188体育

Good morning, everyone.聽

It鈥檚 really good to see so many of you here. Many people that I鈥檝e 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 鈥� which is why you see some of those measures reflected in the King鈥檚 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 鈥� and please take that, in the beginning of week three in government, as a real statement of intent. It鈥檚 intended to be, and that is why we鈥檝e got so many senior ministers here during the course of the show.聽

Now look, as you all know, better than most 鈥� we live in a dangerous, volatile and increasingly insecure world.聽

And that makes events like this, and the role that you play鈥�

Ever more important for the defence and security of our country.聽聽

And as you may have seen, I have spent quite a lot of time at summits in the last week or two鈥�

At NATO and the European Political Community鈥β�

And on Friday I had the pleasure of meeting the leader of Ukraine, President Zelenskyy, who came into Downing Street.聽聽

And at those meetings, whether it鈥檚 NATO, whether it鈥檚 the EPC, or whether it鈥檚 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鈥β�

So thank you not only for being here today鈥�

But also for everything that you do for the security of our country.聽

Now we are just beginning week three of government.

The work of change has begun.聽

The patient rebuilding of our country has started.

And we鈥檝e launched our Strategic Defence Review.聽

We鈥檝e taken the brakes off Britain with a plan for wealth creation in every community.聽

Planning reform 鈥� to get Britain building again. Something many of us in the room have discussed with you on many occasions.

And we鈥檙e 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.聽

They are all signals of our intent鈥β�

To deliver high living standards for working people鈥β�

Economic security and national security.聽

But of course we know that national renewal is not going to happen overnight.聽

We are fixing the very foundation of our country鈥β�

And that is long and patient work.聽

But 鈥� I can announce another step along that road today鈥β�

Another marker of the future鈥β�

With the launch of a new organisation that we hope will transform, not just how we train our young people and adults鈥β�

But also the relationship between business and the education system.聽

A plan to make sure that we are training young people, not just for any business鈥�

But for the businesses that exist in聽their聽community.聽

The skills you聽and聽they need鈥β�

To take each other forward.聽

So I am delighted that today we鈥檙e launching Skills England鈥�

And appointing Richard Pennycook as the interim chair.聽

And I鈥檓 excited for the work that we can do together.聽

I鈥檝e just met this morning some fantastic apprentices.

Bright, energic, intelligent鈥β�

An absolute credit to Airbus and Rolls Royce.

Now I鈥檝e met the apprentices in both Airbus and Rolls Royce many times before 鈥� almost all of my speeches in the last two or three years have featured examples of the work that they are doing.聽

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.聽

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, 鈥渨hat do you want me to think about? Because this is a government of service, you鈥檙e entitled to have your say. What do you want me to think about as the Prime Minister heading a new government?鈥澛�

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 you鈥檇 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.聽

Young people, with drive, ambition and hopes of a better future.聽

But we do have also to be honest鈥β�

All too often young people in our country have been let down.聽

Not given access to the right opportunities or training in聽their聽community.聽

And that has created an overreliance in our economy on higher and higher levels of migration.聽

Now 鈥� I don鈥檛 for a second want to demean any of that鈥β�

I do not criticise business who hire overseas workers鈥β�

And I certainly don鈥檛 diminish the contribution that migration makes鈥�

To our economy, to our public services and of course to our communities.聽

Migration is part of our national story 鈥� it always has been and always will be.聽

And yet 鈥� if you stand back鈥β�

As a system, it cannot be right that some people don鈥檛 get to feel the pride of making a contribution鈥�

The dignity of work鈥β�

Just because we can鈥檛 find a way of creating a coherent skills system. That can鈥檛 be right.

So 鈥� I have to say 鈥� we won鈥檛 be content just to pull the easy lever of importing skills鈥�

We are turning the page on that.

But I want to be clear as well鈥�

We聽are聽going to make sure that there are highly motivated, ambitious, talented young people鈥�

Who want to work in your business.聽

That is our long-term ambition.聽

We鈥檙e going to fire up the training of more UK workers鈥β�

And match peoples鈥� aspirations 鈥� which I know are there鈥�

With more opportunity.聽

And in doing this we will drive growth.

Because if there is one thing we know that will drive innovation and accelerate productivity鈥�

It鈥檚 having the skilled workers聽you聽need to grow your business.

So from the get go鈥β�

Skills England will work with the Migration Advisory Committee鈥�

We will identify current and future skills gaps鈥�

Put in place plans to address those gaps鈥β�

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鈥�

Something that I鈥檝e spent many hours discussing with many people in this room.

You told me it was not flexible enough, didn鈥檛 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.聽

And Skills England will also bring together central and local government鈥β�

Training providers and unions鈥�

Working together in broader partnership with business.聽

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鈥�

And part of that is making sure we all understand each others鈥� needs鈥β�

That we move beyond old antagonisms鈥β�

And work for the common cause of national renewal.聽

A partnership.聽

So today with the launch of Skills England鈥�

We鈥檙e putting that partnership into action鈥�

Now we listened to you during the campaign and over the last few years鈥�

We listened to you when we were developing our Plan for Growth鈥�

And that informs it, some of your fingerprints are on our plan and I hope that they reflect the conversations that we鈥檝e had. And we will carry on listening鈥�

Because that鈥檚 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 they鈥檙e not the same part 鈥� government and business do different things.

And that鈥檚 why we鈥檒l have our new Industrial Strategy鈥�

On the Strategic Defence Review鈥�

And on much, much more.聽

Together, I do believe we can deliver that growth and security.

聽Fix the foundations鈥�

Put our economy on a stable footing鈥�

And create a coherent skills system.聽

And everyone here has a vital part to play in this mission on growth鈥�

You already do an incredible amount鈥β�

And I believe that with a government of service on your side鈥�

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 I鈥檓 sure that you will.

Use it obviously intensely in the time that we鈥檝e got here together.

Please keep talking and impressing on us the things that are important to you.聽

Thank you so much for allowing me to make these remarks. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you so much for your huge contribution to our country.聽

Thank you.