Thank you very much for that welcome and I’m very, very proud to be standing here in front of this incredible creation which of course symbolises my message to you this morning.

Because it is designed by the same man who sculpted the beautiful domes of the London Routemaster bus.

I’m proud also to be the first Prime Minister of the UK to be born in New York – a very, very, very expensive decision that that turned out to be.

And it’s a very exciting time in our country, we’re getting on with delivering Brexit and I just want to say a word or two about that.

Because there’s been a court case in our country this morning of which I – it would be remiss or wrong of me not to address that directly and we’ve got our friends from the UK media here as well – and I just want to say to everybody watching back home for the avoidance of doubt, I have the highest respect of course for our judiciary and the independence of our courts

But I must say, I strongly disagree with this judgement, and we in the UK will not be deterred from getting on and delivering on the will of the people to come out of the EU on October 31st.

Because we were mandated to do.

And we will simultaneously refuse to be deterred from delivering on what I think you will all expect to be an exciting dynamic, domestic agenda intended to make our country even more attractive to live in and to invest in.

So we are pushing on with infrastructure, investing in police, investment in our NHS and to do that we will need a Queen’s speech to set out what we are going to do.

And I think frankly, that is what the people in my country of the UK want to see.

They want to see us delivering on getting on with a strong domestic agenda and believe you me, they want to see Brexit delivered by October 31st.

Anyway that’s what you need to know about what’s happening in the court today.

But I can tell you that under any circumstances, court judgements or otherwise my heart lifts when I come to New York.

There’s something amazing, the snap, fizz, the energy in this city.

I love the blue sky, against the sky scrapers, the weird strange Martian water towers on the tops of the buildings.

It’s the things that in New York you never find anywhere else.

But there are many ways in which New York and London are not just similar but actually united.

And it isn’t just that we share a language – kind of.

We have a basic idea of freedom, the idea that common to our democracies.

That if you obey the law and you do no harm to others then you can come and live your life as you please.

Without being judged or censured.

And it is the excitement of that freedom that brings people of talent to New York as it brings people to London.

And so you get this cyclotron effect the flash of inspiration that leads to innovation and to prosperity and growth.

And very often it will be a synthesis between American and British ideas.

We invented for instance the underground train.

You invented the safety brake elevator – take them together and you’ve got the recipe for a metropolis.

And you can see the same fusion today across our cities in every sphere from tech to the arts to newspapers.

You know the figures, actually they’re going up I think around 1.2 million US people employed by UK companies and a million or more in the UK,

Trade now worth 200 billion a year, going up the whole time.

Colossal investment.

But to cut to the chase, we now want to do so much more – because our country is going up.

And on October 31 the UK intends to be more global, more outward-looking and more committed to the rest of the world than ever before.

And we are going to take advantage of all the freedoms that Brexit can give.

Whether that is new tax allowances for investment.

Or speeding up public procurement contracts.

Or creating new free ports and enterprise zones.

Or devising better regulation for sectors in which the UK leads the world – whether that’s bioscience or financial services or whatever.

More competitive tax rates and the best skilled workforce in the hemisphere.

And so I say to everybody who’s done me the honour of coming this morning to this breakfast, we will roll out the red carpet for our American friends.

And we are increasing the number of visas for scientists.

We are ensuring that your brilliant students can stay on for two years so as to get real value from their studies.

And so that our economy in the UK benefits from their expertise.

We are even ensuring that US visitors are able to use the electronic e-passport system at Heathrow.

And yes – we want to do the much wanted free trade deal. I’m not saying it’s going to be easy because there will be things that we do not want our NHS to be on the table, and there will be differences.

And I am glad that President Trump has set up the special relationship economic working group.

Because it is absolutely absurd that there should be tariffs on Californian wine.

Or that British shoppers should be pay over the odds for Florida orange juice.

But it is also absurd and indefensible that the population of America to the best of my knowledge has gone for decades without eating a morsel of British lamb, or beef.

Let alone haggis.

And I have discovered that anyone wanting to sell socks to the United States.

I think they at least face a tariff of up to 19 per cent. I was told that some kinds have been taken to a laboratory and set fire to twice.

There are only certain ports in the United States that are licenced to receive British cauliflower.

And the US military are banned from buying British tape measures as though there was still some kind of general prejudice still against British rulers.

So I ask you, my friends, is this really necessary?

Let us work together to break down these barriers that have been devised by bureaucrats.

Because all the evidence of the last two centuries is that free trade is the fastest and most effective way to increase the prosperity of our people.

This year our country the UK takes a giant step out into the world.

In keeping with our traditions but also with our new ambitions.

To build on our friendships and relationships with our friends in Europe, the US and Canada.

We do it with confidence to make Britain the best place in the world to start, to build and to run a business.

The place you will want to be.

The place you will want your business to be.

And that’s why I say to everyone here – come and join us.

Thank you very much.

Published 7 December 2018
Last updated 15 January 2020 + show all updates

Published 23 September 2019
Last updated 24 September 2019 + show all updates

From today, public sector websites launched on or after 23 September 2018 must meet accessibility standards. This includes publishing accessibility statements, explaining how accessible their websites are.

The deadline for public sector organisations to make all existing websites accessible is 23 September 2020, and the compliance date for mobile applications is 23 June 2021.

Around a third of disabled people in the UK experience difficulties in accessing public, commercial and leisure goods and services. The aim of the legislation is to help make sure online public services are accessible to all users, including people with disabilities.

The Minister for Implementation, Simon Hart said:

Today is another positive step in our longstanding commitment to ensuring digital services are accessible for all users and to encourage improved equality of access to public information and services.

Although directly impacting the public sector, the regulations provide a necessary reminder for all organisations to consider the needs of all users when building online services.

This builds on the existing legal obligations of all UK service providers to make reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010 and Northern Ireland’s Disability Discrimination Act 1995.

Government Digital Service (GDS) will monitor public sector websites and apps on their accessibility from 2020.

You can find out more about accessibility, including our guidance at GOV.UK/accessibility-regulations

The announcement marks the next step in the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory’s (Dstl) ‘Space to Innovate’ competition, which sought to find and fund new technologies that could improve the UK’s resilience, awareness and capability in space.

The competition, run on behalf of Dstl by the Defence and Security Accelerator, the MOD’s innovation hub, received more than 60 bids from innovators around the world.

The successful entries cover the full spectrum of innovative ideas, from state-of-the-art imaging technology developed at the University of Strathclyde, to futuristic optical communication technology from mBryonics.

The announcement was made by Defence Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan at the UK Space Conference, which brings together government, industry and academia to discuss the challenges and opportunities offered by space. She said:

It’s vital we harness the ideas of the brightest and best innovators to improve the UK’s resilience and awareness in space.

Faced with growing threats to UK interests, programmes like those selected today will boost our intelligence capability and help us stay ahead of our adversaries.

The successful bidders will share more than £1.5m of funding, provided jointly by Dstl and the UK Space Agency’s (UKSA) National Space Technology Programme, to further develop the concepts.

Key challenges outlined in the competition include the development of technology to boost the surveillance capability of UK satellites and identify potentially hostile actors in space.

Gary Aitkenhead, Dstl’s Chief Executive, said:

Our role at Dstl is to provide innovative solutions, underpinning science and technology to access the best space has to offer for defence and security, but also to protect our interests against growing threats.

I am delighted that the competition has unearthed a breadth of UK expertise from a good mix of industry, academia, and SMEs. And I welcome the UK Space Agency’s investment which will ensure that the civilian market will also benefit.

Dr Graham Turnock, UK Space Agency Chief Executive said:

The UK Space Agency is leading cross-government efforts to grow a strategic capability in space-based systems, technologies and applications.

The National Space Technology Programme provides vital, early-stage support to innovative technologies which have the potential to play a leading role in future space activities.

The initial stage of development will complete with a demonstration day in summer 2020, at which point further funding may be available.

The publication of the winning bids follows a string of recent announcements on the UK’s military space programme.

At the RAF’s Air & Space Power Conference, the MOD established a new transatlantic team of government and industry personnel, named Team ARTEMIS, to lead a small satellite launch programme and undertake research into the military uses of small satellites.

The MOD also announced the UK as the first formal partner in the US-led Operation Olympic Defender – a multinational military effort formed to strengthen deterrence against hostile actors in space, enhance resilience and preserve the safety of spaceflight.

At the DSEi conference earlier this month, the MOD awarded a contract worth almost £70 million to QinetiQ to develop enhanced satellite receivers and noted its intention to tender contracts to develop the £6 billion SKYNET 6 programme over the next few months.

The UK has a rapidly growing space sector estimated to have generated an income of £15.5 billion last year and employing almost 42,000 people.

The full list of the successful bids can be found by clicking here.