Introduction

Hello there. It’s a pleasure to be joining you today.

It’s fair to say that 2020 is a year that few of us will forget.

Through the storms we have weathered, I think we have learned a lot – not least reminding ourselves of the absolutely central role that our homes and communities play in our health and general wellbeing.

For many, the chance to spend more time with the people they love and getting to know their neighbourhoods has been a real ray of hope in a difficult period.

But for those less fortunate – stuck in poor, cramped accommodation, with few shops or parks and open spaces nearby, struggling to pay the rent or who, worst of all, have no home of their own at all – the pandemic has unquestionably been one of the darkest periods.

They deserve better.

That’s why – as we recover from the pandemic – we are absolutely determined to build back better and to deliver the homes we need with a comprehensive plan for a brighter future.

Your work – in local authorities and housing associations – is fundamental to helping us achieve these ambitions.

And I’m immensely grateful for all your efforts.

Like you, I want to see Britain emerging a stronger, better country from the pandemic. That we beat the pandemic and we move forward with confidence and optimism, learning lessons from the experience that we’ve been through as a country, as we have in previous times of great adversity.

That means, just as we did in those periods, like during and after the First and Second World War, it means building homes at scale and at pace, and helping more people – more of the hard-working families and prospective first-time buyers across the country – onto the housing ladder.

I know that this is, and I hope you share this, one of the defining challenges of our generation. We must act to ensure the young and future generations that will follow will have the same opportunities, the same security, the same stake in society as those who came before them.

We’re making progress.

Last year we built over 241,000 homes – more new homes than at any time in the last 30 years – taking the total delivered, since 2010 to 1.5 million.

The proportion of young homeowners increased after declining for more than a decade.

But lost months this year due to the pandemic will set us back significantly. As may the economic harm to come – the scale of which we don’t yet know. But the market has proven more resilient and robust than many would have predicted, helped in part by cut in stamp duty at the Budget at the beginning of summer. But there’s a great deal of uncertainty and there’s a lot more for us to do.

More broadly, looking to the horizon beyond the immediate challenges presented by Covid and the economic disruption that we find ourselves in today.

There’s still a great deal more to do to help those trapped paying high rents who are struggling to save for a deposit to enjoy homeownership or even to enjoy the security and the dignity that comes with a secure home of their own, whether that be owned or rented.

Affordability remains a very big issue across the board.

Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) announcement

That’s why, earlier this week, I was delighted to announce details of the £12 billion Affordable Homes Programme.

This includes a new £11.5 billion Programme – the highest single funding commitment to affordable housing in a decade.

Now, we all know the economic outlook is uncertain and that the pandemic has caused huge disruption to your development plans, as it has more broadly.

Mindful of this, the new Programme aims to deliver up to 180,000 affordable homes over five years from 2021 to 2026 – the first from next year – right across the country.

These include homes for Social Rent, more than in the previous programme – underlining our commitment to the most vulnerable in our society.

And they include, most notably, significant extra support for home ownership at a price that people on modest incomes can actually afford.

Around half of the homes delivered will be available to own, with the rest available for discounted rent, including 10% for supported housing – to help those with physical or mental health challenges.

As part of this new approach, we’re making home ownership more accessible and flexible, with the vast majority of the homes available through the new model of Shared Ownership.

Under the this model, I have lowered the initial stake from 25% to 10%, and reduced the minimum staircasing requirements to 1%, or as low as £1000, which will make it easier for people to get onto and climb the housing ladder.

I have also introduced a 10-year “repair-free” period during which the shared owner will not have to pay repairs or maintenance costs.

These much-needed changes will help bridge the gap between renting and home ownership and build on the introduction of the Right to Shared Ownership – our new scheme which will give many housing association tenants the opportunity, in time, to buy a stake in their home using the new model for Shared Ownership.

So with the accompanying funding guidance having just been published by Homes England, I encourage you to read it, consider it, and start preparing your bids and above all, to think big. At times like this, we need you – we need you to get building.

Taken together, these measures will benefit families across the country, with almost £7.5 billion of the investment to be delivered outside London – over £2 billion more than under the previous Programme – but still offering the Greater London Authority and the Mayor of London £4 billion to get building in London as well.

We are doing this because we as a government were elected with a commitment to levelling up and ensuring that opportunities are available to people across the country.

First Homes

For the stake in society that we want to offer to people to be meaningful, it’s vital that we offer our children the ability to put down roots in the places they grew up, and that we allow people who are key workers in those communities to get on the housing ladder. If we’ve learned anything from the last few months, it is the absolute importance of those key workers – whether they be teachers, nurses, junior doctors, police and fire, veterans in the armed forces and others.

The simple truth is that too many will continue to get priced out of their own areas where they live and work and want to put down roots, unless we take action– and that’s precisely what we’re doing through what I think could be our life-changing initiative – the First Homes policy.

Under this scheme, local first-time buyers can buy homes at a discount of at least 30% in their local communities, with councils able to put key workers at the front of the queue.

The discount could save them as much as £100,000 on the price of an average newly built property in England. And where the costs of property are highest, the discounts could be as much as 50%.

Furthermore, the discount will apply to the new home forever so buyers and the community will continue to benefit every time the property is sold for generations to come, not merely enriching one generation.

We’re keen for people to benefit as soon as possible but we want to make sure that we get the details right, so we’ve confirmed plans to accelerate the roll out of First Homes with a 1,500 home pilot, funded by the new Affordable Homes Programme, with more details to follow very soon.

To keep up the momentum on delivery, we will set an expectation that 25% of the affordable homes delivered through developer contributions will be First Homes.

All of which adds up to more young people, more families and more key workers being able to have the opportunity to own a home of their own.

Modern Methods of Construction

But whether we’re aiming to help more people onto the housing ladder, people who are renting or, crucially, who are homeless or sleeping rough, we will only succeed if we build more homes.

And that’s what we’re setting out to do, and you play an absolutely crucial role in our plans.

As a result of the bold steps we’ve taken – like lifting the HRA cap and providing longer-term rent stability – there’s never been a better or more important time to build at any point. When there’s been an economic disruption or recession, housing and development has plaid a crucial role in our economic recovery, and councils and housing associations in particular have led the charge.

This central role that you could play was reinforced this week by the announcement of my colleague, Lord Agnew, that we’re putting £30 million into helping councils create thousands of new homes and jobs by unlocking surplus land for development, Authorities will be able to bid for £20 million for remediation works and infrastructure through the Land Release Fund, which focuses on small sites and SME builders, with £10 million available via the One Public Estate programme to support the earliest stages of development.

I urge you to seize this, and the many other opportunities now at hand, to help your communities recover from the pandemic by delivering not just more homes, but more beautiful, more sustainable, better quality homes in all parts of the country.

Homes that are delivered more quickly, harnessing the latest technology and innovation as well. That’s why we’re making Modern Methods of Construction central to the delivery of the new Affordable Homes Programme, with new measures to help the providers build a pipeline of supply and boost the market.

We’ve set a minimum target for the use of MMC in the programme and we’re going to review that target annually with a view to increasing it if market conditions allow. We want the UK to be a leader in MMC, driving new jobs, better skills, as well as faster delivery of homes, and those homes, in turn, being better quality and more energy efficient, with all of the benefits of society and social justice that comes with that.

Planning reforms

Homes that are built in the places people want to live – near jobs, near good public transport, near green spaces and beautiful spaces for people to enjoy, and other amenities.

I am confident that the landmark planning reforms that the Prime Minister and I set out at the beginning of the summer– and which the Housing Minister spoke about in more detail to you just a few days ago – will help us deliver this and – contrary to the somewhat knee-jerk reaction of some– even more affordable homes.

To that end, we’re proposing to replace the current system of planning obligations and the Community Infrastructure Levy with a nationally-set value-based flat rate charge on development under the new system.

These changes will give local authorities greater powers to determine how developer contributions are used, will ensure that developers do contribute and cut out those lengthy and at times demoralising debates about viability and in the end how much developers can actually contribute.

And through the new ‘Infrastructure Levy’ we will raise more revenue than now by capturing a greater share of the land value uplift – an explicit decision and commitment that this government has made.

And why are we doing that? We’re doing it to deliver more infrastructure and more affordable housing than ever before.

And we want to work with the sector to iron out the details, to get those ‘I’s dotted and ‘T’s crossed, so that we can make sure this actually works for you and we deliver on that commitment.

And we want to ensure as well that in doing this, in designing this simpler system, that as much, if not more, onsite affordable housing is delivered as present, because we want mixed communities – we want vibrant places where people of different incomes and different ages and different backgrounds can live together as one. That, in the end, is the definition of a community.

So, in all, issues around affordability are higher than ever on our agenda – as are those relating to safety, which has to be of paramount concern as well.

Building safety / Social Housing White Paper

It is absolutely essential that people are safe and they feel safe in their homes.

And I want to thank all of you very sincerely for keeping up on the momentum on vital building safety works during these times.

Yes, works were paused at the beginning of the pandemic, but they’ve come back and we now need to focus very hard this Autumn on ensuring that dangerous cladding in particular is removed from the remaining buildings where it needs to be, and that workers are on site on each and every one of those buildings as quickly as possible.

We’ve made an extra £1 billion available, thanks to the Chancellor’s support in the Budget, to make buildings safe and are introducing the biggest change to building safety in a generation through the Building Safety Bill, which is now being scrutinised by parliament and will be brough forward for debate and legislation very soon.

Residents and their voices are quite rightly at the heart of these reforms – which is also true of the Social Housing White Paper, which I am committed to taking forward this year.

We made the decision to pause it during the pandemic because we wanted it to achieve the prominence that it truly deserves, and that tenants in social housing have the opportunity to hear and understand quite how significant this paper and the new changes that it will bring forward could be for them.

This Paper will set out measures to further empower tenants and boost the supply and quality of social housing, with greater redress and better more meaningful regulation of the sector.

Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect regardless of where they live, and regardless of the terms on which they live there – whether you’re a homeowner, whether that’s freehold or leasehold, whether you’re a tenant with a housing association or local council – you deserve respect, and we want to ensure, in the limited cases where that isn’t happening, that things change, and they change forever.

Rough sleeping

That’s why, because we’re concerned to ensure that housing of a good standard is available to everyone, and that everybody is treated with dignity and respect, particularly the most vulnerable in society, through our response to Covid-19, we’ve focused so hard on supporting those sleeping rough and other vulnerable groups.

Thanks to a strong effort between central and local government, I’m proud that we’ve helped almost 15,000 vulnerable people into safer accommodation – thereby protecting hundreds, if not thousands of lives.

Any life lost is a tragedy, but the statistics that the Office of National Statistics compiled earlier this summer did show that the record of this country is the best, or amongst the best, of any country in the world for protecting the lives of those who were sleeping rough at the beginning of the pandemic.

That was a precious silver lining in the otherwise dark cloud of the pandemic. It’s one that takes us significantly further towards our ambition of ending rough sleeping. For the first time in my lifetime, by and large we know where rough sleepers are, we know who they are, we know what other challenges we face, because rough sleeping is as much a crisis of mental health and addiction as it is of housing.

I’m determined to ensure that as few people as possible from that cohort return to life on the streets and, with that in mind, with the support of the Prime Minister and the Chancellor, we’ve secured longer-term funding for accommodation – 3,300 homes this year, many more to follow in the years ahead.

These homes, and those to come later form a £400 million next steps accommodation programme which I hope will establish a new national asset.

A set of move on accommodation specifically targeted a those who have been sleeping rough, tracked – so we can ensure that it ensured and doesn’t get whittled away by circumstance – and monitored – so we can see the progress or otherwise that we’re making towards turning peoples’ lives around and tackling rough sleeping.

This is inspired by the original work done in the early 1990s by my then predecessor George Young and by many charities that are still going strong today, to create the programme then, the Clearing House, in what I hope will be a lasting memorial to the challenges of the pandemic, helping us to support people in their hour of need for many, many, years to come. We’ve received applications for this and we want to work with you now to deliver those homes at pace.

We’ve also provided significant additional funding for rough sleeping in addition to the other schemes that we announced earlier this year and in the spending review.

We have the funding in place for this financial year, and it’s very significant. The challenge now is to recapture the zeal and the vision and the collegiality that we had at the beginning of the pandemic and work together as central and local government, as housing associations, as charities and indeed anyone who cares about tacking rough sleeping, to ensure that we put in place the programmes and the homes.

And we work so that this autumn and winter we continue to protect those individuals who we did through the Everyone In programme and others who flow onto the streets as a result of the challenges we now face, and that we make this autumn and winter one in which far fewer people are sleeping rough on the streets that were last winter, and certainly more than would be had we not created this effort at the beginning of the pandemic.

And I need your help and support to do that, and you have my absolute commitment that this is something that I am determined to work with you on and achieve.

Environmental standards / Accessibility consultation

As well as building more homes, I want to see us building greener, more beautiful homes that create sustainable places for which we can all be proud to hand on to the next generation.

This is, again, one of the main aims of our planning reforms, and an element of them that I am particularly committed to and home will be a legacy of this government to future generations – the creation of a planning system fit for the 21st century, genuinely centred on the principles of good design and place-making and a more harmonious relationship between the built and natural environments.

This means a “fast track for beauty”. It means mandating tree-lined streets. It means design codes created by local communities – not just at local authority level, but at neighbourhood or even street level as well. It means taking inspiration from the fantastic work of the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission – a golden thread I think you can see throughout Planning for the Future.

The UK is the first major economy in the world to pass a net zero emissions target into law and our Future Homes Standard will help to meet this.

From 2025 all new homes will be expected to have at least 75% lower carbon emissions and be zero carbon ready without the need for expensive retrofitting – representing real action to protect our environment and tackle climate change. If we can realistically go further, faster, I will certainly champion that within government and seek to achieve it with your support and encouragement.

Furthermore, more green homes must also be more accessible homes to meet the needs of an ageing population.

That’s why I was pleased to launch a consultation this week which I would draw your attention to on raising accessibility standards for all new homes – an important step in taking the National Strategy for Disabled People forward and ensuring everyone can play a full role in the life of this country, and that homes can truly be fit for your whole life.

Conclusion

Because whether you’re determined to live independently for longer or just starting out, raising a family or want to move for a better job and better opportunities, this government must be behind you – and it is.

And behind all of you, in councils and housing associations – to get Britain building and not just help realise so many individual hopes and dreams, but power our economic and social recovery as well, as beat the pandemic and move forward with renewed hope and confidence about the future.

We’re on track to achieve this:

• building more homes – more affordable homes,
• getting more people onto the housing ladder,
• putting beauty, quality, the environment at the heart of a faster, simpler, more predictable planning system,
• driving jobs and growth and skills through a more diverse, more competitive housing industry, not just in the hands of big developers or volume housebuilders but in the hands of small and medium sized builders and entrepreneurs in all parts of the country
• building where affordability is most challenging, such as London and the South East, but also levelling up and renewing and regenerating our great towns and cities as well.

This is what it means to level up. That’s what it means to unite our country.

And with your help, that’s what we will deliver.

Thank you.

Charlies Daniel Sludden (64) and his wife, Karen Louise Sludden (58), are now banned from acting as directors or directly or indirectly becoming involved, without the permission of the court, in the promotion, formation or management of a company. The married pair are from Gateshead and their disqualifications came into effect on 7 September 2020.

KLB Promotions and Events Ltd was incorporated in 1996 and supplied promotional marketing products for clients to use typically at exhibitions or within retail stores.

But after more than a decade of trading, the events and promotions company began to struggle and in August 2019, KLB Promotions and Events entered into creditors voluntary liquidation.

The company’s liquidation, however, brought KLB Promotions and Events to the attention of the Insolvency Service as there were irregularities in the company’s tax returns.

Further enquiries by the Insolvency Service established that between May 2010 and February 2017, KLB Promotions and Events submitted 16 incorrect tax returns to the tax authorities.

The incorrect tax returns also resulted in the tax authorities making repayments to KLB Promotions and Events totaling more than £146,000. Charles and Karen Sludden then used the misappropriated funds on personal and family expenses.

On 17 August 2020, the Secretary of State accepted 9-year disqualification undertakings from both Charles and Karen Sludden after the pair did not dispute that they had caused KLB Promotions and Events to submit 16 incorrect tax returns.

Rob Clarke, Chief Investigator for the Insolvency Service, said:

Charles and Karen Sludden embroiled themselves in a deliberate and protracted policy of making false tax claims, generating repayments to secure income for personal and family expenses.

Directors have a firm duty to ensure they deal properly with their company’s tax affairs. Charles and Karen Sludden have paid the price for failing to do this and have been removed from the corporate arena for a substantial amount of time, reflecting the severity of their actions.

Charles Daniel Sludden is from Gateshead and his date of birth is July 1956

Karen Louise Sludden is from Gateshead and her date of birth is July 1962

KLB PROMOTIONS AND EVENTS LIMITED (Company number 03151865)

Disqualification undertakings are the administrative equivalent of a disqualification order but do not involve court proceedings.

Persons subject to a disqualification order are bound by a range of restrictions.

Further information about the work of the Insolvency Service, and how to complain about financial misconduct.

You can also follow the Insolvency Service on:

Governing schools in the immediate response to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) crisis meant rapidly adapting to new challenges, governors and trustees say.

While they are uncertain about the longer-term impact of COVID-19 on pupil outcomes, mental health and well-being, governors and trustees said they were confident in their ability to continue to monitor and address these as part of their governance role.

A study from Ofsted and the National Governance Association (NGA) shows that the business of governing has continued throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the support provided to governing boards to address the challenges posed by COVID-19 has varied depending on school and area, governors and trustees said.

The research explores the views of governors and trustees in the months during lockdown when schools were closed to most pupils. It looks at how those governing responded to COVID-19, as well as the longer-term challenges they face as all pupils return to school.

Governors and trustees said they had adopted new ways of working to respond to a fast-moving situation. This included delegating decisions to governing board chairs and setting up dedicated committees for COVID-19-related issues. Online tools and apps have been pivotal in enabling the work of governance to continue. While some governors and trustees felt that online meetings had drawbacks, others said that online tools could hold benefits for the future, potentially helping to recruit from a more diverse pool of governors and trustees.

The level of support provided to governors varied from school to school, from trust to trust, and across different areas, the report shows. Governors and possibly heads in multi-academy trusts (MATs) tended to feel better supported by the trust in their decisions than schools not in a MAT, although there was much variation in which decisions were delegated to academy level. Some governors relied on informal networks of schools where support wasn’t available.

Responding to the pandemic, governors said their priorities were:

Some governors and trustees said that they were concerned about how long it would take for pupils to catch up and the long-term impact of school closure on different groups of children. Many were reconsidering their strategic plans to take the impact of school closures into account. Most governors and trustees felt that adjustments, including changes to the curriculum, would need to be made over the next academic year.

Amanda Spielman, Ofsted’s Chief Inspector, said:

Strong governance is good for schools and their pupils. The challenge and support that governors and trustees bring will no doubt be even more crucial as schools reopen to all pupils. Children have missed out on a great deal in recent months. Every part of the system must play its part in making the return to school a success.

Emma Knights, chief executive, National Governance Association said:

Governing boards have adapted remarkably well to governing remotely, keeping on top of essential business and responding to a fast-changing landscape. They have been ensuring that senior leaders have robust plans in place to enable the successful further opening of schools while supporting the wellbeing of those executive leaders. Over the coming weeks and months, governors and trustees will be taking great care to understand the impact of partial school closures on all pupils, especially the most disadvantaged, and make sure that resources are used in the best way to enable pupils to recover as quickly as possible.

On behalf of the United Kingdom, I would like to thank the Saudi Arabian Presidency for bringing us all together today.

This is a critical and challenging time for the international community, that is why it is more important than ever that Labour and Employment Ministers have the opportunity to discuss global challenges to ensure decent working opportunities for all.

I echo the commitments made during the extraordinary G20 Labour Ministerial in April, that we must continue to develop and implement effective measures to support labour market recovery. I therefore welcome the declaration presented today, and in particular the inclusion of policy options to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on our labour markets. These will serve as a useful tool for us throughout our recovery phase.

Inclusion must be at the heart of our recovery, the pandemic risks impacting the progress made towards our joint goals given the particular vulnerability of both women and young people to the economic effects. We must not lose momentum, or lose sight of these goals. It is imperative we increase our support for youth as outlined in the declaration and in the G20 Youth Road Map.

Here in the UK, we have expanded measures to support young people, helping those who are already disadvantaged due to their lack of skills and work experience. That’s why we have announced our “Kickstart Scheme” to create more decent jobs for our young people. The UK’s largest ever expansion of work placements for under 25’s, so they have the tools needed to enter the world of work and thrive.

In the UK, we are making good progress towards the Brisbane goal, understanding that no policy or sector in isolation will be successful in bridging the gender participation gap. Government, employers and society as a whole need to work closely together to push forward transformative change.

We also welcome the Presidency’s focus on adapting social protection to changing patterns of work, and we stress the importance of social protection systems providing a safety net for citizens during this recovery period. In the UK we have announced an unprecedented series of measures to support businesses and their employees to mitigate the impact of COVID-19. This includes over £9.3 billion of extra support through the welfare system and a £30 billion pound package to support our ‘Plan for Jobs’.

We commend the Presidency for developing the Behavioural Insights Knowledge Exchange Network. The UK Government has applied behavioural insights to some significant programmes of reform. We look forward to learning from each other through this new network.

Finally, the UK strongly supports the declaration we are making today, showing we must focus on a sustainable, inclusive global recovery.

Collaborative global action is essential to this, as the UK takes up the Presidency of the G7 next year. We will be looking to work together with our colleagues here, and also to the Italian G20 Presidency to help drive forward and build back better and greener.

Thank you.

The UK has secured a free trade agreement with Japan, which is the UK’s first major trade deal as an independent trading nation and will increase trade with Japan by an estimated £15.2 billion.

The UK-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement was agreed in principle by International Trade Secretary Liz Truss and Japan’s Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu on a video call this morning (Friday 11 September).

The deal is tailored to the UK economy and secures additional benefits beyond the EU-Japan trade deal, giving UK companies exporting to Japan a competitive advantage in a number of areas. It will help to create jobs and drive economic growth throughout the whole of the UK.

The deal is also an important step towards joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). This will give UK businesses a gateway to the Asia-Pacific region and help to increase the resilience and diversity of our supply chains.

UK businesses will benefit from tariff-free trade on 99% of exports to Japan. Government analysis shows that a deal with Japan will deliver a £1.5 billion boost to the UK economy and increase UK workers’ wages by £800 million in the long run.

UK manufacturers, food and drink producers and the tech sector are all set to benefit from the measures in the UK-Japan deal, which include:

• Cutting-edge digital & data provisions that go far beyond the EU-Japan deal. These will enable free flow of data whilst maintaining high standards of protection for personal data. We have also committed to uphold the principles of net neutrality, as well as introducing a ban on data localisation, which will prevent British businesses from having the extra cost of setting up servers in Japan. This will help UK fintech firms operating in Japan – like Revolut and Transferwise – to innovate and grow.

• Improved market access for UK financial services – including greater transparency and streamlined application processes for UK firms seeking licences to operate in Japan. The deal creates an annual dialogue between Her Majesty’s Treasury, UK financial regulators, and the Japanese FSA that will explore ways to further reduce regulatory friction – something that would be impossible were the UK still in the EU. Financial services are our biggest export to Japan, accounting for 28% of all UK exports.

• Tariff free access for more UK goods – new and more liberal Rules of Origin will allow producers of coats, knitwear and biscuits to source inputs from around the world for their exports to Japan – making it easier and cheaper for them to sell to the Japanese market.

• New protection for more iconic UK goods – increasing geographical indications (GIs) from just seven under the terms of the EU-Japan deal to potentially over 70 under our new agreement, covering goods including English sparkling wine, Yorkshire Wensleydale and Welsh lamb. This would lead to improved recognition of key UK brands in the Japanese market.

• New protections for UK creative industries – British businesses can now be confident that their brands and innovations will be protected. We have gone beyond the EU on provisions that tackle online infringement of IP rights, such as film and music piracy.

• Improved mobility for business people – securing more flexibility for Japanese and British companies to move talent into each country, covering a range of UK skilled workers to enter Japan, from computer services to construction. This includes commitments that go beyond the EU-Japan deal, for investors, spouses and dependents, and a wider range of intra-company transfers. Requirements for visas will be clear, transparent, and with an aim that they be processed in 90 days. A worker transferring from their UK HQ to the Tokyo office will be able to bring their spouse and dependents and stay for up to five years.

• Supporting UK car and rail manufacturing – supporting major investors in the UK like Nissan and Hitachi through reduced tariffs on parts coming from Japan, streamlined regulatory procedures and greater legal certainty for their operations.

• More generous market access for malt producers – Japan has guaranteed market access for UK malt exports under an existing quota which is more generous and easier to access than the EU quota. The UK is the second biggest exporter of malt to Japan, with UK producers exporting £37m there each year.

• Strong tariff reductions for UK pork and beef exports – We have negotiated a deal that sees tariffs fall on pork, beef, salmon and a range of other agricultural exports. We will continue to benefit from access to the low tariffs for key food and drink products covered by quotas, such as Stilton cheese, tea extracts and bread mixes. This forms a pathway to further market access under CPTPP, which has been committed to by Japan as part of our agreement.

The UK and Japan have a long-shared history as free trading nations and this deal marks an historic moment that will deepen the partnership between two democratic island nations.

International Trade Secretary Liz Truss said:

This is a historic moment for the UK and Japan as our first major post-Brexit trade deal. The agreement we have negotiated – in record time and in challenging circumstances – goes far beyond the existing EU deal, as it secures new wins for British businesses in our great manufacturing, food and drink, and tech industries.

From our automotive workers in Wales to our shoemakers in the North of England, this deal will help build back better as we create new opportunities for people throughout the whole of the UK and help level up our country.

Strategically, the deal is an important step towards joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership and placing Britain at the centre of a network of modern free trade agreements with like-minded friends and allies.

Chair of the Federation of Small Businesses, Mike Cherry said:

As we look to the UK’s global trading future, trade deals we sign should be about businesses of all sizes, which is why we are delighted to see a UK-Japan trade deal today that includes a comprehensive chapter for SMEs. FSB has long campaigned for these chapters to be included in trade deals, to give UK small businesses the support and tools they need to reach new markets.

The UK-Japan trade deal therefore marks a major moment. It provides access to a major global market for the UK’s small business exporters, with one in ten viewing Japan as a crucial market to tap into. With over 130,000 small businesses already exporting to Japan, this should provide small businesses looking to grow, maintain or start exporting to Japan with the certainty they need for the future.

Director General of the Confederation of British Industry, Carolyn Fairbairn said:

The signing of the UK-Japan trade deal is a breakthrough moment. It will be welcomed by businesses across the country. The Government and business now need to work together to make the most from the deal. It’s a huge opportunity to secure new Japanese investment across a wider range of sectors and UK regions.

Business will help support the Government in its efforts to secure more trade deals around the world and promote their benefits to communities. The Japan deal can be the first of many.

CEO of TechUK, Julian David said:

TechUK welcomes the conclusion of the UK-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement with its comprehensive digital trade chapter. Today’s agreement improves an already flourishing relationship between the UK and Japan tech sectors and creates significant opportunities for trade and investment for both our countries.

Since 2018, in partnership with JEITA, we have run a successful UK-Japan Tech Forum to enable our members to develop a closer relationship with Japan and we look forward to working with the Government and our partners in Japan to assist the tech sector in taking full opportunity of this agreement.

Jim Walker, Managing Director of Walkers Shortbread said:

We welcome the news that a UK-Japan agreement has been agreed today. Japan remains one of Walkers’ most important markets and sales have grown steadily there since first launching in Japan over 40 years ago.

This deal will help provide certainty and create more opportunities to continue building sales in the future in a market where our products already enjoy success.

Dominic Goudie, Head of International Trade, Food and Drink Federation said:

UK food and drink manufacturers are delighted to hear the UK has concluded a comprehensive new trade deal with Japan. As the world’s largest net importer of food and drink, this deal with Japan improves our existing terms of trade and offers significant new growth opportunities for quality UK manufacturing. We particularly welcome the additional flexibility this deal delivers in terms of rules of origin which are so crucial for our industry.

The agreement recognises the unique challenge posed by seasonality and provides confidence for UK exporters across a wide range of product categories. This deal can make a vital contribution towards the UK’s economic recovery and our industry is ready to deliver for every community across the UK.