Truda Spruyt is Practice Director at Four Culture, working with clients across the cultural and creative sector from the International Booker Prize to the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation. She has over twenty-five years’ experience of devising and executing integrated communications strategies, working with clients to define key messages, evaluate brand values and raise the profile. She is Chair of the Philosophy Foundation and co-founder of Borough Book Bash.

This role is not remunerated. This appointment has been made in accordance with the Cabinet Office’s Governance Code on Public Appointments. The process is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. The Government’s Governance Code requires that any significant political activity undertaken by an appointee in the last five years is declared. This is defined as including holding office, public speaking, making a recordable donation or candidature for election. Truda has made no such declarations.

Published 28 October 2019

Madam President, the UK remains concerned by the negative trends in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. We continue to be deeply concerned by ongoing Israeli settlement advancements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in violation of international law. We urge Israel to fulfill its obligations as an occupying power under the Fourth Geneva Convention.

I would also reiterate here the United Kingdom’s position that annexation of any part of the West Bank would be destructive to peace efforts and could not pass unchallenged. Annexation of territory by force is prohibited under international law.

Madam President, we are troubled by the increase in settler violence. Many recent incidents – including assaults on Palestinian farmers, the setting fire to olive trees and stealing of produce – have coincided with the Palestinian olive harvest, which began earlier this month. The Israeli authorities have a responsibility to provide appropriate protection to the Palestinian civilian population.

We are also extremely concerned that the number of structures demolished this year has increased by almost 40 percent compared to the same period last year. We condemn the demolition of Palestinian property and evictions of Palestinians from their homes.

Ongoing and periodic tensions on Haram al-Sharif, or Temple Mount, are a further source of concern. We recognize that Jerusalem holds huge significance and holiness for Jews, Muslims and Christians and reiterate the fundamental necessity of maintaining the status quo at the holy sites.

Turning to Gaza, Madam President, the reduction in violence at the border fence is welcome and we urge continued calm. Indiscriminate attacks against civilians are unacceptable and unjustifiable. Hamas and other terrorist groups must cease all actions which are violent or provocative. The United Kingdom fully supports Israel’s right to defend its citizens from such acts of terror.

I would also like to echo the concern relayed by the special coordinator that Hamas is putting children at risk of violence at the demonstrations at the Gaza fence. Children should never be the target of violence. They must never be put at the risk of violence or encouraged to participate in violence. It is totally unacceptable that Hamas and their operatives have been cynically exploiting the protests for their own benefit. Hamas must cease all actions which proactively encourage violence or which put civilian lives at risk.

The United Kingdom underlines the damage that Israeli restrictions are doing to the living standards of ordinary Palestinians in Gaza. We call on Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Egypt to work together to ensure a durable solution.

In more positive developments, Madam President, we welcome the agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority on the transfer of tax revenues. We urge Israel and the Palestinian Authority to continue to work together to meet their obligations under the Oslo Accords. And we continue to urge the Palestinian Authority to make reforms to prisoner payments, ensuring it is needs-based, transparent and affordable.

Madam President, we welcome the work by the Palestinian leadership towards genuine and democratic national elections for all Palestinians.

Madam President, we need a viable Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement, which addresses the legitimate concerns of both parties. That means we need genuine and committed engagement from both Israelis and Palestinians, including the end of actions which undermine trust and threaten the viability of the two-state solution.

Today, Monday 28 October, the International Trade Secretary visited luxury car manufacturer Aston Martin Lagonda in Gaydon, to discuss how international trade can benefit the company’s 3,000 employees across the UK, and deliver economic growth and jobs for the West Midlands.

The strength of the UK automotive industry is demonstrated through the industry’s turnover of £77.9bn in 2018, which directly supported 165,000 jobs and indirectly supported 277,000 additional jobs elsewhere in the economy.   

International Trade Secretary, Liz Truss said:

The UK is home to world-leading automotive companies like Aston Martin Lagonda which are seeing the benefits of international trade deliver prosperity and boost jobs in Warwickshire.

Aston Martin Lagonda is an iconic British brand, admired the world over, seeing increasing demand in the Americas and Asia.

Once we have control of our own independent trade policy, we will be able to prioritise Free Trade Agreements that benefit great British companies, like Aston Martin Lagonda, boosting jobs and growth across the UK.

Cars are already the UK’s top export to the US, at nearly £8 billion and the West Midlands had the highest trade in road vehicles with the US compared with all English regions, at £4.4bn in the 12 months to the end of Q2 2019.

However, the UK’s highly competitive advanced and industrial manufacturing sectors currently face tariff and non-tariff barriers when exporting to the US, which Truss says a Free Trade Agreement could address. Different regulatory requirements mean that a car produced for the European market cannot be sold in the US market or vice versa. A mutual recognition of standards as an example would help address this and substantially reduce the costs on businesses both sides of the Atlantic.

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A respected expert in building safety, Dame Judith Hackitt will provide independent advice to the government on how best to establish the powerful new Building Safety Regulator, Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick announced today (28 October 2019).

The appointment follows Dame Judith’s Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety, in which the government committed to take forward all of her recommendations and go further, by forming a new national Building Safety Regulator.

The Regulator will oversee the design and management of buildings, with a strong focus on ensuring the new regime for higher-risk buildings is enforced effectively and robustly. It will also have the power to apply criminal sanctions to building owners who do not obey the new regime. 

The Communities Secretary, Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP said:

I am grateful that Dame Judith has agreed to advise my department on the new Building Safety Regulator.

Her expertise will be essential to forming a strong Regulator with teeth to ensure all residents are safe, and feel safe, in their homes both now and in the future.

Dame Judith Hackitt was commissioned by the government to review building regulations and fire safety following the Grenfell Tower fire. Dame Judith published her Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety in May 2018 and the government committed to take forward all of her recommendations.

The government published the consultation on its reforms, Building a Safer Future, in June 2019 and is currently analysing the responses.

The government’s proposed new legislation will ensure building owners and developers prioritise residents’ safety over profit and will:

• provide clearer accountability for, and stronger duties on, those responsible for the safety of high-rise buildings throughout design, construction and occupation
• give residents a stronger voice in the system, ensuring their concerns are never ignored and they fully understand how they can contribute to maintaining safety in their buildings
• strengthen enforcement and sanctions to deter non-compliance with the new regime in order to hold the right people to account
• require that developers of new build homes must belong to a New Homes Ombudsman