Prime Ministers Office 10 Downing Street
Good morning, everyone.
Its really good to see so many of you here. Many people that Ive met before and had intense discussions with before about the important work that you do, that has informed my thinking and informs the thinking of the Labour government which is why you see some of those measures reflected in the Kings Speech of last week.
So I am absolutely delighted to be able to be here again with you, but this time no longer as Leader of the Opposition. This time as Prime Minister and please take that, in the beginning of week three in government, as a real statement of intent. Its intended to be, and that is why weve got so many senior ministers here during the course of the show.
Now look, as you all know, better than most we live in a dangerous, volatile and increasingly insecure world.
And that makes events like this, and the role that you play
Ever more important for the defence and security of our country.
And as you may have seen, I have spent quite a lot of time at summits in the last week or two
At NATO and the European Political Community
And on Friday I had the pleasure of meeting the leader of Ukraine, President Zelenskyy, who came into Downing Street.
And at those meetings, whether its NATO, whether its the EPC, or whether its seeing President Zelenskyy as I did on Friday, it always gives me great comfort,
To know that Britain is at the cutting edge of defence and aerospace manufacturing
So thank you not only for being here today
But also for everything that you do for the security of our country.
Now we are just beginning week three of government.
The work of change has begun.
The patient rebuilding of our country has started.
And weve launched our Strategic Defence Review.
Weve taken the brakes off Britain with a plan for wealth creation in every community.
Planning reform to get Britain building again. Something many of us in the room have discussed with you on many occasions.
And were getting started on a new Industrial Strategy. Again, a concept that came very much from you to us in terms of the sort of way in which you want the partnership between government and your sector to work.
They are all signals of our intent
To deliver high living standards for working people
Economic security and national security.
But of course we know that national renewal is not going to happen overnight.
We are fixing the very foundation of our country
And that is long and patient work.
But I can announce another step along that road today
Another marker of the future
With the launch of a new organisation that we hope will transform, not just how we train our young people and adults
But also the relationship between business and the education system.
A plan to make sure that we are training young people, not just for any business
But for the businesses that exist intheircommunity.
The skills youandthey need
To take each other forward.
So I am delighted that today were launching Skills England
And appointing Richard Pennycook as the interim chair.
And Im excited for the work that we can do together.
Ive just met this morning some fantastic apprentices.
Bright, energic, intelligent
An absolute credit to Airbus and Rolls Royce.
Now Ive met the apprentices in both Airbus and Rolls Royce many times before almost all of my speeches in the last two or three years have featured examples of the work that they are doing.
And it was brilliant to meet them here again this morning. Some of them were from a group that I met just a few months ago in Derby. So to review that, one of them was just two weeks into her apprenticeship. And so they were an incredible reminder of the talent that we have going forward.
And I was allowed to speak to them without anybody else listening in because I wanted to hear directly from them. And ask them, as I always do, what inspired them to do it, what gave them that spark.
And then towards the end of the time I had with them this morning, I said, what do you want me to think about? Because this is a government of service, youre entitled to have your say. What do you want me to think about as the Prime Minister heading a new government?
And after a few moments, they were pretty clear in their collective view that they wanted me and the government to think about the value of apprentices, and to make sure that that was valued alongside the other things that so many young people do.
And that was them to me, and for all of you, I think youd be very proud that that was their first thought. That was what they wanted me to think about as I go home from here.
And so they are a reminder of the incredible talent that we do have in this country.
Young people, with drive, ambition and hopes of a better future.
But we do have also to be honest
All too often young people in our country have been let down.
Not given access to the right opportunities or training intheircommunity.
And that has created an overreliance in our economy on higher and higher levels of migration.
Now I dont for a second want to demean any of that
I do not criticise business who hire overseas workers
And I certainly dont diminish the contribution that migration makes
To our economy, to our public services and of course to our communities.
Migration is part of our national story it always has been and always will be.
And yet if you stand back
As a system, it cannot be right that some people dont get to feel the pride of making a contribution
The dignity of work
Just because we cant find a way of creating a coherent skills system. That cant be right.
So I have to say we wont be content just to pull the easy lever of importing skills
We are turning the page on that.
But I want to be clear as well
Wearegoing to make sure that there are highly motivated, ambitious, talented young people
Who want to work in your business.
That is our long-term ambition.
Were going to fire up the training of more UK workers
And match peoples aspirations which I know are there
With more opportunity.
And in doing this we will drive growth.
Because if there is one thing we know that will drive innovation and accelerate productivity
Its having the skilled workersyouneed to grow your business.
So from the get go
Skills England will work with the Migration Advisory Committee
We will identify current and future skills gaps
Put in place plans to address those gaps
And reduce our long-term reliance on overseas workers.
We will also identify the training on which the Growth and Skills Levy can be spent
Something that Ive spent many hours discussing with many people in this room.
You told me it was not flexible enough, didnt work well enough for you.
Well we will change that with the Growth and Skills Levy, giving you more flexibility to spend funds on the training that you think is really necessary.
And Skills England will also bring together central and local government
Training providers and unions
Working together in broader partnership with business.
And this is key.
I said on the steps of Downing Street, two weeks ago Thursday, that I wanted to govern for the whole country
And part of that is making sure we all understand each others needs
That we move beyond old antagonisms
And work for the common cause of national renewal.
A partnership.
So today with the launch of Skills England
Were putting that partnership into action
Now we listened to you during the campaign and over the last few years
We listened to you when we were developing our Plan for Growth
And that informs it, some of your fingerprints are on our plan and I hope that they reflect the conversations that weve had. And we will carry on listening
Because thats how a partnership works.
We are making demands. We want growth. We want you to power up that growth.
But you equally can say to us in order for that to work, this is the framework you need to put into place.
That is how a partnership works, when both sides understand what their part is, but recognise theyre not the same part government and business do different things.
And thats why well have our new Industrial Strategy
On the Strategic Defence Review
And on much, much more.
Together, I do believe we can deliver that growth and security.
Fix the foundations
Put our economy on a stable footing
And create a coherent skills system.
And everyone here has a vital part to play in this mission on growth
You already do an incredible amount
And I believe that with a government of service on your side
We can do even more.
And in that spirit, it really is a huge honour, so early in this government, to open the Airshow, and to hope that you all have a productive time which Im sure that you will.
Use it obviously intensely in the time that weve got here together.
Please keep talking and impressing on us the things that are important to you.
Thank you so much for allowing me to make these remarks. Thank you so much for being here.