Cabinet readout - Sep 5

The Prime Minister began Cabinet by thanking Ben Wallace for his work as Defence Secretary. He welcomed both Grant Shapps and Claire Coutinho to their new roles and noted that Michelle Donelan was back from maternity leave and working to deliver the upcoming AI Safety Summit.    

The Prime Minister provided a short update on the Government’s approach to RAAC in school settings. He said it was right to prioritise safety and take a proactive approach, while doing everything possible to minimise disruption in the small proportion of schools which are affected.   

He said parents should be reassured that the vast majority of schools are not impacted by RAAC and that mitigations are, or are being, put in place for those schools already identified, meaning face to face education was either uninterrupted or that impacts had been kept to the bare minimum.    

He then gave an overview of government work during the summer, including work to unlock more than 100,000 homes by reforming outdated EU laws and ongoing efforts on small boats where crossing numbers continued to be down year on year.    

The Chancellor updated on the ONS revision to the UK’s economic growth which means the UK has now recovered from the pandemic faster than any other European country, including France, Germany and Italy. He said that was a direct consequence of economic support provided by the Government during the global pandemic and demonstrated the UK’s ability to grow its economy outside of the EU.   

Cabinet then discussed the upcoming G20 summit in India and the wider UK-India relationship. The Prime Minister said India was an indispensable partner of the UK, both economically and in addressing the global challenges all democracies are facing.    

He said we must now strengthen the UK-India relationship. He said negotiations around a free trade deal were progressing and that he would only agree an approach which worked for the whole of the UK.    

The Business and Trade Secretary updated Cabinet on the trade deal negotiations, saying that India is already one of the UK’s largest trading partners, with a relationship worth £36 billion a year. 

The Prime Minister concluded Cabinet by setting out his desire to use our growing relationship in trade, defence, and technology to build a lasting and deep partnership with India which benefits the people of the UK for decades to come.