The Prime Minister opened Cabinet by reflecting on the impact of
Storm Eowyn, his discussions with the First and Deputy First
Minister of Northern Ireland and the First Minister of Scotland,
and the engineering support being provided to help get
infrastructure and power back up and running. The Northern
Ireland Secretary also provided an update following his visit
yesterday, setting out that generators and helicopters were being
provided to support the recovery effort, and 235,000 customers
have had power restored in Northern Ireland.
The Deputy Prime Minister then provided an update on the response
to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 report and the ongoing
engagement she has had with the Grenfell community. She added
that the government is working to publish its response to the
report's recommendations soon. She made clear the government is
working closely with, and listening to, survivors and bereaved
families to deliver a generational shift in the quality and
safety of housing for everyone.
The Prime Minister turned to the Plan for Change and education
following his recent chairing of the Opportunity Mission
Stocktake, which discussed progress on delivering 75% of children
being at a good level of development by age 5, raising school
standards, and the plan to tackle absence rates. He said that
everything this government does on education will be through the
lens of driving up high and rising standards, and discussed
action underway to make sure all children receive the best start
in life and tackle the disadvantage gap. They reflected on steps
taken so far to deliver extra support for families through the
free breakfast clubs programme and a cap on number of branded
uniform items, and measures to ensure schools can innovate to
attract and retain the best teachers while tackling
underperformance across the school system.
Finally, Cabinet discussed the Growth mission ahead of the
Chancellor's speech tomorrow. The Prime Minister said growth is
central to our plan to raising living standards in every part of
the UK. He emphasised his pride at the government's record to
date, including planning reform, the AI Opportunities Action Plan
and the International Investment Summit in particular. But he
made clear growth needed to be hard-wired into everything the
government did, telling Cabinet how he and the Chancellor had met
leading CEOs this morning – hearing directly what they needed to
expand their businesses and invest more in the UK.
The Chancellor said that growth was necessary to deliver all of
the government's key objectives, including funding investment in
public services and raising living standards. She said the
government had made progress by restoring stability to the public
finances, unlocking an additional £100 billion of capital
investment, announcing £22 billion investment in Carbon Capture
and Storage, recent announcements to improve the planning system
including building more homes around commuter hubs, and today's
changes to unlock pension fund investment. She said we need to go
further to take action to deliver growth and she would set out
next steps in her speech tomorrow.
