UK Trade Strategy
(1 day, 16 hours ago)
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The Minister for Trade Policy and Economic Security (Mr Douglas Alexander)
I am pleased to announce that today, 26 June, the Department of Business and Trade has published the UK’s trade strategy, setting out the Government’s plan to maximise trade opportunities to support growth.
Following the publication of the Government’s industrial strategy on Monday, 23 June, which catalyses 10 years of sustained economic growth in our most important sectors and their supply chains and workforces, the trade strategy positions the UK to address the international environment and to be a key influencer on the world stage using free trade, while also reflecting the needs of British businesses in a changing world.
This Government were elected to deliver our plan for change, and, in doing so, to improve the lives of working people and strengthen our country. This included a clear manifesto commitment to publish a strategy that would set out our response to the changing trading environment. This strategy follows our landmark deal with India, the UK-US economic prosperity deal and resetting our relationship with the EU—all of which have been achieved in the first year of the Government.
Having engaged extensively with business, the UK trade strategy is rooted in data and seeks to reflect not only the changing character of the UK economy, but the challenging geoeconomic and geopolitical context of the coming decade. Our trade strategy acknowledges that the structures that we have relied on to be a successful open economy need to adapt to accommodate the changing global trading environment.
Global trade is entering a new era of turbulence, with geopolitical tensions, geoeconomic challenges and technological disruption reshaping the international order. We are witnessing a rise in protectionism, supply chain vulnerabilities and challenges to the multilateral system.
All of these factors necessitate a fresh approach to trade policy. As a services superpower, the UK stands uniquely poised to thrive amid these challenges.
Our trade strategy sets out our prioritisation of markets that present the biggest opportunity to UK businesses, encouraging the use of our varied range of trade policy tools. This will be supported by the new Ricardo fund to help UK regulators remove regulatory barriers for businesses trading abroad.
The trade strategy strengthens our business support, with a particular focus on simplifying and digitalising border processes and introducing measures to protect businesses against economic pressure by strengthening our approach to trade defence: making our trade remedies system more accessible, assertive and agile; reviewing our trade defence instruments; and ensuring businesses are supported by establishing an economic security advisory service.
Finally, the trade strategy outlines how it goes hand-in-hand with our wider Government objectives such as our support to developing countries and our environmental commitments.
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Public Procurement Consultation: Growing British Industry, Jobs and Skills
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The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Georgia Gould)
I am pleased to announce that the Government are today publishing a consultation outlining our plans for further reforms to public procurement aimed at strengthening British industry, creating jobs and enhancing skills, building on the publication of the industrial strategy White Paper this week. This consultation is intended to inform the development of primary legislation when parliamentary time allows.
In these times of global economic uncertainty, public procurement has a crucial role to play in boosting domestic competitiveness and strengthening British businesses. With £385 billion spent annually on goods, works and services, procurement is a powerful tool for national renewal, allowing local communities to benefit from investments in skills and access to quality jobs.
This consultation builds on the Procurement Act 2023, aligns with our new national procurement policy statement, and will help deliver the Government’s industrial strategy. We will maximise value for money and enhance the UK’s economic resilience. Strategic use of our procurement spend will protect supply chains, create new opportunities for local small businesses and generate meaningful jobs, delivering better outcomes for taxpayers.
These reforms will put public procurement in the service of the people, empowering British businesses, supporting social enterprise, safeguarding our national interests and addressing today’s challenges, while fostering a fairer and more prosperous future for all.
Through this consultation, the Government are seeking the views of businesses, stakeholders and parliamentarians, to inform the ongoing development of our public procurement reforms and ensure that they deliver for people and communities across the UK. I welcome your analysis and insights, as well as the perspectives of businesses and individuals in your constituencies. The consultation is now live on gov.uk and will remain open until 5 September 2025.
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Society Lotteries Sales Limits and Prize Draws
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Stephanie Peacock)
I am repeating the following written ministerial statement made today in the other place by the Minister for Gambling and Heritage, my noble Friend Baroness Twycross:
Today I am updating the House on the Government position on the statutory limits for society lotteries and on prize draws. Alongside this, I am publishing independent research that the Government commissioned on both the lotteries and prize draw markets.
Society lotteries provide valuable funding for good causes across the country and are required to give a minimum of 20% of proceeds to good causes. The latest data showed record sales for the society lottery sector of over £1 billion in 2023-24, an increase of nearly 12% on the previous year, of which £462 million went to good causes.
In 2020, the then Government increased the annual sales limit on society lotteries from £10 million to £50 million, in response to the challenges that many society lottery operators were facing to operate within the limit. Those reforms were intended to support the society lottery sector as a whole by providing significant headroom for further growth.
In December 2023, the previous Government committed to commissioning independent research to look at the scale of the society lotteries sector, the relationship between society lotteries and the National Lottery, and the impact of any future changes to the sales limit.
The report, published here, found that five operators now have annual sales over the previous £10 million limit, with the current annual sales limit of £50 million only impacting one operator, the People’s Postcode Lottery.
The research found that the current sales and prize limits on society lotteries are not a barrier to society lottery sector growth. Overall sector sales have increased by 27% from 2019-20 to 2023-24, and PPL sales by almost 30% over a similar period. Despite this significant level of growth, there has not been a corresponding growth in returns to good causes. Since 2021, sector prizes have increased by nearly 28%, and expenses by over 25%, but returns to good causes have grown by only 15%.
The research also found that increasing the annual sales limit to £100 million could have several impacts on the National Lottery, with:
a decrease in participation, with players being displaced to society lotteries (National Lottery sales could fall by between £25 million and £148 million); and
less money for National Lottery-funded good causes, which provide a vital source of income to lottery distributor bodies.
The research also found that there was a potential for an overall increase in funding to good causes, driven by higher returns to good causes by society lotteries outweighing losses to the National Lottery.
The Government want a lotteries sector centred on one national lottery—the National Lottery—while continuing to support the hundreds of wider society lotteries that exist. This model has worked successfully for the past 30 years and created the conditions for the National Lottery to flourish and support life-changing projects, alongside a thriving society lotteries sector.
Since it started, the National Lottery has raised over £50 billion for good causes, raising over £1.8 billion in 2023-24 alone. It supports communities in every UK postcode, including local initiatives, heritage sites, iconic institutions, grassroots sport and elite sport. It is a national institution that the Government are proud of and want to protect.
As the research sets out potential negative impacts of increasing the society lotteries limits on the National Lottery, and the current transition to the fourth national lottery licence, the Government have taken the decision not to make further changes to society lottery limits at this time.
Prize draws
I am also updating the House on the Government’s position on prize draws, which is recognised as a significant and growing market. This Government have made it clear that we want people who participate in prize draws to be confident that proportionate protections are in place.
Prize draws and competitions, also known as “free draws”, are products where the outcome, and therefore the allocation of prizes, is determined by chance, and where there is both a paid and free entry route for players to choose between. These prize draws do not currently require a licence under the Gambling Act 2005 because they offer a free entry route. Prize draws are a significant and growing market. It is estimated that the UK prize draw market is worth £1.3 billion annually, with 7.4 million adult participants and over 400 operators.
I am therefore pleased to announce that we will be introducing a voluntary code for prize draw operators later this year. This code will help provide a uniform approach across the sector to strengthen player protections, increase transparency and improve accountability of prize draw operators. My Department has worked closely with the sector over the past six months to start to develop this code. The work is also underpinned by the results of independent research, which the then Government commissioned in 2023, which looked at this growing market. I am grateful to London Economics for this excellent report, which for the first time gives some firm insights into this relatively new sector.
This approach allows us to take swift action collectively with the sector. Although prize draw operators do not currently require a licence under the Gambling Act 2005, as they offer a free entry route, the success of this code will dictate whether this Government decide to take further action, including legislation.
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Higher Education Regulation Information
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The Secretary of State for Education (Bridget Phillipson)
One of our country’s proudest achievements is our world-leading higher education sector, which expands horizons, fosters research breakthroughs and promotes rigorous academic enquiry. Our universities and higher education providers must be supported to continue in their transformative work.
In January, I set out for the House my commitment to protecting the rights of academic staff, external speakers and students to explore and express new ideas, and my intention to implement, amend and repeal elements of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 in order to make it workable. In that announcement, I also stated my intention to publish a policy paper that would set out my proposals in more detail.
I am therefore pleased to inform the House that the technical policy paper, “The future of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023”, has been published today. The paper details the future of each provision in the Act, with additional detail and information on the rationale for my decisions.
The policy paper will ensure that the sector has full clarity on the provisions I commenced on 28 April, which will come into force from 1 August 2025, and on the remaining provisions that will either be repealed or amended via primary legislation as soon as the Government have identified a suitable legislative vehicle. The paper also provides further reasoning on my decision to keep the overseas funding measures under review until later this year.
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Xlinks Morocco-UK Power Project
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Michael Shanks)
Making Britain a clean energy superpower is one of the Prime Minister’s five defining missions of this Government.
The mission is made up of two pillars: to deliver clean power by 2030 and to accelerate to net zero. The mission focuses on the long-term challenges we face and seeks to capitalise on the huge growth and energy security opportunities that our net zero transition can bring.
Successful delivery of the mission and its objectives will be a shared endeavour requiring extensive engagement and investment from citizens, business and industry. As part of this we have been considering the Xlinks Morocco-UK power project—a private sector-led proposal —to supply clean power to Great Britain via subsea HVDC cables.
Xlinks approached Government requesting support for the project, including a bilaterally negotiated 25-year contract for difference under section 10 of the Energy Act 2013, that would guarantee a set price per MWh of electricity supplied for the life of the contract.
A team of officials within the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has engaged with Xlinks closely to understand the details of the proposal and has been working across Government to evaluate the viability and merits of the project. This evaluation has considered if and how the project could support the Government’s strategic objectives and the risks which could impact its successful delivery.
The Government have concluded that it is not in the UK national interest at this time to continue further consideration of support for the Morocco-UK power project.
The Government have concluded the project does not clearly align strategically with the Government’s mission to build home-grown power here in the UK.
This would be a first-of-a-kind mega-project with a high level of inherent, cumulative risk—delivery, operational, and security). We acknowledge Xlinks’ excellent work in trying to mitigate these risks where possible but, nevertheless, this remains a factor in decision making.
Ultimately, we have determined that we should focus our attention on stronger alternative options to meet the Government’s plans to decarbonise the power sector and accelerate to net zero at the least risk to billpayers and taxpayers.
The Government also believe that domestic alternatives can see greater economic benefits, whether that through jobs or supply chains.
The Government would like to put on record our thanks to Xlinks and its team for their innovative proposal and their constructive and patient engagement with my Department.
The Government are grateful to the Kingdom of Morocco for its willingness to consider this innovative, first-of-a-kind project, and for the assistance its Ministries have provided my Department over the course of this evaluation. The United Kingdom is committed to further strengthening our partnership and sees Morocco as an increasingly vital trade and investment partner for the UK. Earlier this month, the UK and Morocco entered into an enhanced strategic partnership which saw the Foreign Secretary visit Morocco to sign a series of agreements covering trade, green growth, and security.
The United Kingdom believes Morocco to be an attractive and innovative investment destination and is a key strategic partner for the United Kingdom in the areas of clean energy, decarbonisation, and tackling climate change. UK companies, supported by the UK Government, are looking to increase their investment in the Kingdom. The Government’s decision regarding the Xlinks Morocco-UK power project is not, nor is it indicative of, a reflection or judgment upon the Kingdom of Morocco as either a strategic partner or as a place to do business by the United Kingdom.
The United Kingdom is proud to work with Morocco as a breakthrough agenda partner, where the United Kingdom and Morocco co-lead the power workstream, and to continue supporting its ambitious renewable energy targets through the COP26 Energy Transition Council. The United Kingdom looks forward to identifying and developing new avenues for co-operation in these exciting, and increasingly significant, sectors with the Kingdom of Morocco in the future.
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Gavi: UK Support 2026 to 2030
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The Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Stephen Doughty)
My noble Friend the Minister of State for International Development, Latin America and Caribbean (the right hon. Baroness Chapman of Darlington) has today made the following statement:
I wish to inform the House that the Government have pledged new support to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. This announcement was made at the global summit on health and prosperity through immunisation in Brussels on 25 June, reaffirming this Government’s commitment to multilateral efforts on global health.
As Gavi’s inaugural board chair, Nelson Mandela, noted over 20 years ago,
“Life or death for a young child too often depends on whether he or she is born in a country where vaccines are available”.
While we have made remarkable progress in correcting for these inequities, the job is still not done. More than 5 million children under five still die each year from preventable causes, including vaccine-preventable diseases.
The UK Government were proud to have supported the creation of Gavi, which, since its inception in 2000, has enabled the vaccination of over 1 billion children, saving an estimated 18 million lives. Today, we are proud to invest alongside others in the sustained efforts to support every child to have a fairer start in life.
The UK will invest £1.25 billion over five years, from 2026 to 2030, in support of Gavi’s mission. This will support the immunisation of 62.5 million children, saving around 1.25 million lives. But it is not just because this investment is pursuing an obvious good that we invest. We also make this commitment as Gavi remains a vital partner in delivering our ambition for a safer and more prosperous world. The threats we face are evolving. Covid-19 taught us that diseases do not respect borders, and with anti-microbial resistance already contributing to rising mortality, the link between national and global health security has never been clearer. Gavi supports UK public health—and therefore protects the NHS—by preventing disease. Gavi prevents disease both through routine immunisation and through global stockpiles of vaccines to respond to outbreaks, such as Ebola or cholera, in order to prevent these diseases reaching our shores.
Gavi works directly with UK pharmaceutical companies to develop and manufacture vaccines, such as the MenFive vaccine against meningitis and the RTS, S and R21 vaccines against malaria. This investment in the UK’s science sector supports economic growth and job creation, putting money in the pockets of British people.
As the UK pursues a modern approach to development, Gavi must also continue to deliver on its model of partnership, not paternalism. In the last 25 years, 19 countries have successfully transitioned from Gavi support to fully self-finance their immunisation programmes, and some have themselves become Gavi donors. But there is more to be done.
Multilateral health organisations must go further to maximise impact. This means putting country needs at the heart of the future approach. It requires simplifying processes, working more closely together, and strengthening national health systems to deliver. The multilateral system must help countries to take the lead in delivering universal health coverage and to accelerate the move to funding their own systems.
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Legal Aid Agency Cyber-security Incident: Temporary Operational Changes
(1 day, 16 hours ago)
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The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Sarah Sackman)
In my statement to the House of 19 May 2025 on the cyber-security incident affecting the Legal Aid Agency’s digital platforms, I said that I would provide a written update to the House in due course.
I therefore want to inform the House that the Ministry of Justice has introduced secondary legislation to make temporary operational changes until these contingency arrangements are no longer needed.
Contingency to date
As I outlined in my statement on 19 May, we have already put in place a number of contingency measures following the incident. In particular, the LAA has set up an incident webpage, with contingencies guidance and frequently asked questions, this is updated daily. The LAA has also set up a telephone helpline for members of the public who are concerned they may have been affected by the data breach.
In terms of contingency measures, the LAA has:
set up an average payment scheme for legal aid providers for civil legal aid cases;
resumed payments to providers on criminal legal aid cases;
put in place processes for urgent civil legal aid application approvals;
resumed processing criminal legal aid applications for the Crown Court; and
confirmed that criminal legal aid applications made in this time will be backdated.
Why is this statutory instrument necessary?
We now need to go further by making some operational changes to ensure the LAA’s business continuity because some LAA digital services, especially those covering civil legal aid, remain offline. Therefore, earlier today, I laid before Parliament “The Criminal and Civil Legal Aid (Amendment) Regulations 2025” (the Statutory Instrument (SI) and accompanying explanatory memorandum are available at legislation.gov.uk). These regulations come into force on 27 June 2025. This SI makes amendments to ensure business continuity for a temporary period until these changes are no longer required.
The intention is to make operational changes to ensure LAA caseworkers can continue to process high-profile, and contentious matters. To enable this, delegations to providers will be extended to carry out certain functions. While this delegation does not require legislation, the SI makes necessary changes to regulations to enable providers to undertake certain work during this period.
These legislative amendments together with some delegation to providers, enables business continuity and ensures the Lord Chancellor is fulfilling her obligations under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 to make legal aid services available in accordance with the Act. It ensures continuity for both legal aid providers and clients, and maintains access to justice. The measures are designed to ensure these important obligations are met and maintain system stability until digital operations can be restored. In doing so, we are mindful of our responsibility to the taxpayer: proportionate cost controls and assurance mechanisms are in place to manage financial and fraud risks.
The SI will, for a temporary period:
waive civil legal aid income and capital contributions for new and existing cases;
remove prohibitions on delegation of powers to enable the Director of Legal Aid Casework (DLAC) to delegate some additional decisions regarding civil legal aid determinations to legal aid providers; and
make some minor and consequential amendments relating to criminal legal aid determinations which supports other measures being taken as business continuity arrangements.
The above changes contained in the SI will be complemented by changes to the legal aid tables of delegated authorities, issued by the DLAC through a non-legislative process.
Criminal legal aid
For criminal legal aid, the practical effect of this package, that is, the SI and the consequential changes, will be to delegate to providers various DLAC functions, in particular:
the power to issue representation orders, and complete related means and merits assessments, for some criminal proceedings in the magistrates’ court where the client is passported, unemployed or under 18; and
the power to withdraw representation orders for the magistrates’ court under certain circumstances.
In criminal legal aid, there is also a provision to ensure providers will be paid for any work conducted on behalf of new clients where they have not been able to properly submit an application to the LAA since some systems first went down on 7 May 2025.
Civil legal aid
For civil legal aid, the effect of the SI package will be to waive both income and capital contributions from clients, and remove the prohibition on delegation to providers of certain functions. The DLAC will then delegate to civil legal aid providers the ability to:
amend substantive determinations for Licensed Work up to a certain limit;
make determinations in respect of certain proceedings which are related to those for which a determination has already been made by the LAA; and
withdraw non-contentious determinations on legal aid funding where: the services made available by the determination have been provided; the proceedings to which the determination relates have been concluded; the individual consents; or the individual has died.
For licensed work, where legal representation in court is needed, the LAA, acting under delegated powers, usually determines eligibility and is also typically responsible for taking decisions in relation to the potential amendment of the determination as well as its possible withdrawal, subject to the circumstances of the case.
In relation to civil legal aid contributions, there is a transitional provision which will act as a deterrent to individuals who already have civil legal aid, from stopping instructions to their solicitors to seek a refund of any contributions already paid, then making a new application for the same case under the more favourable terms provided for under this SI.
The DLAC will also be required to withdraw, rather than revoke, any emergency representation determination where the individual does not subsequently pass the means test.
The distinction between revocation and withdrawal is broadly as follows: when the LAA revokes the funding certificate, any legal aid funds paid to the provider for work undertaken in the case would be reclaimed from the individual; in contrast, when the LAA withdraws the funding certificate, legal aid funding ceases from that point and the individual faces no liability to the LAA for the legal aid costs incurred in the case.
I want to reassure the House that we are continuing to work hard on stabilising the LAA’s systems, and we have put in place these contingency plans, and those set out in the LAA’s published guidance, which is regularly updated, to ensure that those most in need of legal aid can continue to access the help that they need. We have engaged with legal aid representative bodies on these contingency plans and will continue to do so.
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