Environment Agency officers and partners in the Reviving Calderdale’s Rivers project made the fantastic find at Luddenden Brook. It’s the first time they have been confirmed in that location for close to a decade.

White-clawed crayfish are the UK’s only native, freshwater crayfish, and are most at risk from the American signal crayfish, which spread a fatal disease and compete for food.

The rare species plays a vital role in keeping our waterways clean and as a source of food for other native species, but have struggled to survive after the more aggressive signal crayfish population has taken hold.

Crayfish in ‘very real’ danger of extinction

Dan Chadwick, Fisheries Technical Officer from the Environment Agency in Yorkshire, said:

We’re delighted with this discovery. The white-clawed crayfish is in very real danger of disappearing from the UK so to confirm that a population we thought was lost is flourishing is exciting.

We’ll be working with partners including Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, Calderdale Council and Calder Rivers Trust to create better habitats and ensure this rare species can survive and thrive. It gives us real hope that there might be further populations in the Calder river catchment.

The signal crayfish, which originates from America, was introduced in the 1970s. It is bigger, more aggressive and out-competes the native white-clawed crayfish. They also carry a fungal disease known as crayfish plague, which is fatal to the native species. They burrow into banksides, causing increased siltation of watercourses which can smother river beds.

Populations of signal crayfish do exist in the main River Calder, but several weirs on Luddenden Brook isolate and protect the endangered white claw species from them. The Environment Agency is now calling on people to ‘Check, Clean, Dry’ their clothing and equipment after visiting local rivers in the Calder catchment to avoid transferring the invasive species and the crayfish plague into the brook and risking harm to the white claw population.

River users should ‘Check, Clean, Dry’

Tim Selway, Environment Agency Biodiversity Technical Officer, said:

We want to do all we can to protect this special species so are calling on people to take extra care and make sure they are not moving crayfish from where they have been found.

Signal crayfish have rapidly spread across the country and moving just one into a river can wipe out an entire population of the white-clawed species, killing hundreds of thousands of them. And once the invasive signal becomes established in a river there is currently no way to get rid of them.

Elliot Baxendale from Yorkshire Wildlife Trust added:

Through partnership work it’s fantastic to see the rediscovery of the white-clawed crayfish in Luddenden Brook. This endangered species needs all the help that it can get and this can be as little as following the Check, Clean, Dry guidance to help ensure their survival in our shared interconnected eco systems.

Chair, let me warmly welcome Brazil’s delegation, led by Minister Fernando Meirelles de Azevedo Pimentel to their eighth Trade Policy Review [TPR].

Let me also thank the Government of Brazil and to the WTO Secretariat for their Reports and, in particular, to you, Chair and Discussant, for your insightful comment.

Chair, following Brazil’s recent federal elections, we look forward to continuing to work together constructively with the incoming government to find bilateral opportunities and to advance progressive multilateral solutions, including here at the WTO.

In our written questions for this review, the UK was keen to gain a deeper understanding regarding Geographical Indications, import and customs requirements, environmental and sustainability measures, and government procurement.

As Brazil’s 2017 TPR and the Secretariat Report for this review note, Brazil remains a somewhat inward-oriented economy. However, we were pleased to note developments in the modernisation of Brazil’s economy and commend Brazil’s clear commitment and actions here to reaffirm the WTO as a central pillar of global economic governance and its impressive role within the multilateral trading system. Let me also recognise Brazil’s active engagement on all the Joint Statement Initiatives.

Chair, we are encouraged by Brazil’s ongoing openness to international investment. We agree with Brazil that economies, like the multilateral trading system itself, should function as an instrument to improve the lives of everyone, and that investors depend on predictability and stability.

As such, there are key opportunities for Brazil and the UK to build on common ground. For instance, the UK Global Tariff, which came into effect in January this year, has secured over £2 billion of import value by unilaterally removing barriers to green trade. This measure supports wind turbine components, renewable energy generation, and advancing carbon capture innovations and research. This measure reflects the importance of trade in greening the global economy, as highlighted in Director General Ngozi’s recent comments at COP 27 and in the WTO World Trade Report. Trade must be a cornerstone of climate action.

Similarly, to grow international trade, UK Export Finance offers a dedicated £2 billion clean growth direct lending facility, and long-term financing (up to 18 years indeed for renewable energy projects) to provide a safety net for businesses investing in this area.

Turning to new trade policy developments, we are proud to support Brazil to be the first Latin America country to have a digital marketplace of export services tailor-made for MSMEs’ needs, which is based on the United National Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business integrated services for MSMEs in international trade.

We also note that the BRAEXP platform [a new service for Brazilian’s exporters] is due to be fully developed by March 2023 and we look forward to seeing the trade-facilitating benefits which it will undoubtedly provide.

Chair, let me also pay tribute to Brazil’s commitment to the trade facilitation agenda. Through the Trade Facilitation in Middle Income Countries programme, we were glad to support the World Bank Group and the World Customs Organization to deliver to Brazil a Time Release Study, a WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement Gap Assessment, a Trade and Gender Survey, and a Poverty Impact Assessment.

We encourage Brazil to keep implementing the solutions identified in those deliverables. These will enhance transparency and improve the effectiveness of international trade procedures, ensuring that benefits are reaped regardless of socio-economic status, ethnicity, or gender.

We are also pleased that the Secretariat’s Report notes that Brazil has eliminated important duties on certain aeronautical goods and has implemented tariff reductions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Those measures demonstrate flexibility and an openness to international trade, and we encourage Brazil to implement further, similar, outward-looking, open measures.

Regarding Geographic Indication [GI], the UK particularly welcomes Brazil’s recent commitment to progress the UK’s application for the protection of GI’s in relation to Scotch Whisky, cheers. We are pleased with the progress which we have made on a double taxation agreement to boost trade and investment between our 2 countries.

We were also glad to share with Members that last Thursday 17 October we completed negotiations with Brazil on the UK Goods Schedule at the WTO, a great step in our bilateral relationship. Earlier this year, we welcomed the OECD Council’s unanimous invitation to Brazil to start on the path towards formal organization membership, a process which will surely prosper in the capable and oh-so-elegant hands of Ambassador Parola. Geneva’s loss is undoubtedly Paris’ gain.

Concerning Brazil’s accession to the Government Procurement Agreement [GPA], the UK was pleased to receive Brazil’s latest market access offer in June. To fully unlock the richness of our trading relationship, the UK would welcome further engagement to progress Brazil’s accession to the GPA, and in doing so to become the first Latin American country to accede. All of these proactive steps underline Brazil’s strong commitment to multilateralism.

To conclude, Chair, we wish Brazil well in building on its trade-centred growth path and we thank our colleagues in Brazil and here for their fruitful engagement in this important transparency exercise.

Finally, to pick up a current in our conversations this morning, good luck to Seleção Canarinha, whose silky skills are matched only by those of your team in Geneva. See you in the final in Qatar.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you High Commissioner and Special Rapporteur for your powerful statements this morning.

Mr President,

Sarina Esmaelzadeh, 16 years old, in Karaj.

Minoo Majidi, a 62-year-old mother of 2, in western Kermanshah.

Sixteen year old Nika Shakarami, last heard from by a friend whilst being chased down a street during a protest in Tehran, identified by her parents in a morgue nine days later.

Hananaeh Kia, a 23-year-old hairdresser, recently engaged, walking home from a dentist appointment in Nowshahr.

Hadis Najafi, a 22-year-old video blogger.

Mahsa Mogouyi, 18 years old, in central Fouladshahr.

Ghazaleh Chalabi, 33 years old – shot in the head while filming protests in her hometown. Her last words, caught on film, were “Do not be afraid”.

Mr President, High Commissioner, Colleagues,

We are all too familiar with the tragic story of Mahsa Jina Amini. However – these names are just some of the other women and girls who have lost their lives at the hands of the Iranian security services since Mahsa died. We don’t have the time today to pay tribute to them all by name. But let me send a clear message to their families, their friends that their deaths will not be forgotten.

Let us remember:

The more than 350 people killed.

The countless children that have lost their lives.

The thousands of people currently detained.

The people sentenced to death.

All for simply exercising their rights to freedom of expression and assembly.

Sadly, this is not a one-off. Let’s also remember the hundreds who died in the violent crackdown on protests in 2019 and the thousands more killed and detained over so many years, in contravention of their human rights.

Today let’s send a clear message: that Iran must stop suppressing the voices of women and girls; that the appalling state-led violence must end; that there must be justice for victims.

And that this Council stands firmly behind the girls, women, mothers and daughters of Iran – supporting their call for Women. Life. Freedom. Zan. Zendegi. Azadi.

Thank you.

• Record numbers of doctors, nurses and staff are working in the NHS, latest data shows
• On top of 4,000 new GP trainees and 21,000 more primary care staff
• Government on track to deliver on commitment for 50,000 more nurses by 2024, with over 32,000 more nurses working in NHS hospitals and in general practice

A record number of doctors and nurses are working in the NHS in England, delivering extra appointments, speeding up diagnoses and helping to tackle the Covid backlog.

There are almost 1.24 million full-time equivalent staff working in NHS trusts and commissioning bodies in England –  over 34,000 more people compared to a year ago, up by nearly 3%.

The latest data published by NHS Digital up to September shows there are almost 4,000 more doctors and over 9,300 more nurses working in the NHS compared to September 2021.

Since 2010, there are now over 34,170 more doctors and over 44,820 more nurses working in the NHS.

It follows news that 4,000 new trainee doctors have accepted GP training placements – hitting the government’s target for GP specialty trainee recruitment for the fifth year running – according to the latest figures from Health Education England.

There are also now more than 21,000 more primary care staff supporting patients – including nurses and pharmacists – since September 2019 and the government is on track to meet its target of 26,000 additional staff by March 2024.

Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said:

Supporting the workforce is one of my immediate priorities and we are making significant progress in training and recruiting a record number of nurses, doctors and healthcare professionals. There are almost 4,000 more doctors and over 9,000 more nurses in the NHS than last year.

I want to thank all our brilliant NHS staff who work tirelessly to look after us and our loved ones and continue to inspire future generations to join this rewarding career.

We’re building a stronger, healthier NHS for the long-term to give people the security of knowing that it will be there for them when they need it.

The government remains on track to deliver on its commitment to recruit 50,000 more nurses by 2024, Parliament, with over 32,000 more nurses in September 2022 compared with September 2019.

In the Autumn Statement the government committed to publishing a comprehensive workforce strategy next year to recruit and retain more staff, with independently verified forecasts for the number of doctors, nurses and other professionals that will be needed in 5, 10 and 15 years’ time.

This will mean more patients will be able to access the services they need, when they need it.