The Prime Minister spoke to President Trump.
They discussed a range of issues, including cooperation to ensure the security of our telecommunications networks.
The Prime Minister raised the tragic case of Harry Dunn, and the need to secure justice for Harry’s family. He reiterated the need for the individual involved to return to the UK.
The Prime Minister also gave an update on the UK’s departure from the EU.
Published 25 January 2020
Pub owners will be pulling a celebratory pint today after the Chancellor announced he would be slashing their bills by £1,000.
In a fresh demonstration of the government’s support for communities up and down the country, Sajid Javid confirmed the new Pubs Relief would be introduced in April, with £1,000 being taken off the business rates bills of small pubs who qualify.
As many as 18,000 pubs are expected to benefit from the discount.
The relief will come on top of an extended retail discount, which smaller pubs are also eligible for. Those eligible for both reliefs will get up to £13,500 off their annual bills.
The Pubs Relief is part of a package of measures that is being introduced by the government to support local high streets. From April this year:
Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid said:
Thousands of pubs will get £1,000 off their rates bills this April, thanks to the changes we’re announcing today.
These will mean lower rates for the small independent shops, cafes and locals at the heart of our communities, as well as for the local papers that are a vital pillar in local democracy.
Community Pubs Minister Luke Hall said:
Pubs are front and centre of communities around the country, the key to thousands of jobs and providing a meeting point for local residents to get together and enjoy a pint.
Today’s business rates cut continues our firm commitment to support pub owners, helping to keep the pints pouring and the locals happy.
The government is committed to launching a fundamental review of business rates. Further details will be announced in due course.
ONS stats released last week showed that the number of small pubs and bars rose last year.
The support for pubs comes following the announcement of more than £1m for community pubs. The funding will help an estimated 100 new groups to take ownership of and save their local, or support essential community services in pubs in rural and remote areas.
This Burns Night people across the world will be reaching for a forkful of Scotland’s finest, with haggis now enjoyed in countries including Greece, Hong Kong, and Ghana and exports booming.
Haggis has risen in global prominence over the past ten years, with the total export value of haggis over the past decade at £8.8 million and a 136% increase in tonnage of haggis shipped across the world.
Appetite for the iconic savoury pudding has spread to 20 countries, including Iceland, Malta, and the Czech Republic. Hong Kong has become the fourth-most popular market for haggis, closely following the Republic of Ireland, Spain and France.
The other stars of the Burns Night plate – neeps and tatties– have also increased in popularity across the globe. Potato exports have increased by 32% over the past ten years to be worth £108 million in 2019 – with the Republic of Ireland, Spain, and Egypt making the top three markets. Turnip exports also increased to a value of £11 million last year.
Burns Night is often also celebrated with a dram of Scotch whisky, which continues to be exported to markets across the world. A burgeoning thirst for Scotch whisky in Asia has seen 23 Asian markets including Taiwan, Singapore, and China grow in the last decade.
“Robert Burns was so enamoured with haggis that he dedicated an entire poem to the delicacy and it’s wonderful that it continues to be enjoyed around the world – more than 200 years later.
“This Burns Night I encourage everyone to sample some haggis and pour a wee dram to celebrate Scotland’s iconic food and drink and growing presence on the world’s culinary stage.”
“The life and work of Robert Burns is rightly celebrated around the world.
“Another Scottish global success story is our iconic food and drink sector and it’s so pleasing to see products such as haggis and whisky enjoying an exports boom. The future is very bright.”
Macsween of Edinburgh, a third-generation haggis making business, has witnessed the world’s change in appetite for the iconic Scottish meat product. In 2018, Macsween began exporting haggis to locations such as Canada and Singapore. It is are now looking to take a bigger bite out of markets in the Middle East and Asia, with a particular focus on the United Arab Emirates and Taiwan.
“Macsween now exports haggis to 7 international markets, and we expect to see that demand continue to grow as more people around the world come to love our traditional Scottish delicacy.
“We are proud to grow through innovation, and are dedicated to introducing our award-winning products to people around the world who are yet to discover haggis.”
In 2018 total exports of UK food and drink reached a record £22.5 billion. As part of the government’s ongoing Food is GREAT campaign government and British industry are aiming to boost UK trade in food and drink exports and government will continue to work with exporters to help them tap into new markets.
Further information:
The Government has confirmed that the summer and winter Paralympic Games have been added to the ‘crown jewels’ list of protected sports events. This ensures the Games will remain available for free-to-air television broadcasters in the future, reaching the widest possible audience, and not go behind a pay-wall.
The Games, which were founded at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in 1948, have become the biggest global event in disability sport, and now enjoy record levels of media coverage and interest.
During the Athens 2004 Games, 10.6 million people watched at least 15 consecutive minutes of coverage. By Rio 2016, this had reached 31.6 million people – an increase of almost 200%. At London 2012, Channel 4 dedicated 500 hours of broadcast time across its platforms, with this increasing to 700 hours for Rio 2016.
The addition of the Paralympic Games marks a major step forward in improving the inclusivity of listed events. By delivering parity with the Olympic Games, it underlines the Government’s commitment to improving the visibility of disability sports.
Ahead of the announcement Sports Minister Nigel Adams visited the English Institute of Sport High Performance Centre in Sheffield, where he met members of Team GB’s Para Table Tennis and Wheelchair Basketball teams as preparations increase ahead of Tokyo 2020.
Nigel Adams said:
The Paralympic Games is one of the highlights of the sporting calendar, as the country comes together to support our world-class Paralympic athletes. So it is only right that the event is available on free-to-air television for all to enjoy.
Adding the Games to the crown-jewels list of major sporting events guarantees it the platform it deserves every four years that will help inspire the sporting stars of the future.
I am proud that the UK is the birthplace of the Paralympic movement which has done so much in shifting attitudes and raising awareness on disability.
Paralympic Champion Baroness Grey-Thompson said:
I am delighted that the Paralympic Games has been added to the list of ‘Crown Jewels’. When you look at the other events it will now sit alongside, it means so much to athletes, current and retired, to know the level that the Paralympic Games has reached in the public consciousness and how much it means to everyone.
Mike Sharrock, Chief Executive of the British Paralympic Association said:
The Paralympic Games is the most inspirational sporting event in the world and London 2012 clearly demonstrated the British public’s passion for watching our incredible athletes represent ParalympicsGB.
We have been advocating for some time that the Paralympics Games should be treated in the same way as the Olympic Games and always be available on free to air television for the nation to enjoy. As we build towards Tokyo 2020 we are delighted this has now been added to the list of sporting ‘crown jewels’ as it marks a significant moment for a nation that is proud to be the home of Paralympic sport.
Ross Wilson, Para Table Tennis World champion, said:
It is fantastic news that the Paralympics now has the same status as the Olympics and other major sporting events.
My first experience of the Paralympics was London 2012 and the support we had from the British public was incredible. Since then the interest in Paralympic sport has continued to grow and thanks to Lottery funding I can train full time and be the best athlete that I can be.
nsuring that the Paralympics is available for everyone to watch live on TV is important, not only to me as an athlete, but also to increase participation in Para sport and inspire young athletes with a disability in the future.
Dame Katherine Grainger, Chair of UK Sport said:
Our Paralympians have created some of the most iconic sporting moments of the past decade through their global success and incredible stories.
To have government assurance that we will be able to continue to watch these inspirational sporting achievements unfold on terrestrial TV for many years to come is wonderful news and places the Paralympic Games in its rightful place amongst the greatest sporting events in world sport.
Alex Mahon, CEO of Channel 4 said:
We are delighted that the Government has decided to add the Paralympic Games to the list of ‘crown jewel’ sporting events that should be available on free to air television.
Channel 4 is proud to have been the UK broadcaster of the Paralympic Games since London 2012 and we strongly believe that they are of significant national interest to British audiences.
This decision means that the Paralympics has parity with the Olympic Games in terms of its national status and will ensure that audiences from across the UK will be able to continue to enjoy the incredible sporting achievements of Paralympic athletes.
Justin Tomlinson, Minister for Disabled People, said:
Anyone who watched Ellie Simmonds exciting the crowds on her way to gold in London couldn’t fail to see how inspirational the Paralympic movement has been and will continue to be. That’s why it is so important that Paralympic sports are broadcast in homes across the nation, to convey the message that no-one should be held back because of their background.
Whether that’s playing a sport they see championed on TV or pursuing their chosen career, our priority is to build a more inclusive society for disabled people. Which is why we are working on a national strategy for disabled people, building on the vital work that is underway.
Today’s announcement marks the first change to the listed events regime in more than twenty years. It follows a consultation process with the BBC, S4C, Ofcom and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and with Channel 4 as the current rights holder for the Paralympic Games, that includes Tokyo 2020 later this year.
It will see the Paralympic Games made a ‘Group A event’. This ensures the event is given the same status as the Olympic Games, men’s football World Cup, FA Cup Final, Grand National and Wimbledon finals.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has also consulted on adding the women’s equivalents of men’s events already on the list. The consultation has now closed and a final decision on any changes relating to this will be made in due course.
On the sporting outlook for Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the start of a new decade, Nigel Adams added:
We know that memorable sporting performances have the power to bring the nation together and inspire greater participation. But as we all witnessed with London 2012, we also put on brilliant, unforgettable sporting events. The men’s Cricket World Cup and women’s Netball World Cup were just two of the incredible championships the UK hosted in 2019 alone.
As we embark on a new decade, this will continue with a busy roster of major sports events we have committed to delivering over the next few years, including UEFA Euro 2020, the UEFA Women’s Euros and Rugby League World Cup in 2021, and the Birmingham Commonwealth Games in 2022. These events will deliver jobs, inbound tourism, hotel bookings and much more – providing economic benefits to people across the country, and pumping hundreds of millions into our economy.
As we made clear in our election manifesto, we are determined to continue bringing the biggest and best sporting events to the UK over the next decade. These can only help to inspire participation and enhance the UK’s global reputation.
The first iteration of the code was a voluntary agreement between the BBC and ITV that neither would seek exclusive rights on certain events. The list was increasingly widened to include many sporting events and was included in the Broadcasting Act 1996, which gave the Secretary of State discretionary powers to add and remove events from the list after consultation with certain parties. The legislation also gave Ofcom the power to impose fines for failure to comply with the prohibition on exclusively broadcasting events on the list without their prior consent.
The Broadcasting Act 1996 gives the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport discretion to designate sporting and other events of national interest as listed events. Once listed, broadcasting rights to such events must be available to the main free-to-air terrestrial broadcasters (“qualifying broadcasters”).
Qualifying broadcasters are those which reach 95% coverage of UK viewers and at no additional cost to the viewer than the television licence fee. Broadcasters currently meeting these criteria are BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Four, CBBC, CBeebies, BBC News, BBC Parliament, ITV, ITV2, ITV3, ITV4, Channel 4, More 4, Film 4 and Channel 5.
On 18 July 2019 former Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Jeremy Wright wrote to the BBC, S4C, Ofcom and the International Paralympic Committee to consult those bodies on adding the Paralympic games to the listed events regime. The Secretary of State also wrote to Channel 4, which currently holds the broadcasting rights for the next Paralympic Games in Tokyo 2020.
Following the consultation process, the Government has concluded that the summer and winter Paralympic Games meet the criteria for addition to the listed events regime, on the basis that the Paralympic Games are an event of ‘special national significance’ and provide a ‘shared moment on the national calendar’.
The revised list of free-to-air listed events is as follows:
The Olympic Games
The Paralympic Games
The FIFA World Cup Finals Tournament
The European Football Championship Finals Tournament
The FA Cup Final
The Scottish FA Cup Final (in Scotland)
The Grand National
The Wimbledon Tennis Finals
The Rugby World Cup Final
The Derby
The Rugby League Challenge Cup Final
Cricket Test Matches played in England
Non-Finals play in the Wimbledon Tournament
All Other Matches in the Rugby World Cup Finals Tournament
Six Nations Rugby Tournament Matches Involving Home Countries
The Commonwealth Games
The World Athletics Championship
The Cricket World Cup – the Final, Semi-finals and Matches Involving Home Nations’ Teams
The Ryder Cup
The Open Golf Championship
Speaking earlier this evening, Mr Smith said:
Seamus Mallon was passionate about politics and political debate.
His leadership, with David Trimble, of the first Northern Ireland Executive formed after the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement in 1999 was marked by a generosity of spirit – he sought to represent the views of communities across Northern Ireland.
Seamus Mallon championed the development of policing in Northern Ireland, fighting for the necessary reform to ensure the full participation of nationalists in the new policing structures introduced following the Good Friday Agreement.
I want to also express my sincere condolences to his family, friends and to the SDLP.
Published 24 January 2020