devoted to data on the environment.

And yet it’s been held up in the courts on account of a ‘failure to assess the environmental impact’.

I could go on and on and on. The examples are countless. But as a country we can’t afford to go on. Not like this.

Because the challenges this inertia creates for businesses and communities like yours, they’re enormous.

It’s why our roads are so congested compared to other countries.

Why millions are denied the security of home ownership.

Why you can’t take up the opportunity of clean British energy.

The cheaper bills that would reduce your cost base and protect us from the whims of tyrants like Putin.

And yet, back in the 50s and 60s, we built the backbone of our entire motorway system, in less time than it’s taken to talk about the turning of that stretch of the A1 into a dual carriageway.

The national grid was completed in about eight years. Less time than it takes some entrepreneurs to get a grid connection, today.

But you don’t even have to go back that far.

The last Labour Government delivered High Speed One on time and under budget.

So I have no time for Tory excuses – politics is about choices.

Do you face up to tough decisions, or do you duck them? That’s always been the test.

So if you take only one thing away from here today.

Let it be this. Wherever we find barriers to British success – we will bulldoze through them.

New development corporations, new planning regimes for national infrastructure.

Consequences for councils that drag their feet.

Reforms to judicial review.

Whatever it takes – we will find a way.

No stone unturned. No detail overlooked. No fight ducked.

Step two – a new direction for skills.

Because a future must be trained as well as built.

And the generation of young people that sacrificed so much during the pandemic – their potential must be backed.

Seriously – the cost of inaction on this cannot be overstated.

£120bn worth of economic output could be lost by 2030 if the needs of businesses are not met.

So we will transform our further education system. With Technical Excellence Colleges. Colleges that will have a stronger link to their local economies.

More connections to Local Skills Improvement plans.

Universities, businesses, rooms like this, all around the table and setting the direction.

And in doing so, grounding our education system more firmly, not just in young peoples’ aspirations, but also in the pride, the pull on the badge of the shirt.

The ambition you feel, when building a lasting legacy for your community.

So here in the North East, for example it could mean Technical Excellence Colleges that specialise in construction, health and social care, the clean energy revolution we want to see up and down the East Coast.

Welders in the Tees Valley – I know there’s a skills shortage for precision welders here.

And I’ve seen that in the Local Skills Improvement plan this Chamber wrote.

I know you don’t want that plan gathering dust.

You want it to drive the courses delivered at your local FE colleges.

And that is exactly what we will guarantee.

Because we want to end the years of businesses feeling hopeless about missing skills. Give you the tools to do something about it.

You should have more say over how you invest in your workforce.

And at the moment – as you well know – the Apprenticeship Levy simply isn’t flexible enough.

Your hands are tied.

Unable to deliver the full breadth of skills that you need.

So we’d transform it into a new Growth and Skills Levy.

Giving you more power over the training your money can buy.

But it’s not just on you.

Government has to step up as well.

Too many young people are leaving education without basic skills…

Maths, digital skills, communication and teamwork.

Skills we know every business needs.

So Labour would deliver higher standards in our schools.

Every child taught by expert teachers…

A broader curriculum.

Real world maths from an early stage.

Preparing the next generation.

To make sure that they are ready for work and ready for life.

That’s what ending the tax breaks on Private Schools will deliver.

Opportunity for all.

Skills for business.

Growth for the nation.

Finally – step three.

A modern industrial strategy. On a statutory footing.

Free from the whims and wreckage of Westminster.

An emblem of our determination to move away from the stand-aside state that fails to set direction.

If you go to the government website to find out about their industrial strategy.

Scratched across the top is one word.

I kid you not, ‘archived’.

‘Archived’.

Doesn’t that just tell you everything?

They think Britain’s days of high growth are over. But they’re not.

Labour will get Britain growing again.

Bring back industrial strategy.

Provide the institution, the incentives and above all, the stability you need to invest in our future.

Because in a world as riven with insecurity as ours, with challenges like climate change.

Technologies like artificial intelligence. Scientific advances like gene editing. Constantly overturning the economic apple-cart.

You need a government that gets involved. That rolls up it sleeves.

That offers the hand of partnership in pursuit of the national interest.

With clear fiscal rules – sound and followed rigorously.

A British jobs bonus that will attract new investment to our industrial heartlands.

Relight the fire of renewal in communities like this.

And a new national wealth fund – that will stand with business.

Work together to invest in the crucial infrastructure the North East desperately needs.

The battery gigafactories that will protect electric car-manufacturing in Sunderland.

The hydrogen and carbon capture technology that can provide an industrial future for Teesside.

And the ports that can finally handle large industrial parts. So the East Coast can lead the world in offshore wind.

This is what the King’s speech should be about.

A national mission to get Britain building again. And grow our country from the grassroots.

Because Britain needs a new business model.

And, you will know, changing a business model is hard. But this is our plan.

A plan to expand the country’s productive capabilities. But at the same time, to change who benefits.

A Britain where growth comes from regions like this.

A Britian where growth serves regions like this.

With infrastructure – built more quickly.

Young people’s potential – backed.

The jobs of the future in your town.

The backbone of this country, once again, powering us forward towards national renewal.

A Britain with its future back.

Thank you.

November 7, 2023
Baroness Neville-Rolfe – 2023 Speech at the Government Security Conference

The speech made by Baroness Neville-Rolfe, a Minister of State at the Cabinet Office, on 1 November 2023.

Thank you, Vincent, for that kind welcome – and good evening, everyone.

Thank you all for coming and to the Government Security Group in particular for your offer of hospitality in the days of work ahead.

And I will start with a question.

Could there be a more important time for a conference on security?

We meet at a very difficult time. The world is getting darker and we face enormous threats to world security.

The complexities of security are more evident in the last few months than ever before…

…War in Ukraine, conflict in Israel and Palestine and the constant drip drip drip of cybercrime and fraud – could – if we let it – become a deluge.

But it’s not just criminals we need to concern ourselves with…

…whole countries are turning to their computers to commit crime. It is no longer the loner in their bedroom planning cyberattacks…

…it’s buildings of people, sanctioned by their state, challenging the basic conditions for an open, stable and peaceful international order which everyone in this room will support.

We explained the difficulties in our Integrated Review Refresh in March and called out ways in which the world was getting darker.

Moreover, as the world turns, our security needs will become more complex…

…and this complexity is being demonstrated in Bletchley Park right now, as the Prime Minister hosts the first ever Global AI Safety Summit…

…countries from across the world – and tech leaders and innovators – all working together with one goal…

…which is to ensure that the next tech frontier is as safe and secure as possible.

Today’s session at our conference is about how collaboration will strengthen the security of our governments…

…governments that are threatened by increasingly skilled adversaries…

…adversaries who are determined to exploit our large quantities of data, and hold to ransom our online public services.

Today, I want to outline how the UK Government is staying secure…

…and how we are collaborating across the world to improve international security. I have already mentioned cybercrime…

…soon enough, this type of crime will become so commonplace that it will simply be known as ‘crime’.

I am clear that the digital world is one of the battlegrounds of the future…

…where frontlines are not defined by physical borders. This is a big change.

Hybrid methods of warfare have long been used to destabilise adversaries, but cybersecurity threats are evolving at an alarming pace. Malicious actors exploit vulnerabilities in our interconnected systems.

A few years ago, WannaCry wreaked havoc in the UK National Health system. Today 8 out of 10 ransomware attacks come from Russian speaking sources.

However, I believe that the UK is prepared to tackle these challenges.

Our National Cyber Security Strategy outlines how we will bolster Government digital infrastructure to withstand attacks…

…we are training businesses and public services about how to remain resilient against digital crime…

…and as the third largest exporter of cybersecurity services globally, we are sharing our expertise with the world.

But as criminals adapt their methods, we too must adapt.

Take the fight against public sector fraud, which transcends national borders and threatens our national security.

Our leadership in the UK of the International Public Sector Fraud Forum is crucial here.

Through this dialogue both the UK and our partners are alive to the developing issues…

…and coming up with ways to fight the fraudsters, wherever they are. I was fortunate to attend their forum earlier this year…

…and I was struck, very struck, by the strength of our relationship with our Five-Eyes partners…

…and how that partnership is enhancing fraud prevention, improving investigative techniques, and leading to a better understanding of different types of attacks, including ransomware.

In fact, ransomware featured strongly in my discussions at Singapore International Cyber Week a fortnight ago.

It was clear to me that Singapore is a good place for these discussions. It sits at the very heart of the Indo Pacific…

…which has become a greater focus for British foreign and security policy for a number of reasons.

It was a successful visit for us all…

…one which builds on our recent achievements in the region, including the AUKUS agreement, obtaining Dialogue Status with ASEAN, several trade deals and a recent UK Singapore Strategic Partnership agreed by our Prime Minister…

… a partnership built on how like-minded we are when it comes to cybersecurity, and our joint leadership in advanced artificial intelligence, on which we are spending a lot of time on this week.

I am pleased to say that we are building on this national and international work.

This year, we announced a new Integrated Security Fund – replacing the Conflict Stability and Security Fund, which was much loved…

…which will help keep the UK safe and address global sources of volatility and insecurity.

With a budget of almost £1 billion, it will, for example, help develop regional cyber strategies and training…

…both essential components which will help our allies deter cyberattacks on their national infrastructure.

I mentioned ASEAN, and this fund is delivering technical and policy capacity building in ASEAN

…but the Fund also supports projects that assist Ukraine and counter Russian disinformation.

But it’s not enough to bolster projects that already exist…

…we have to also invest in the skills, skills for the future, so the projects of the future – ones we can’t even comprehend yet – can be created and maintained.

It is clear that the UK can be a leader in digital skills…

We are the European leaders in Fintech, with one-thousand-six-hundred firms based here…

…our telecoms, our computer and information services exports are valued at over thirty-eight-billion pounds…

…and with 1% of the world’s population – so we’re not that huge – we have built the 3rd largest AI sector in the world.

Despite this, and I’m sure this is agreed, we must do more globally to foster data and digital skills, and in particular our cyber talent pipeline…

…and the professionalism of cyber internationally to match our professional success in law and accountancy.

But, as the threats we face are increasingly global in nature, we have to work with global partners to confront them…

…and that is why I was so pleased to announce – as part of my visit to Singapore – a new Women in Cyber Network across South East Asia…

…which will run women-led projects that address regionally specific cybersecurity challenges, with the support of UK best practice, and I was delighted to discover that so many colleagues from the US delegation came from the female side.

This focus on skills is no more needed than in the area of supply chains.

Strong and resilient supply chains are of fundamental importance to our economic and national security…

…and it is prudent to set common standards for suppliers, to support a secure and prosperous international order.

It has been wonderful to see the Five Eyes’ global leadership flourish in areas such as software security and supplier assurance…

…but it behoves us to do more and faster.

Because if we don’t, our adversaries will exploit our open economies to use ownership models and state-backed companies against us…

…with Huawei and HikVision being prime examples.

Our new UK Procurement Act – which received Royal assent last week – will help tackle this specific threat.

It will enable us to reject bids from any Government supplier that poses a threat to national security…

…and we are setting up a new National Security Unit for Procurement in the Cabinet Office, which will advise the Government on future priorities.

We are going even further to prevent interference in our political infrastructure through our Defending Democracy Taskforce – of which I am a member – under the leadership of Tom Tugendhat, the security minister at the Home Office.

It is working across government to protect the integrity of our democracy from threats of foreign interference.

This is now teeing up work to protect our representatives and voting systems from hostile attacks at our next election.

Here, too, the importance of collaboration across governments to reduce these and other security risks cannot be overstated. After all, next year is an election year in the EU and US.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is clear that – in our interconnected world – our security is a shared responsibility.

What we can achieve together is an all-round ecosystem of security built on our world-class foundations of education, expertise, technology and capability.

Yes, our security needs are more complex than they used to be, but in the face of that complexity we must remain committed to collaboration.

Collaboration on our shared security will help us overcome fraudsters, criminals, bandit states – and indeed anyone who wants to undermine the strength of our partnerships for their own gains.

If we hold our resolve, it is clear to me they will not win…

…and through our partnerships, we will help build a stronger, more resilient and more secure world.

Thank you for listening.

November 6, 2023
Martin Docherty-Hughes – 2023 Speech on Ukraine (October 2023)

The speech made by Martin Docherty-Hughes, the SNP spokesperson on defence, in the House of Commons on 24 October 2023.

We cannot forget this autumn that we are seeing a broader escalation of the conflict in Ukraine into the frontiers of our Euro-Atlantic homeland. I speak in particular about the recent announcements by the Governments of Sweden, Finland and Estonia that undersea assets linking those countries have been intentionally damaged by third parties. I should declare an interest as chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Estonia.

My primary concern, which I am sure the Minister shares, is closer to home. Events in the eastern Mediterranean and the Baltics demonstrate the diffuse nature of the threats we need to face, but they also demonstrate the importance of keeping a singular focus on the areas that the Government can best hope to influence. While supporting the heroic and excellent bilateral support for the people of Ukraine as they continue their fight, on the day that the Defence Committee publishes a report into the Government’s Indo-Pacific tilt, can I ask the Minister to reiterate his Government’s commitment to Euro-Atlantic security as a central strategic concern of these islands of the north Atlantic that we inhabit together, and critically, to update the House on the security of our North sea oil and gas infrastructure?

James Heappey

It is fantastic to hear the SNP’s epiphany on the strategic importance of North sea oil and gas. We take seriously the requirement to protect our subsea infrastructure, whether oil and gas, fibre-optic cables or energy interconnectors. The Royal Navy has ships permanently at high readiness to ensure that our national economic zone is secure.

The hon. Gentleman made an important point. Is a time of growing instability in the Euro-Atlantic and the near east one also to be committing more military resource to the far east and the Indo-Pacific? Every defence review—the original integrated review and its refresh—has been clear that the absolute foundation of all our military effort is around security in the Euro-Atlantic, but if our principal ally in the United States is ever-more concerned, as it is, about its competition with China and the challenge in the Indo-Pacific, it is surely necessary to show our willingness to contribute to Indo-Pacific security alongside the United States, so that the United States remains engaged in Euro-Atlantic security, too.

November 6, 2023
John Healey – 2023 Speech on Ukraine (October 2023)

The speech made by John Healey, the Shadow Defence Minister, in the House of Commons on 24 October 2023.

Members from across the House, and people across the world, are rightly focused on the middle east after Hamas’s horrific attacks. That terrorism must be condemned, civilians must be protected, humanitarian corridors must be opened, international law must be followed, and escalation risks must be managed. I welcome the Defence Secretary’s Gulf visit later this week, and I hope that he will report back to us in the House. I also welcome President Biden’s oval office address, in which he said:

“Hamas and Putin represent different threats, but they share this in common: they both want to completely annihilate a neighbouring democracy”.

Today lets President Putin know that the UK remains focused on, and united in, solidarity with Ukraine.

Last week, as the Minister said, we passed the grim 600-day milestone since Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. War still rages, cities are still bombed, and civilians are still raped and killed. Ukraine has made important gains in recent days on the Dnipro river. Will the Minister update the House on that? I am proud of the UK leadership on Ukraine, but we must work to maintain that leadership and accelerate support. I fear that UK momentum is flagging. There has been no statement on Ukraine to Parliament from the new Defence Secretary since his appointment in August, and no statement from any Defence Secretary in this House since May.

Labour backs the recent announcements on UK military aid, the new British Army training to protect critical infrastructure, and the £100 million, raised with allies, that will come from the International Fund for Ukraine, but Ukrainians are asking for winter support, air defence, and more ammunition—and where is the UK’s planned response? No new money for military aid for Ukraine has been committed by this Prime Minister. The £2.3 billion for this year was pledged by his predecessor, and the £2.3 billion for last year was pledged by her predecessor. This year’s money runs out in March. Seven months after announcing £2 billion for UK stockpiles in the spring Budget, not a penny has been spent and not a single contract signed. Why? Putin must be defeated, just as Hamas must be defeated. We must not step back. We must stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes to win.

James Heappey

I echo the right hon. Gentleman’s words about the despicable attack from Hamas and the absolute right of Israel to defend itself. As I said, I believe strongly that it is important that Putin does not see this as a moment of opportunity to sow more chaos, and does not think that the western donor community is distracted or has a preference for supporting Israel over Ukraine. He must know that our resolve is to support both.

The right hon. Gentleman rightly noted that the Secretary of State will be in the Gulf later this week. I am sure that he will want to talk about what he hears there, but I suspect that he will also want to keep some of that counsel private, as we seek to calibrate how we posture ourselves in the region in order to reassure our allies and deter those who might seek to make a bad situation even worse. The Secretary of State was in Washington last week, and has had a number of calls with other partners around the region. So too have the Chief of the Defence Staff and I, as part of a Ministry of Defence-wide effort to ensure that we constantly calibrate our response alongside that of those who we traditionally work with in the region, and we make sure that nothing we do is misinterpreted.

The right hon. Gentleman and I are, I think, friends, so there is some dismay that he dismisses all my efforts at the Dispatch Box to keep the House updated on the war in Ukraine. I stood here as recently as 11 September to lead an excellent debate on the subject, and have given a number of statements on behalf of the Secretary of State. I am sorry if the right hon. Gentleman is so rank-conscious as to deem my efforts unworthy, but I have done my best.

The right hon. Gentleman is right to point to the fact that the excellent financial contribution made over the two previous financial years is, as yet, unconfirmed for the next financial year. It will not surprise him to know that that has already been the subject of conversation across Government. It is not for me to make that announcement in an urgent question today, but a major fiscal event is forthcoming, and I know that he will not have to wait too long. That does not mean that our plans are uncertain. In fact, I push back strongly on the suggestion that they are. For a long time over the past two years, there has been a sort of misunderstanding that the UK’s capacity to gift is entirely either from our own stockpiles or from our indigenous industrial capacity. The vast majority of what the UK gifts is what we are able to buy internationally, often from countries that Putin would prefer were not providing us with that stuff. However, we have been able to get our hands on it and get it to the Ukrainians with some haste. That is exactly the sort of thing that the right hon. Gentleman asked about.

It is about the small but necessary things, such as winterisation equipment, small arms ammunition, artillery ammunition and air defence ammunition, and our ability to buy that while in parallel stimulating UK industry. I reject what the right hon. Gentleman said about contracts having not been placed; substantial contracts have been placed directly to replenish UK stockpiles of NLAWs, Starstreak, lightweight multi-role missiles, Javelin, Brimstone, 155 mm shells and 5.56 mm rifle rounds. As far as I can see, there is a steady state contribution to the Ukrainians that amounts to tens of thousands of rounds per month, plus air defence missiles, plus all the small stuff, alongside the replenishment of our own stockpiles, which can only happen at the pace at which industry can generate it, but none the less it is happening.

November 6, 2023
James Heappey – 2023 Statement on Ukraine (October 2023)

The statement made by James Heappey, the Minister for Armed Forces, in the House of Commons on 24 October 2023.

Since I last updated the House in my opening remarks in the debate on Ukraine on 11 September, the situation on the ground has remained largely unchanged. Slow and steady progress is being made by the Ukrainian armed forces, which continue to grind their way through the main Russian defensive position. Defence Intelligence estimates that the number of Russian permanent casualties —in other words, those who are dead or so seriously wounded that they cannot return to action—now stands at between 150,000 and 190,000 troops. Total casualties are estimated to number up to 290,000.

A limited Russian offensive is under way at Avdiivka on the outskirts of Donetsk city. Fighting has been fierce, and we assess that the average casualty rate for the Russian army was around 800 per day in the first week of the offensive. As ever, Putin and his generals show no more regard for the lives of their own troops than they do for the people of Ukraine.

However, even this ex-soldier can admit that wars are not only about the fight on the land. Since the last debate on Ukraine, the Ukrainians have opened up a new front in the Black sea, destroying a Kilo-class submarine and two amphibious ships, as well as making a successful strike on the Russian Black sea fleet headquarters. The consequence, as President Zelensky has rightly said, is that the Russian Black sea fleet is no longer capable of resistance in the western Black sea. As we move beyond day 600—it is day 608, to be precise—of Putin’s “three-day” illegal war, he has still not achieved any of his initial strategic aims, and he has now ceded sea control in the western Black sea to a nation without a navy.

The UK continues to donate significant amounts of ammunition and matériel, paid for from the £2.3 billion commitment for this financial year. That follows the same amount being given the year before, and that is an important point. Our gifting is about more than headline-making capabilities such as Challenger 2 or Storm Shadow. It is the delivery, month after month, of tens of thousands of artillery rounds, air defence missiles and other small but necessary items of equipment that positions the UK as one of the biggest and most influential of Ukraine’s donors. The UK is also the only country to have trained soldiers, sailors, aviators and Marines in support of the Ukrainian effort; we have now trained over 50,000 soldiers, sailors, aviators and Marines since 2014.

Events in the middle east have dominated the headlines, but in the Ministry of Defence and across the UK Government—and, clearly, in His Majesty’s Opposition, as they brought forward this urgent question—Ukraine remains a focus. I think that seeing this very timely question will matter enormously to our friends and colleagues in Kyiv. I remain every bit as confident today as I have been on all my previous visits to the Dispatch Box over the last two years that Ukraine can and will prevail.

November 6, 2023
Will Quince – 2023 Speech at ASEAN Conference

The speech made by Will Quince, the Minister for Health and Secondary Care, at the ASEAN Conference on 2 November 2023.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, your Excellencies, our friends from South-East Asia.

I’d like to let you all in on a little secret – being the Minister responsible for Global Health is one of my favourite parts of the job.

Partially because I’m asked to attend receptions in beautiful rooms like these, which I must confess, are slightly nicer than what I’m used to!

But also because it’s a real privilege to meet with our partners from across the globe.

And today, I’m delighted to welcome the Secretary General of ASEAN, on his first visit to the UK.

Your Excellency, your visit comes at a vital time. We stand at the dawn of a new partnership between ASEAN and the UK.

In 2021, the UK became ASEAN’s first new dialogue partner in a quarter of a century. And since then, our relationship has continued to grow in confidence and in strength, because we share a vision of a free, open and stable Indo-Pacific region, governed by the rule of law.

And the UK wants to play the fullest possible role in advancing that vision, drawing on the best of British expertise in finance, regulation, and healthcare. That’s why we applied to join the ASEAN Regional Forum.

And it’s why we’re committed to working with ASEAN to meet the challenges of the 21st century, from climate change to global health, and harnessing AI’s potential.

Your Excellency, I hope you’ve witnessed the UK commitment to our cooperation throughout your visit. I know you’ve have met with our Deputy Prime Minister. You have visited Oxford University, and tomorrow you will open the London Stock Exchange.

As I can see in the room tonight, our leading scientific minds and industry partners are committed to finding solutions.

Not just to current health challenges, but also those facing future generations – from pandemics to the impact of a changing climate on our health systems.

As a health minister, I’ve got a front row seat to see the benefits our joint efforts will deliver for our people.

I know investing in global health research isn’t just good for my country – it benefits the peoples of South-East Asia, and the world.

And we all know it’s the only way we’ll prevent the next global health crisis.

That’s why since 2016, the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Research has joined forces with 27 institutions across South-East Asia, funding over £86m in critical health research.

The UK’s Newton Fund has supported over 70 research teams to conduct crucial research on strategic areas like antimicrobial resistance, meningitis and COVID-19.

And through the Fleming Fund, my department has invested £265m, supporting countries around the globe to generate, share, and use data on antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

I’m proud this is the world’s single largest aid investment in AMR surveillance.

It will continue to bolster our partnership with at least four ASEAN member states.

But this is just the beginning. Today, I’m proud to announce we’re investing more than £30m of aid in four new vaccine manufacturing research hubs through the UK Vaccine Network.

This will build partnerships between British universities and global vaccine developers.

And that includes creating a dedicated UK-South East Asia Vaccine Manufacturing Hub, in a partnership between the University of Sheffield and twelve ASEAN partner institutions.

So that if another pandemic strikes, lifesaving vaccines will be more readily available across South-East Asia and the world.

And that’s not all. We’re also working closely with our friends in the Secretariat to develop a new programme: the ASEAN-UK Health Security Partnership.

This will bring the full force of our expertise to bear in tackling shared global health challenges.

And there is no greater symbol of our friendship, than the nearly 36,000 nurses and midwives, and the several thousand doctors from ASEAN member states who are working in our National Health Service.

I pay tribute to their decades of dedicated service. And in recognition of that service, we’re giving leadership development opportunities to healthcare staff working in the UK and across ASEAN, through NHS England’s Global Fellowship Programme.

With their help, together, we’ll build the resilient and inclusive health systems we need, to save lives across the world.

Your Excellency, the measures we’re announcing today will help our countries tackle future pandemics, boost research into vaccines, and reduce deaths from infectious diseases.

And I hope you return to the region, safe in the knowledge our partnership will go from strength to strength from here. Thank you.

November 6, 2023
George Freeman – 2023 Speech at ASEAN Conference
The speech made by George Freeman, the Minister for Science, Research and Innovation, in London on 2 November 2023.
Welcome

Your Excellency, Secretary General to ASEAN, I am delighted to be here today to celebrate the deepening partnership between ASEAN and the UK.

And thank you to our host this evening, Minister Quince.

Tonight, let me share a few words on our science and technology partnership.

AI Summit

We are not shy about our plan to make the UK a science and technology superpower by 2030. In March we launched our roadmap – the UK Science and Technology Framework alongside £370 million to boost investment in innovation and seize the potential of new technologies like AI.

Groundbreaking technologies like artificial intelligence have the potential to transform our societies and economies changing all our lives across the globe. It’s why, this week, the UK is hosting the AI Safety Summit – to set a new path for collective international action to navigate the opportunities and risks of frontier AI.

Complex issues like this demand international dialogue. That is why relationships like UK-ASEAN are so important. And I am pleased we have Science and Technology Ministers from a number of ASEAN Member States here in the UK this week at the Summit. We must continue this close collaboration.

UK-ASEAN

Our Science and Technology partnership with ASEAN continues to grow. Just 2 weeks ago we held the first ASEAN-UK dialogue on Science, Technology and Innovation in the Philippines. And over the next year we will continue to work with the ASEAN Committee on Science, Technology and Innovation, focusing on AI and Engineering Biology as the technologies of tomorrow. This activity is just part of how we are delivering against the ASEAN – UK Plan of Action. We are committed to encouraging cooperation between our Science and Technology communities. A community which is so well represented here tonight.

International Science Partnerships Fund

I am happy to announce that our International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF) will invest £337 million over the next 2 years in collaborations to tackle the existential challenges facing the world – from climate change, to pandemics, to the global race to harness the power and potential of emerging technologies.

Of this, the UK government has committed £218 million to partnerships with low and middle-income countries to support sustainable development.

The fund puts research and innovation at the heart of our international relationships. And I’m delighted about the partnerships that this fund will bolster with ASEAN Member States.

ISPF directs government investment and effort into the science and research issues that really matter. It builds partnerships based on excellence to share knowledge and research infrastructure, cultivate strong diplomatic ties, promote global standards and values, and foster mobile talent in Southeast Asia and in the UK.

Just a few examples include:

UKRI is proposing to allocate £21 million to support collaborative research on infectious diseases of relevance to Southeast Asia with epidemic and AMR potential. And early-stage discussions are taking place with potential partners in the region. The programme aims to establish a strong regional network of researchers, in partnership with the UK, on this subject of global health significance

BBSRC and NERC are scoping a £12 million programme focused on interdisciplinary approaches to enhance the sustainability and resilience of aquaculture systems in Southeast Asia

British Council is launching a £9 million programme, funding research collaboration on: Planet, Health, Tech, and Talent. For eligible research institutions in the UK and counterparts including Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam

opportunities for early career researchers include a £2.5 million British Council fellowships programme, funding UK institutions to host researchers from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, providing a foundation to launch careers while enhancing research capacity in their home countries

Wider announcements (FCDO)

And ISPF is not the only programme that benefits our science and technology partnership with ASEAN.

We have 10 new UK-ASEAN Scholarships for Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM). And, next year, we will launch a new ASEAN Chevening Scholarships Programme.

Colleagues in the FCDO have launched, with the ASEAN Secretariat, a £1 million Research and Innovation for Development (RIDA) initiative to harness innovation and support low-income and vulnerable populations across ASEAN. This initiative will support partnerships between researchers and industry based in the UK and Southeast Asia. Partnerships which will develop and scale novel innovations on health, climate and energy.

And last month the UK announced an additional £2 million to the ASEAN-Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). The Innovate for Food and Nutrition Security programme will build resilience and sustainability of agriculture and food systems in ASEAN.

We have already built strong science partnerships across ASEAN with the support of our Newton Fund and Global Challenges Research Fund. From cyclone prediction to engineering high-yielding breeds of rice, our research partnerships with our friends in ASEAN Member States are already bearing fruit. But it is clear there is so much more we can do.

Your Excellency, Ambassadors, Business Leaders, Academics, Colleagues – I am proud to be here tonight, bringing together UK expertise, our thought leaders, our influential private sector – with one of fastest growing, most dynamic regions in the world. I look forward to the many exciting partnerships we will build together.
November 6, 2023
Rishi Sunak – 2023 Speech on AI Safety Summit

The speech made by Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, at Bletchley Park on 2 November 2023.

It was here at Bletchley Park where codebreakers including the British genius Alan Turing cracked the Enigma cipher…

…and where we used the world’s first electronic computer.

Breakthroughs which changed the possibilities for humanity.

So there could be nowhere more fitting for the world to come together…

…to seize the opportunities of the greatest breakthrough of our own time….

…while giving people the peace of mind that we will keep them safe.

I truly believe there is nothing in our foreseeable future that will be more transformative for our economies, our societies and all our lives…

….than the development of technologies like Artificial Intelligence.

But as with every wave of new technology, it also brings new fears and new dangers.

So no matter how difficult it may be…

….it is the right and responsible long-term decision for leaders to address them.

That is why I called this Summit….

…and I want to pay tribute to everyone who has joined us, and the spirit in which they have done so.

For the first time ever, we have brought together CEOs of world-leading AI companies….

… with countries most advanced in using it….

…and representatives from across academia and civil society.

And while this was only the beginning of the conversation,

I believe the achievements of this summit will tip the balance in favour of humanity.

Because they show we have both the political will and the capability to control this technology and secure its benefits for the long-term.

And we’ve achieved this in four specific ways.

Until this week, the world did not even have a shared understanding of the risks.

So our first step was to have open and inclusive conversation to seek that shared understanding.

We analysed the latest available evidence on everything from social harms like bias and misinformation…

…to the risks of misuse by bad actors…

…through to the most extreme risks of even losing control of AI completely.

And yesterday, we agreed and published the first ever international statement about the nature of all those risks.

It was signed by every single nation represented at this summit covering all continents across the globe…

…and including the US and China.

Some said, we shouldn’t even invite China…

….others that we could never get an agreement with them.

Both were wrong.

A serious strategy for AI safety has to begin with engaging all the world’s leading AI powers.

And all of them have signed the Bletchley Park Communique.

Second, we must ensure that our shared understanding keeps pace with the rapid deployment and development of AI.

That’s why, last week I proposed a truly global expert panel to publish a State of AI Science report.

Today, at this summit, the whole international community has agreed.

This idea is inspired by the way the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was set up to reach international science consensus.

With the support of the UN Secretary General…

…every country has committed to nominate experts.

And I’m delighted to announce that Turing Prize Winner and ‘godfather of AI’ Yoshua Bengio…

…has agreed to chair the production of the inaugural report.

Third, until now the only people testing the safety of new AI models…

…have been the very companies developing it.

That must change.

So building on the G7 Hiroshima process and the Global Partnership on AI…

…like-minded governments and AI companies have today reached a landmark agreement.

We will work together on testing the safety of new AI models before they are released.

This partnership is based around a series of principles which set out the responsibilities we share.

And it’s made possible by the decision that I have taken – along with Vice President Kamala Harris…

….for the British and American governments to establish world-leading AI Safety Institutes…

…with the public sector capability to test the most advanced frontier models.

In that spirit I very much welcome the agreement of the companies here today to deepen the privileged access that the UK has to their models.

Drawing on the expertise of some of the most respected and knowledgeable AI experts in the world…

…our Safety Institute will work to build our evaluations process in time to assess the next generation of models before they are deployed next year.

Finally, fulfilling the vision we have set to keep AI safe is not the work of a single summit.

The UK is proud to have brought the world together and hosted the first summit.

But it requires an ongoing international process…

…to stay ahead of the curve on the science…

…and see through all the collaboration we have begun today.

So we have agreed that Bletchley Park should be the first of a series of international safety summits…

…with both Korea and France agreeing to host further summits next year.

The late Sir Stephen Hawking once said that –

“AI is likely to be the best or worst thing to happen to humanity.”

If we can sustain the collaboration that we have fostered over these last two days…

…I profoundly believe that we can make it the best.

Because safely harnessing this technology could eclipse anything we have ever known.

And if in time history proves that today we began to seize that prize…

…then we will have a written a new chapter worthy of its place in the story of Bletchley Park…

…and more importantly, bequeathed an extraordinary legacy of hope and opportunity for our children and the generations to come.

November 6, 2023
Michelle Donelan – 2023 Speech at the AI Safety Summit

The speech made by Michelle Donelan, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, in Milton Keynes on 1 November 2023.

Good morning, everybody.

It is my privilege to welcome you all to the first ever global summit on Frontier AI safety.

During a time of global conflict eight decades ago, these grounds here in Bletchley Park were the backdrop to a gathering of the United Kingdom’s best scientific minds, who mobilized technological advances in service of their country and their values.

Today we have invited you here to address a sociotechnical challenge that transcends national boundaries, and which compels us to work together in service of shared security and also shared prosperity.

Our task is as simple as it is profound: to develop artificial intelligence as a force for good.

The release of ChatGPT, not even a year ago, was a Sputnik moment in humanity’s history.

We were surprised by this progress — and we now see accelerating investment into and adoption of AI systems at the frontier, making them increasingly powerful and consequential to our lives.

These systems could free people everywhere from tedious work and amplify our creative abilities.

They could help our scientists unlock bold new discoveries, opening the door to a world potentially without diseases like cancer and with access to near-limitless clean energy.

But they could also further concentrate unaccountable power into the hands of a few, or be maliciously used to undermine societal trust, erode public safety, or threaten international security.

However, there is a significant debate that is very robust…and I am sure it’s going to be very robust with the attendees over the next two days.

Just about whether these risks will materialise.

How they will materialise.

And, potentially, when they will materialise.

Regardless, I believe we in this room have a responsibility to ensure that they never do.

Together, we have the resources and the mandate to uphold humanity’s safety and security, by creating the right guardrails and governance for the safe development and deployment of frontier AI systems.

But this cannot be left to chance, neglect, or to private actors alone.

And if we get this right – the coming years could be what the computing pioneer J.C.R. Licklider foresaw as “intellectually the most creative and exciting in the history of humankind.”

This is what we are here to discuss honestly and candidly together at this Summit.

Sputnik set off a global era of advances in science and engineering that spawned new technologies, institutions, and visions, and led humanity to the moon.

We, the architects of this AI era — policymakers, civil society, scientists, and innovators — must be proactive, not reactive, in steering this technology towards the collective good.

We must always remember that AI is not some natural phenomenon that is happening to us, but it is a product of human creation that we have the power to shape and direct.

And today we will help define the trajectory of this technology, to ensure public safety and that humanity flourishes in the years to come.

We will work through four themes of risks in our morning sessions, which will include demonstrations by researchers from the UK’s Frontier AI Taskforce.

Risks to global safety and security…

… Risks from unpredictable advances,

… from loss of control,

… and from the integration of this technology within our societies.

Now, some of these risks do already manifest as harms to people today and are exacerbated by advances at the frontier.

The existence of other risks is more contentious and polarizing.

But in the words of mathematician I.J. Good, a codebreaker colleague of Turing himself here at Bletchley Park, “It is sometimes worthwhile to take science fiction seriously.”

Today, is an opportunity to move the discussion forward from the speculative and philosophical further towards the scientific and the empirical.

Delegations and leaders from countries in attendance have already done so much work in advance of arriving…

…across a diverse geopolitical and geographical spectrum to agree the world’s first ever international statement on frontier AI – the Bletchley Declaration on AI Safety.

Published this morning, the Declaration is a landmark achievement and lays the foundations for today’s discussions.

It commits us to deepening our understanding of the emerging risks of frontier AI.

It affirms the need to address these risks – as the only way to safely unlock extraordinary opportunities.

And it emphasises the critical importance of nation states, developers and civil society, in working together on our shared mission to deliver AI safety.

But we must not remain comfortable with this Overton window.

We each have a role to play in pushing the boundaries of what is actually possible.

And that is what this afternoon will be all about, to discuss what actions different communities will need to take next, and to bring out diverse views, to open up fresh ideas and challenge them.

For developers to discuss emerging risk management processes for AI safety, such as responsible, risk-informed capability scaling.

For national and international policymakers to discuss pathways to regulation that preserve innovation and protect global stability.

For scientists and researchers to discuss the sociotechnical nature of [safety], and approaches to better evaluate the risks.

These discussions will set the tone of the Chair’s summary which will be published tomorrow. They will guide our collective actions in the coming year.

And this will lead up to the next summit, that I am delighted to share with you today will be hosted by the Republic of Korea in six months’ time. And then by France in one year’s time.

These outputs and this forward process must be held to a high standard, commensurate with the scale of the challenge at hand.

We have successfully addressed societal-scale risks in the past.

In fact, within just two years of the discovery of the hole in the Antarctic ozone layer, governments were able to work together to ratify the Montreal Protocol, and then change the behaviour of private actors to effectively tackle an existential problem.

We all now look back upon that with admiration and respect.

But for the challenges posed by frontier AI, how will future generations judge our actions here today?

Will we have done enough to protect them?

Will we have done enough to develop our understanding to mitigate the risks?

Will we have done enough to ensure their access to the huge upsides of this technology?

This is no time to bury our heads in the sand. And I believe that we don’t just have a responsibility, we also have a duty to act – and act now.

So, your presence here today shows that these are challenges we are all ready to meet head on.

The fruits of this summit must be clear-eyed understanding,  routes to collaboration, and bold actions to realise AI’s benefits whilst mitigating the risks.

So, I’ll end my remarks by taking us back to the beginning.

73 years ago, Alan Turing dared to ask if computers could one day think.

From his vantage point at the dawn of the field, he observed that “we can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done.”

Today we can indeed see a little further, and there is a great deal that needs to be done.

So, ladies and gentlemen, let’s get to work.

November 4, 2023